Hidden Sister: "Daughter of Abraham" with Christine Schenk, CSJ

Catholic Women Preach

Preaching on the healing of the "Daughter of Abraham" (Luke 13:10-17), Sr. Christine Schenk, CSJ offers a reflection on the abundant love and vision of our healing God: "Jesus decries the rigidity of the rule keepers—a perennial affliction of religious leaders of every denomination even to our own day— 'Don’t you understand? Freeing this woman, this daughter of Abraham is more important than freeing the ox and ass as your religious rules allow?' The phrase 'Daughter of Abraham' occurs nowhere else in either the Hebrew or Christian scriptures. Jesus is saying 'This woman is a fully equal member of God’s own people, and her dignity and well-being must be the priority here.'" Hidden Sister: The Gospel of Luke is the only one that recounts Jesus’ healing of a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years (Luke 13:10-17). This passage is assigned to Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time. Although Jesus recognizes her as a “daughter of Abraham,” this touching story of her faith and Jesus’ willingness to break the Sabbath law in the synagogue and heal her is not proclaimed on any Sunday. Moreover, in 2024, this reading is replaced by the proper readings for the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude. Christine Schenk, CSJ has worked as a nurse midwife to low-income families, a community organizer, an award-winning writer-researcher, and the founding director of an international church reform organization, FutureChurch. Schenk also writes a regular column for the National Catholic Reporter and is one of three nuns featured in the award-winning documentary "Radical Grace."