Abel of Korazim
Abel is a leper taking refuge near Chorazin (Chorazeïn). He survives only thanks to Samuel, a hunchback, a beggar like him, with whom he has formed a friendship.
But that day[1] Samuel runs up all joyful: he has been healed by the "rabbi" Jesus.[2] He provides him with more than usual, with good food, not poor leftovers as usual. He announces his healing and the power of Jesus. Samuel encourages Abel to have trust, but he dares not hope: he is chased from everywhere and his appearance is really repulsive. He is nothing but a "shadow of a man".[3]
However, Samuel’s communicative faith produces its effect: Abel has only one wish, to run to Jesus. He immediately drops the feast, all that good food from which he had been deprived for so long. And while Samuel runs to warn Jesus and bring him to this place, Abel immediately sets off, walking hidden in the ditch (it is evening), to meet him in a small nearby wood, away from prying eyes. "My Lord! If You want, You can cleanse me!" says Abel daring to kneel and stretch his skeletal arms toward Jesus.[3] The latter, moved by pity, reaches out his hand to touch him.
"«Don’t touch me! Have mercy on Yourself!»
But Jesus takes a step forward. Stately, good, kind He lays His fingers on the head devoured by leprosy, and in a low voice, which is full of love and yet most authoritative, He says: «I want it! Be cleansed!» His hand remains on the poor head for a few minutes.«Get up. Go to the priest. Fulfil the prescriptions of the Law. And do not tell anyone what I did for you. But be good. Do not sin any more. I bless you.»
«Oh! Lord! Abel! You are completely healed!» Samuel, seeing the complete change of his friend, shouts out of joy.
«Yes, he is healed. He deserved it because of his faith. Goodbye. Peace be with you.»
«Master! Master! Master! I will not leave You. I cannot leave You.»
«Do what the Law prescribes. We will meet again. Once again I bless you.»"[3]
The character[edit | edit source]
Character and appearance[edit | edit source]
Maria Valtorta sees Abel’s particularly repulsive appearance "with the precision of a perfect photograph":
"He is really a mess of a man. He is so ravaged by his disease, that I could not tell his age. Reduced to a skeleton, half naked, his body is in the state of a corroded mummy, with contorted hands and feet, parts of which are missing, so that the miserable limbs no longer seem to belong to a human being. His hands, twisted and clawed, resemble the talons of a winged monster, his feet are so fragmented and disfigured, that they are almost like the hooves of an ox. And his head!… I think that the head of anyone left unburied, which becomes mummified by sun and wind, must be like the head of this man."[4]
Apostolic journey[edit | edit source]
A little later Jesus pays tribute to the apostolic zeal of the new disciple:
"I cured him near Korazim one evening a long time ago and then I left him. I have now found him again, announcing Me on the mountains in Naphtali. And to confirm his words he shows what is left of his hands, cured but partly impaired, and his feet, which have also been cured but are deformed, and yet he walks a long way. People realise how ill he was when they see what is left of him and they believe his words which are dressed with tears of gratitude."[5]
Abel and Samuel, inseparable in friendship, become so in the apostolate following Jesus. They are joined to the first core of disciples: the shepherds of the Nativity. This core will grow until forming The Seventy-Two disciples, sent to evangelize two by two.[6]
It is Abel who sends the hemorrhaging woman of the Gospel of Matthew[7] to Jesus.[8]
His name[edit | edit source]
The given name Abel originates from the Hebrew הֶבֶל (Hevel), which means "breath," but also "son." This word is used in the Bible, notably in Ecclesiastes, to express the fleetingness and fragility of life. It refers to the younger son of Adam and Eve, the shepherd killed by Cain, his jealous brother.[9]
Historical correspondences[edit | edit source]
Abel would be the leper of Mark[10] and Luke,[11] but not that of Matthew,[12] although the synoptic gospels usually associate them. The three accounts present the same ritual: Jesus stretches out his hand to touch the leper. He pronounces the same command: "I will it, be cleansed," followed by the same instructions: not to spread news of this healing and to go see the priest for the usual purifications. These accounts are therefore similar.
However, while Luke places the event "in the town",[13] here Chorazin, Matthew specifies the healing takes place "coming down from the mountain",[14] Mark situates it just after the announcement of Jesus' departure for the "neighboring villages" of Capernaum, which corresponds to Maria Valtorta's account,[15] while Matthew situates it directly after the great Sermon on the Mount, which is found described by Maria Valtorta in.[16]
If only Mark notes that Jesus was "moved with compassion", which is very clear in Maria Valtorta's narration, he also notes that the leper "began to proclaim and spread the news." This attitude which seems to contravene Jesus' order finds its explanation in Jesus' commentary on Abel's apostolate, who became, with Samuel, a fervent disciple...[5]
Where is it mentioned in the work?[edit | edit source]
GRM 230 GRM 250 GRM 275 GRM 276 GRM 277 GRM 278