"I bear the stigmata of Jesus on my body" (Gal 6:17)
With these words, the apostle Paul speaks of his sufferings, tribulations and illnesses endured because of Christ. Paul is happy to boast of these marks imprinted in his flesh with those who seek to glory in the sign of circumcision, a sign also that marks the flesh of those who receive it. This passage from Paul refers to "the metaphorical impression of the permanent character left by baptism in the soul of the believer."
Instead, the stigmata of Jesus imprinted in the body of Francis of Assisi have, yes, this metaphorical and spiritual sense mentioned in Galatians 6:14-18; but they go beyond this interpretation because they are real signs imprinted in Francis' body and for this reason they are real stigmata. They represent his deep passion for Christ and are concrete signs of the merciful love that the living God has imprinted in his body and which, of course, become an invitation to compassion for the people whom Christ came to redeem by his passion, death and resurrection. You cannot have passion without compassion, because one is proportional to another, like two sides of the same coin.
