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Elijah of Bethlehem (shepherd of the Nativity)

Theme: Characters in The Gospel as it was revealed to me · Page 2 of 4

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GRM 76.4-5

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

76.4 «You told me that You want to inform Isaac that You are here, but You do not want to go into the village?»

«Yes, that is what I want.»

«Well, we had better part. I will go to him, Levi and Joseph will stay with the herd and with You. I’ll go up here. It will be quicker.» And Elias starts climbing up the mountain side, towards the white houses which are so bright up there in the sunshine.

I seem to be following him. He is now at the first houses. He goes along a tiny path between houses and kitchen gardens. He walks thus for about ten metres. He then turns into a wider road and then enters the square. I forgot to mention that this is happening in the early morning hours. I am saying so now because the market is still on in the square and housewives and vendors are shouting under the shady trees of the square.

Elias goes resolutely to the point where the square ends and quite an attractive street starts. Perhaps the nicest in the village. At the corner there is a little house, or rather, a room with its door wide open. Almost on the threshold there is a little bed, on which an emaciated sick man is lying, asking all passers-by for alms, in a plaintive voice.

Elias dashes in. «Isaac… it’s me.»

«You? I was not expecting you. You were here last month.»

«Isaac… Isaac… Do you know why I have come?»

«No, I don’t… You are excited. What’s happening?»

«I have seen Jesus of Nazareth, He is a man, now, a rabbi. He came looking for me… and He wants to see us. Oh! Isaac! Are you not well?»

Isaac, in fact, has fallen back as if he were dying. But he comes round: «No. The news… Where is He? What is He like? Oh! If I could see Him!»

«He is down in the valley. He sent me tell to you exactly this: “Come, Isaac, because I want to see you and bless you”. I’ll call someone now to help me and I’ll take you down.»

«Is that what He said?»

«Yes, it is. But what are you doing?»

«I’m going.»

Isaac throws away the blankets, he moves his paralysed legs, he throws them off the straw mattress, he puts his feet on the floor, he stands up, still somewhat hesitating, and shaky. It all happens in an instant, under Elias’ wide open eyes… who at last understands and begins to shout… A little woman looks in curiously. She sees the sick man stand up and cover himself with one of the blankets, since he has nothing else, and run away, shouting like a mad man.

«Let us go… this way, it will be quicker and we will not meet the crowd… Quick, Elias.»

They run through a little door of a kitchen garden in the back, they push the gate, made of dry branches, and once outside, they run along a narrow dirty path, then down a little road along kitchen gardens and finally through meadows and thickets, right down to the torrent.

76.5 «There is Jesus, over there» says Elias, pointing at Him. «The tall, handsome one, with fair hair, with a white tunic and red mantle…»

Isaac runs, he cuts through the grazing sheep, and with a cry of triumph, joy and adoration he prostrates himself at Jesus’ feet.

«Stand up, Isaac. I have come. To bring you peace and blessings. Stand up, that I may see your face.»

But Isaac cannot stand up. Too much excitement at once and he remains prostrated, with his face on the ground, crying! happily.

«You came at once. You did not worry whether you could…»

«You told me to come… and I came.»

«He did not even close the door or pick up the alms, Master.»

«It does not matter. The angels will watch his house.»

GRM 77.3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Jesus puts an end to the argument by asking Levi: «Have you ever been to Galilee?»

«Yes, my Lord.»

«You will come with Me, to take Me to Jonah. Do you know him?»

«Yes, I do. We always met at Passover. I used to go and see him then.»

Joseph, mortified, lowers his head. Jesus notices and says: «You cannot both come. Elias would be left alone with the sheep. But you will come with Me as far as the Jericho pass, where we will part for some time. I will tell you after what you have to do.»

Detail

Judas is very nervous and tends to grumble. When he points out that Jesus didn't want him directly, the Lord cuts the conversation short and speaks to Levi.

GRM 77.4-5

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

77.4 «There are some houses over there» says John, who is walking a few steps in front of the others.

«It’s Hebron. Between two rivers with its crest. See, Master? That house there, amidst all the green, a little higher up than the others? That’s Zacharias’ house.»

«Let us quicken our paces.»

They cover the last stretch of the road very rapidly and go into the village. The sheep’s little hooves sound like castanets on the uneven stones of the road, which is paved very roughly. They reach the house. People look at the group of men, who are so different by look, age and garments amongst the white sheep.

«Oh! It’s different! There was a gate here!» says Elias. Now instead of the gate there is a metal door which prevents one from seeing, and also the enclosure wall is higher than a man and thus nothing can be seen inside.

«Perhaps it will be open at the back.» They go round a large quadrilateral wall, it is rather a long rectangular one, but the wall is the same height all round.

«The wall was built not long ago» remarks John, examining it. «There is not a scratch on it and there is still lime rubble on the ground.»

«I cannot even see the sepulchre… It was near the wood. Now the wood is outside the wall and… and it seems to belong to everybody. They are gathering firewood in it.» Elias is puzzled.

77.5 A man, an old woodcutter, small but strong, who is watching the group, stops sawing a trunk he has cut down, and goes towards the group. «Whom are you looking for?»

«We wanted to go in, to pray on Zacharias’ tomb».

«There is no tomb any longer. Don’t you know? Who are you?»

«I am a friend of Samuel, the shepherd. This…»

«It is not necessary, Elias» says Jesus and Elias keeps quiet.

«Ah! Samuel!… I see! But since John, Zacharias’ son, was put into prison, the house is no longer his. And it is a misfortune, because he had all the profit of his property given to the poor people in Hebron. One morning a man came from Herod’s court, he threw Jowehel out, he affixed seals, then he came back with bricklayers and they started raising the wall… The sepulchre was over there, in the corner. He did not want it… and one morning we found it all spoiled and half destroyed… the poor bones were all scattered… We put them together again, as best we could… They are now in a sarcophagus… And in the house of the priest Zacharias, that filthy man keeps his lovers. Now there is a mime from Rome. That is why he raised the wall. He does not want people to see… The house of the priest a brothel! The house of the miracle and of the Precursor! (...) »

GRM 79.1

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Where will we find the shepherds?»

«Five miles from Hebron, on the banks of the river you were enquiring about.»

«Beyond that hill, then.»

«Correct.»

«It’s very warm. The summer… Where are we going after, Master?»

«To a place which is even warmer. But I ask you to come. We shall travel by night. The stars are so bright that there is no darkness. I want to show you a place…»

«A town?»

«No… A place… that will make you understand the Master… perhaps even better than His words.

GRM 79.4-7 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Master» says Elias. «That woman… the woman who is in John’s house… three days after You left and we were pasturing the sheep on the meadows of Hebron — they belong to everybody, the meadows, and they could not send us away — she sent her maid to us with this bag and told us that she wanted to speak to us… I don’t know whether I did the right thing… but the first time I gave the bag back to her and said: “I do not want to listen to her”… Then she sent this message: “Come in Jesus’ name” and I went. She waited until her… well, the man who keeps her, had gone… She wanted to know so many things. But I… didn’t tell her very much. Out of prudence. She is a prostitute. I was afraid it might be a trap for You. She asked me who You are, where You live, what You do, if You are a gentleman… I said: “He is Jesus of Nazareth, He goes everywhere, because He is a Master, and He goes around Palestine teaching”; I said You are a poor man, a simple workman, made wise by Wisdom… Nothing else.»

«You did well» says Jesus, and Judas at the same moment exclaims: «You did the wrong thing! Why did you not say that He is the Messiah, the King of the world? The proud Roman woman should be crushed under the blow of God’s splendour.»

«She would not have understood me… In any case how could I be sure that she was sincere? When you saw her, you said what she is. Was I to throw holy things, and everything that is Jesus is holy, into her mouth? Was I to endanger Jesus, giving too much information? Anyone may hurt Him, but I will not.»

«John, let us go and tell her who the Master is, and explain the holy truth to her.»

«Not me. Unless Jesus tells me.»

«Are you afraid? What can she do to you? Do you loathe her? The Master did not.»

«I am not afraid neither do I loathe her. I feel sorry for her. But I think that if Jesus wanted, He could have stopped to teach her. He did not do it… it is not necessary for us to do it.»

«At that time there were no signs of a conversion… Now…

79.5

Show me the bag, Elias.» And Judas, who is sitting on the grass, empties the bag on his mantle. Rings, armlets, bracelets and a necklace roll out: yellow gold on the dark gold of Judas’ mantle. «They are jewels!… What can we do with them?»

«They can be sold» says Simon.

«They are troublesome things» remarks Judas, who, however, admires them.

«That’s what I told her, when I took them; I also said: “Your master will beat you”. She replied: “They do not belong to him. They are mine and I do what I want with them. I know it is the gold of sins… but it will become good if used for the poor and the holy. That they may remember me” and she was crying.»

«Go and see her, Master.»

«No.»

«Send Simon.»

«No.»

«Well, I’ll go.»

«No.» Jesus’ «No» is sharp and peremptory.

«Was I wrong, Master, in speaking to her and taking that gold?» asks Elias, when he sees Jesus so serious.

«You did nothing wrong. But there is nothing more to be done.»

79.6

«But perhaps that woman wants to redeem herself and she needs to be taught…» Judas objects once again.

«There are already in her so many sparks capable of starting a fire which will burn her vices and purify her soul and repentance will render her innocent once again. A few minutes ago I spoke to you of the yeast which is mixed with the flour and turns it into holy bread. Listen now to a short parable.

That woman is the flour. A flour in which the Evil One has mixed his hellish powders. I am the yeast. That is, My word is the yeast. But if there is too much chaff in the flour, or if sand, or little stones or ashes are mixed in it, is it possible to make bread with it, even if the yeast is good? It is not possible. It is necessary to patiently remove the chaff, the ashes, stones and sand from the flour.

Then Mercy passes by and offers the first sieve… The first one: made from short basic truths, which may be understood by one entangled in the net of total ignorance, vice and Gentilism. If the soul accepts it, the first purification begins. The second takes place by means of the sieve of the soul itself, which compares its own being with the Being that revealed Itself. And the soul is horrified. And it starts its work. By means of a more and more particular operation, after the stones, the sand and the ashes, it reaches the point of also removing that part of the flour consisting of grains too heavy and too coarse to make good bread. The soul is now ready. Mercy then passes by once again and penetrates into the flour now ready — that is a preparation too, Judas — and raises it and turns it into bread. But it is a long operation: an operation of the “will power” of the soul.

That woman already has within herself the minimum which was fair to give her and which may be used by her to accomplish her work. Let her do it, if she wishes to, but we must not disturb her. Everything upsets a soul which is working: curiosity, unadvised zeal, intolerance as well as excessive compassion.»

79.7

«We are not going to see her, then?»

«No. And that none of you may be tempted to, let us leave at once. There is shade in the wood. We will stop at the foot of the Terebinth Valley. And we will part there. Elias will go back to his pastures with Levi: Joseph will come with Me as far as the Jericho ford. Later… we will meet again. You, Isaac, continue what you did at Juttah, going from here, through Arimathaea and Lydda, to Doco. We will meet there. It is necessary to prepare Judaea, and you know how to do it. Exactly as you did at Juttah».

«And what about us?»

«You? You will come, as I said, to see My preparation. Also I am prepared for My mission.»

«Did You go to a rabbi’s?»

«No.»

«Did You go to John?»

«I was only baptised by him.»

«Well, then?»

«Bethlehem spoke with its stones and its hearts. Also where I am taking you, Judas, the stones and a heart, Mine, will speak to you and give you the answer.»

Detail

Elijah was called by Aglaia in Hebron. She gave him her jewels. Judas reacts... very spontaneously and suggests turning back, but Jesus refuses and gives them a parable about the sinner.

GRM 79.7

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

We will stop at the foot of the Terebinth Valley. And we will part there. Elias will go back to his pastures with Levi: Joseph will come with Me as far as the Jericho ford. Later… we will meet again. You, Isaac, continue what you did at Juttah, going from here, through Arimathaea and Lydda, to Doco. We will meet there. It is necessary to prepare Judaea, and you know how to do it. Exactly as you did at Juttah.

Detail

Jesus gives his instructions after finding Elijah and Isaac.

GRM 79.8

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

79.8 Elias, who has brought some milk and brown bread, says: «While waiting for You, I tried, and Isaac tried with me, to convince the people in Hebron… But they will not believe, they will not take an oath, they do not want anyone but John. He is their “holy man” and they do not want anyone else.»

«It is a sin quite common to many places and many present and future believers. They look at the workman, not at the master who sent the workman. They ask the workman questions and they do not even say to him: “Tell your master”. They forget that there is a workman only because there is a master and that it is the master who instructs the workman and enables him to work. They forget that the workman can intercede, but only the master can concede. In this case God and His Word with Him. It does not matter. The Word is sorry but bears no grudge. Let us go.»

The vision ends.

GRM 81.1

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Peace be with you» says Jesus raising His arms as if He were embracing them. And He specifies: «Peace to you, Simeon, John and Matthias, faithful to Me, and faithful to John the Prophet! Peace to you, Joseph» and He kisses him on his cheeks. The other three are now on their knees. «Come, My friends. Under these trees, on the river-bank and let us talk.»

They go down and Jesus sits on a large protruding root, the others on the ground. Jesus smiles and looks at them intently, one by one: «Let Me become familiar with your faces. Your souls are already known to Me, souls that seek and love what is good contrary to all worldly yearnings. Isaac, Elias and Levi send you their regards, and there are other greetings, from My Mother.»

Detail

Jesus goes to meet the shepherds Matthias, Simeon, and John.

GRM 82.4-5

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«The shepherds are coming. Do not let us upset their souls with our quarrels. Have you counted the money? That is enough. Fulfil all your actions as you fulfilled this one, and I repeat it once again, in future, if you can, do not tell lies, not even to accomplish a good deed.»

82.5

The shepherds come in.

«My friends. Here are ten and a half talents. The amount is short of one hundred coins which Judas has kept for the inn expenses. Take them.»

«Are You giving them all?» asks Judas.

«Yes, every penny. I do not want a forthing of that money. We have the offerings of God and of those who honestly seek God… and we shall never lack what is necessary. Believe Me. Take the money and be happy, as I am, for the Baptist. Tomorrow, you will go towards his prison. Two of you: that is John and Matthias. Simeon and Joseph will go to Elias to report to him and to be taught for the future. Elias knows. Later, Joseph will come back with Levi. The meeting place, in ten days time, is at the Fish Gate in Jerusalem, at sunrise. And now, let us eat and rest. Tomorrow, at dawn, I will leave with My disciples. I have nothing else to tell you for the time being. Later, you will hear from Me.»

And everything fades out while Jesus is breaking the bread.

Detail

Judas recounted how he obtained ten and a half talents from the sale of Aglaë's jewelry.

In light of what is stated in EMV 83.3, perhaps the John mentioned here is John the son of Zebedee. To be confirmed.