GRM 139.3
Notes for this keyword
Places - Magdala
Theme: Places in The Gospel as it was revealed to me
Reading comfort
Aa
GRM 182.2 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
They are alone once again: the Master with His apostles and they walk along the cool country, along a road which Jesus has taken much to Peter’s surprise, as he wanted to take a different one. «We are going away from the lake…»
«We will still arrive in time for what I have to do.»
The apostles become silent and go towards a little village, a handful of houses, spread out in the country.
Annotation
They walk in the cool countryside, on a road that Jesus has taken, to the astonishment of Peter, who wanted to take another. Jesus avoids Capernaum by going further inland.
"This takes us away from the lake..." he says. "We'll get there just in time for what I have to do. For several days Jesus has been preparing his coming to Magdala... "The Father (God) gave me two names of people...": see EMV 176.1.
Keywords
- André (apostle)
- Barthélémy - Nathanaël (apostle)
- James of Alphaeus (apostle)
- James of Zebedee (apostle)
- John of Zebedee (apostle)
- Judas de Kérioth (apostle)
- Jude of Alphée (apostle)
- Matthew (apostle)
- Philip (apostle)
- Places - Magdala
- Simon the Zealot (apostle)
- Simon-Pierre - Simon de Jonas (apostle)
- The Twelve
- Thomas (apostle)
GRM 182.6 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«You said that we are going to relieve hearts of another ardour… Where we going?» asks the Iscariot.
«For the time being as far as that shady spot, where the stream is. We will have something to eat there and then you will be told where we are going.»
Jesus says: «Insert here the vision of the second moment of Mary Magdalene’s conversion, which you had last year, on the 12th of August 1944.»
GRM 183
The Gospel as revealed to me
Detail
Chapter title: Healing of a wounded man in Mary of Magdala's house.
Date of vision: Saturday, August 12, 1944
Calendar: Wednesday, February 23, 28 (10 Adar I 3788) according to maria-valtorta.org; Friday, March 3, 28 according to Valtorta.fr
Location (map): Magdala. The crossroads Jesus takes is probably on this map.
Cycle: Apostolate in Galilee
Summary: Jesus continues on his way Peter wonders if they are going to Capernaum, and he learns from Jesus that they are going to Magdala. This scandalizes him a little, and Jesus informs him that he will have to go to real brothels for love of Him. But neither John, nor he, nor the others will defile themselves as long as we refuse to let impurity into our hearts. Judas grumbles inwardly, and the Master enjoins him not to slander inwardly and not to trust himself. After asking Matthew for advice on the road, the apostolic group goes to the richest district of Madgala and they hear a shout. There has been a brawl between a Roman and a Jewish man who is dying, because of Mary of Magdala. The dying man's mother is desperate, and accuses Mary of having put him in this state. Jesus takes note of Lazarus' sister, but is more interested in the dying man and asks that he be taken to his mother's house, so that he can perform the miracle. Finally, he asks the mother to forgive Mary Magdalene and heals the adulterer for the sake of his wife and children.
He then leaves without a word to Mary Magdalene, and rebukes Peter when he speaks badly of her.
Chapter contents: 183.1: Surprising decision to go to Magdala. 183.2: A murder has been committed. 183.3: It is in Mary Magdalene's house. 183.4: Jesus heals the victim because of kinship, but outside the house of sin. 183.5: Peter! Do not insult. Pray for sinners.
Old edition: Tome 3, chapter 43
Keywords
GRM 183.1-5 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
The entire apostolic college is around Jesus. Sitting on the grass, in the cool shade of a thicket, near a stream, they are all eating bread and cheese and drinking the cool clear water of the stream. Their dusty sandals imply that they have walked a long way and perhaps the disciples wish but to rest on the long fresh grass.
But the Tireless Walker is not of the same mind. As soon as he deems that the hottest hour is over, He gets up, goes onto the road and looks… He then turns around and says: «Let us go.» Nothing else.
When they reach a crossroads, where four dusty roads meet, Jesus resolutely takes the one in a north-east direction.
«Are we going back to Capernaum?» asks Peter.
Jesus replies: «No.» Just: no.
«We are going to Tiberias, then» insists Peter, who is anxious to know.»
«Not there either.»
«But this road takes one to the Sea of Galilee… and Tiberias Capernaum are there…»
«And there is also Magdala» says Jesus with a half-serious expression to satisfy Peter’s curiosity.
«Magdala? Oh!…» Peter is somewhat scandalised, which makes me think that the town is ill-famed.
«Yes, to Magdala. Do you consider yourself too honest to enter that town? Peter, Peter!… For My sake you will have to enter not towns of pleasure but real brothels… Christ did not come to save those who are already saved, but those who are Lost… and you shall be “Peter”, or Rock, not Simon, for that purpose. Are you afraid of becoming contaminated? No! Not even this one, see (and He points at the very young John) will suffer any harm. Because he does not want, as you do not want, as your brother and John’s brother do not want, as none of you, for the time being, wants. As long as one does not want, no harm is done. But one must not want resolutely and perseveringly. You will obtain will-power and perseverance from the Father, by praying with sincere intentions. Not all of you will be able to pray thus, in future… What are you saying, Judas? Do not be too self-confident. I, Who am the Christ, constantly pray to have strength against Satan. Are you better than I am? Pride is the opening through which Satan penetrates. Be vigilant and humble, Judas. Matthew, since you are familiar with this place, tell Me: is it better to go to the town this way, or is there another road?»
«It depends, Master. If You want to go to the area of Magdala where fishermen and poor people live, this is the road. But — I do not think this is the case. I am telling You to give You a complete answer — if You want to go where the rich people are, then in about one hundred yards, You have to leave this road and take another one, because their houses are approximately in this direction and it is necessary to go back…»
«We will go back because I want to go to the residential area of the wealthy people. What did you say, Judas?»
«Nothing, Master. It is the second time that You ask me in a very short time. But I have never spoken.»
«Not with your lips, no. But you have spoken, grumbling in your heart. You have grumbled with your guest: your heart. It is not necessary to have an interlocutor in order to speak. We say many words to ourselves… But we must not moan or calumniate, not even with our own ego.»
183.2
The group proceeds in silence. The main road becomes a town street, paved with one handbreath wide square stones. The houses are more and more splendid and magnificent, surrounded by luxuriant flourishing gardens and orchards. I am under the impression that the elegant Magdala was for the Palestinians a kind of place of pleasure like some towns around our lakes in Lombardy: Stresa, Gardone, Pallanza, Bellagio and so on. Among the rich Paletinians there are many Romans, who must have come from other places, such as Tiberias or Caesarea, possibly officials of the Governor or merchants who export the most beautiful products of the Palestinian colony to Rome.
Jesus proceeds, sure of Himself, as if He knew where to go. He follows the contour of the lake, which reflects the houses and gardens built on its borders.
A loud noise of crying people can be heard from a sumptuous house. It is the voices of women and children. The shrill voice of a woman shouts: «My son! My son!»
Jesus turns around and looks at His apostles. Judas steps forward. «No, not you» orders Jesus. «You, Matthew. Go and find out.»
Matthew goes and comes back: «A brawl, Master. A man is dying. A Jew. The man who wounded him, a Roman, has run away. His wife, mother and children have rushed to help him… But he is dying.»
«Let us go.»
«Master… Master… It happened in the house of a woman… who is not his wife.»
«Let us go.»
183.3
Through the wide open door they enter a large hall which opens onto a lovely garden. The house seems to be divided by this kind of covered peristyle, which is full of pots with green plants, statues and inlaid articles. It is a mixture of a hall and greenhouse. In a room, the door of which opens onto the hall, there are some women weeping. Jesus goes in confidently. But He does not pronounce His usual greeting.
Among the men present there is a merchant who obviously knows Jesus, because as soon as he sees Him, he says: «The Rabbi of Nazareth!» and greets Him respectfully.
«Joseph, what is the matter?»
«Master, a stab wound in his heart… He is dying.»
«Why?»
A grey-haired unkempt woman stands up – she was kneeling near the dying man holding his limp hand – and with distracted face and voice she shouts: «Because of her, because of her… She has turned him into a devil… Mother, wife, children no longer existed for him! Hell will have you, satan!»
Jesus looks up and His eyes follow the trembling accusing hand and in a corner, against the dark red wall, He sees Mary of Magdala, more immodest than ever, wearing, I would say, nothing on half of her body, because she is half naked from the waist upwards, draped in a kind of hexagonal net decorated with little round objects which look like tiny pearls. But as she is in a half-light, I cannot see her well.
Jesus lowers His eyes once again. Mary, lashed by His indifference, stands up, whereas before she seemed somewhat depressed, and strikes a defiant pose.
«Woman» says Jesus to the mother. «Do not curse. Tell Me. Why was your son in this house?»
«I told You. Because she infatuated him. She did.»
«Silence. So, he was in sin, too, because he is an adulterer and an unworthy father of these innocent children. He therefore deserves his punishment. In this life and in the next one there is no mercy for those who do not repent. But I feel sorry for your grief and for these innocent children.
183.4
Is your house far?»
«About one hundred yards.»
«Lift the man and take him there.»
«It is not possible, Master» says Joseph, the merchant. «He is breathing his last breath.»
«Do as I tell you.»
They place a board under the body of the dying man and the procession slowly moves out. They cross the street and go into a shady garden. The women carry on crying loudly.
As soon as they enter the garden, Jesus addresses the mother. «Can you forgive? If you forgive, God will forgive. We must be kind-hearted, to obtain grace. He has sinned and will sin again. It would be better for him to die, because, if he lives, he will fall into sin again and he will also have to answer for his ingratitude to God Who has saved him. But you and these innocent ones (and He points at the wife and children) would give yourselves up to despair. I have come to save, not to lose. Man, I tell you: stand up and be cured.»
The man begins to recover. He opens his eyes, sees his mother, wife and children and lowers his head shamefully.
«Son, son» says the mother. «You were dead, if He had not saved you. Come to your senses. Don’t be infatuated for a…»
Jesus interrupts the old woman. «Be quiet, woman. Have mercy as mercy was granted to you. Your house has been sanctified by a miracle, which is always the evidence of God’s presence. That is why I could not work it where there was sin. You, at least, must endeavour to keep it such, even if he will not. Take care of him now. It is fair that he should suffer a little. Be good, woman. And you. And you little ones. Goodbye.» Jesus has laid His hand on the heads of the two women and of the children.
183.5
He then goes out passing in front of the Magdalene who followed the procession as far as the entrance of the house where she remained leaning against a tree. Jesus slackens His pace as if He were waiting for His disciples, but I think He does so to give Mary a chance of making a gesture. But she does not.
The disciples reach Jesus and Peter cannot help muttering between his teeth an epithet appropriate to Mary, who, wishing to strike an attitude, bursts into a laugh of a weak triumph. But Jesus heard Peter’s word and addresses him severely: «Peter. I do not insult. Do not insult. Pray for sinners. Nothing else.»
Mary stops her trilling laughter, lowers her head and runs away, like a gazelle, towards her house.
Detail
Mary Magdalene appears in 183.3. For the sake of completeness, we are putting the whole chapter back.
Annotation
The entire apostolic college stands around Jesus. Seated on the grass, in the shade of a clump of trees, near a stream, they all eat bread and cheese, and drink from the cool, clear water of the stream. It's a perfect continuation of the previous scene, even though it's set a year later! They're on the banks of the Wadi Amud. The streams between Capharnaum and Magdala (wadi Amud and wadi Zalmond) are also mentioned in EMV 460.3.
Arriving at a fork in the road, or rather a crossroads because four dusty roads intersect here, Jesus resolutely takes the one heading northeast. After crossing the Wadi Amud, everything indicates that they are at the crossroads of the Tiberias/Magdala/Meron road and the road from Jotapata to the Genezareth/Ginossar plain (see map).
Peter, Peter! For love of me, you'll have to enter not a city of pleasure, but real brothels... Christ didn't come to save those who are saved, but those who are lost... and you... you'll be "Peter" or "Cephas" and not Simon, for this reason. A thinly veiled announcement of Peter's future sojourn in Rome, "the great harlot". Another mention of this stay is made in EMV 310.5, then in EMV 545.7. Houses of prostitution (lupanaria) were common in ancient Greece and Rome as early as the 6th century BC. In ancient Roman slang, lupa, the she-wolf, is the animal symbolizing the prostitute.
Christ did not come to save those who are saved, but those who are lost... Recall the testimony given to Nicodemus in EMV 116.9. Compare with EMV 335.5 | EMV 575.7 | EMV 598.19 | EMV 606.5.
Matthew, you know the place well, tell me: is it better to take this road, or is there another? Matthew the Publican probably frequented Magdala and Tiberias, so he must have known the area well!
You don't have to have someone to talk to. We talk a lot to ourselves... But we mustn't gossip or slander, even with our own selves. Judas alludes to this teaching of Jesus in EMV 195.2.
The group walks on, now in silence. The main road becomes a cobbled street with stones of a square palm. Maria Valtorta is right: these are the classic dimensions of Roman paving stones, 22.5x22.5 cm.
The wealthy Palestinians are joined by Romans, probably from other places such as Tiberias or Caesarea, where the governor must have been surrounded by all kinds of officials and merchants, exporting the finest products of the Palestinian colony to Rome. Tiberias and Magdala were two lake towns with large Roman and Greek populations.
There's a dying man, a Jew. The murderer has escaped: he was a Roman. Probably Mary Magdalene's Roman lover. He was glimpsed during the Sermon on the Mount(EMV 174.12).
They enter through the open door into a wide, long vestibule which then opens onto a beautiful garden. The house seems divided by this sort of covered peristyle, which abounds in green plants in vases, statues and marquetry. All these statues were removed by Mary Magdalene after her conversion (see EMV 277.1).
Mary of Magdala, more provocative than ever, dressed, so to speak... in nothing up to mid-body, for she is half-naked above the waist, wrapped in a kind of hexagonal mesh net with little balls that look to me like pearls. But she's in the half-light and I can't see very well. Cf. Jesus' comments on this scene in EMV 234.4.
I have come to save, not to lose. Recall the words spoken by Jesus a little earlier, in EMV 183.1.
Your house is sanctified by the miracle, which is always proof of God's presence. In EMV 234.4/5, Jesus returns at length to this miracle and its context.
"Peter, I do not insult. So don't insult. Pray for sinners. Nothing else." Peter's rebuke is also a teaching for Mary Magdalene, as Jesus later explains in EMV 234.5.
Keywords
GRM 184
The Gospel as revealed to me
Detail
Chapter title: Little Benjamin of Magdala and two parables about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Date of vision: Saturday, August 12, 1944
Calendar: Wednesday, February 23, 28 (10 Adar I 3788) according to maria-valtorta.org; Saturday, March 4, 28 according to Valtorta.fr
Location (map): Magdala
Cycle: Apostolate in Galilee
Summary: Jesus heads for the poor neighborhood of Magdala and asks for the hospitality of a mother, who agrees to take him in. She is accompanied by a child who makes a lot of noise. His mother wants to listen to the Master, so she scolds him and gives him a slap, and the child goes to weep in Christ's lap. Jesus tries to find extenuating circumstances for his mother, but the child answers frankly that she simply wants to listen to him. Jesus then dialogues with her for a while, and when she implies that loose women have it easy, he replies that they're not happy, even if they seem to be. The woman then asks to stay, and Jesus offers to tell two parables that will appeal to little Benjamin. He tells Mary Magdalene, because the apostles doubt that she will return to good. Then he gives the parable where the divine Sower casts the seed. The seed grows, the grain is formed, and when it is ripe, the sower returns and passes on the scythe. In this way, the Word of God accomplishes the same work, but it is slow, and the soul must be allowed to work itself. At the Lord's request, Matthew confirms that it was Jesus' patience that helped him the most.
Benjamin's mother has left to fetch his brothers, and he continues to talk to the apostolic group. He ranks the apostles one by one and doesn't like Judas, so much so that the latter laughs yellow. Meanwhile, his mother has returned with a dozen people, including her husband, and as she begs him to speak, Jesus gives yet another parable about the Kingdom of Heaven. He gives the parable of the mustard seed and explains that it's through the small realities of each day that we build the Kingdom within us. Love, above all, is the means to peace and the glory of Heaven.
Jesus blesses this hospitable family, then sets off again.
Chapter contents: 184.1: A young boy receives a slap from his mother. 184.2: A mother should not envy the fate of a prostitute. 184.3 : You doubt that Mary (of Magdala) will return to the Good. 184.4 : The parable of the grain planted in the ground. 184.5 : Jesus' patience, rather than the Pharisees' reproaches, led Matthew to conversion. 184.6: Matthew was converted out of love. 184.7: Benjamin gives the good apostle test, which Judas fails. 184.8: The parable of the mustard seed. Love in hearts. 184.9: An astonished husband discovers his wife's merits.
Former edition: Volume 3, chapter 44
Keywords
GRM 184.1
The Gospel as revealed to me
Detail
In Magdala, the poor district lies on the outskirts of the city.
Keywords
GRM 186.8
The Gospel as revealed to me
Detail
In EMV 186, the configuration of the site is reproduced in this image(click on link) as Maria Valtorta drew it on the last page of the handwritten notebook. From left to right, the names of the towns bordering the lake are: Tarichée, Tiberias, Magdala, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Gerguesa, Hippos. South of Hippos, after the torrent, it says "landing place" and Gamla in the hinterland. Between these are small dots, explained at the bottom of the page as follows: "To the north lies Chorazeïn.