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Notes for this theme

Places in The Gospel as it was revealed to me

Page 10 of 51

Reading comfort

Aa

GRM 44.1

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

44.1 I see the interior of the house in Nazareth: a room which looks like a dining room, where the members of the Family take their meals and rest during the day. It is a very small room with a plain rectangular table near a chest, which is set against one of the walls. The chest also serves as a seat. Near the other walls there is a loom and a stool, and there are two more stools with a kind of bookcase on top of which there are oil lamps and other objects. A door is open onto the kitchen garden. It must be almost evening, because only some faint sun-rays are visible in the upper foliage of a tall tree, which is beginning to grow verdant in its first leaves.

GRM 44.2

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

He then listens and gets up. He also goes out into the kitchen garden, and after looking around, He moves towards the right-hand side of the house, and through an opening in the rocky wall, He goes into what I recognise as the carpenter’s workshop. It is now very tidy, without any boards or shavings lying about, and also the fire is out. There is the large work bench, all the tools are laid aside, and there is nothing else.

GRM 45.1

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

45.1 I see a bare, flat country, without any villages or vegetation. There are no cultivated fields, but a few odd plants are growing here and there in clusters, like vegetable families, where the deep soil is less parched. Imagine that the arid waste land is on my right-hand side, with my back turned to the north, and the harsh area stretches southwards.

On my left instead, I can see a river with very low banks, flowing slowly from north to south. The very slow flowing water leads me to believe that there are no falls in the level of the riverbed and that it flows in such a flat country as to form a depression. The movement of the water is just enough to avoid the formation of marshes. The river is so shallow that the bottom can be seen: I would say the water is a metre deep, or a metre and a half, at the most. It is as wide as the river Arno in the S. Miniato-Empoli area: about twenty metres. However, I am not good at estimating. And yet its colour is blue with a light green hue near the banks, where on the humid soil, there is a strip of thick green vegetation, very pleasant to look at: the sight of the stony, sandy bleakness of the ground lying before it, is instead, a very monotonous one indeed.

The internal voice, which I told you I hear and tells me what I must take note of and know, is now warning me that I am looking at the Jordan valley. I call it a valley, because that is the name used to indicate the place where a river flows, but here it is incorrect to call it so, because a valley presumes the presence of mountains, but I do not see any mountains in the neighbourhood. In any case, I am near the Jordan, and the waste land on my right is the desert of Judah.

If it is correct to call a desert a place where there are no houses or man’s works, it is not so according to our idea of a desert. There are none of the undulating sands of the desert, as we understand it, but only bare ground strewn with stones and rubble, like alluvial grounds after a flood. There are hills in the distance.

And yet, near the Jordan there is great peace, something special and unusual, as one often feels on the shores of lake Trasimeno. It is a place that seems to be full of memories of angels’ flights and celestial voices. I cannot describe exactly what I feel. But I feel that I am in a place that communicates with my soul.

GRM 46.1-2

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

I see the solitary land which I already saw on my left-hand side in the vision of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan. But I must be some way inside the desert, because I neither see the beautiful, blue, slow flowing river, nor the green strips of vegetation which coast its banks and are nourished by its waters. There is nothing here but solitude, stones and such a parched earth that it has become a yellowish dust, raised now and again by the wind in small swirls, which are so hot and dry that they seem like the breath of a feverish mouth. And they are very troublesome because of the dust penetrating nostrils and throats. There are a very few small thorny bushes, strangely surviving in so much desolation. They look like small forelocks of surviving hair on a bald head. Above, there is a merciless blue sky; below, arid land; around, stones and silence. That is what I see as far as nature is concerned.

46.2

Leaning against a huge piece of overhanging rock which, because of its shape, forms a kind of a grotto, there is Jesus sitting on a stone that has been taken into the cave. That is how He protects Himself from the scorching sun. And my internal adviser informs me that the stone, on which He is now sitting, is also His kneeling-stool and pillow, when He takes a few hours rest, enveloped in His mantle, under a starry sky in the chill air of the night. Near Him there is the haversack which I saw Him take before departing from Nazareth. It is all He has. And from the way it is folded, I realise it has been emptied of the little food Mary had put into it.

GRM 47

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Jesus walks near the ford of the Jordan. A group passes by, and among them are John and James of Zebedee. It is John who notices the Master and naturally goes towards Him, while his brother follows behind. He greets him, calling him the Lamb of God. Jesus asks him whom he is looking for, and the Beloved replies that he is looking for the Master. He knows this because John the Baptist told him so, and he calls him Lamb because that's what he heard the Forerunner call him. John the Baptist is now imprisoned, and they no longer have their guide. However, John shows up, and he introduces James. He asks where Jesus lives, and Jesus points out that whoever follows him will have to abandon everything: "home, parents, way of thinking, even life." He's not a rich man, and you have to be spiritually reborn in God to follow him. The two men nevertheless want to follow him, and Jesus accepts their request.

Christ then gives two dictations. The first deals with purity and virginity, including consecrated virginity. He explains that "there are many ways of being a virgin", and returns to those who make a vow to the Lord. If souls make a vow, but give in to sensuality (even that of thought), they are only half virgins.

The Master then returns to his own temptation in the desert and the sensuality the Devil proposed. Then he dwells on the pure, who see God. Finally, he focuses on John, the Pure One among the disciples, who was his first disciple.

GRM 47.1

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

I see Jesus walking along the green strip of vegetation that borders the Jordan. He has gone back to the same place where He was baptised. He is near the ford that apparently was well known and commonly used to cross to the other bank towards Perea. But the place, which was so crowded before, is now deserted. There are only a few travellers going on foot, or riding donkeys or horses.

Jesus does not seem to be aware of them. He proceeds along His way, northwards, absorbed in His thoughts.

GRM 48

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

John is by the lake, in Bethsaida. James is with him. He calls Peter and Andrew, who are returning to the shore, for they are in a boat. When they get close, Andrew asks why they haven't come and John asks why they haven't accompanied them to see the Master. Peter grumbles, not at all convinced that it's Christ, but John insists, even saying that it's the Messiah and that he knows everything. James intervenes and repeats Jesus' words to him; John then jumps in, and Peter has the kind of turnaround we love: he wants to go and see the Lord. He even reproaches Andrew for not accompanying them, even though he saw Christ at John's baptism. They put everything back in place and leave, but suddenly Peter is worried: if Jesus knows everything, he'll know that Simon almost called him a liar. But John reassures him that the Savior is very good. He even tells him that Jesus already knew about his reactions last night, and yet encouraged him to come, because he is a man of good will.

Peter is pleased, and asks about Jesus. He learns that he is a craftsman from Nazareth and that, when John and James wanted to give him some denarii, as was the custom, he gave them directly to the poor. This further reassures good Simon, who wants to go and see the Messiah.

GRM 48.1

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

48.1 A most clear dawn over the Lake of Galilee. The sky and the water sparkle with rosy flashes, not very different from the mild ones shining on the walls of the little orchards of the lake-village, where fruit-trees, with their unkempt, luxuriant foliage, seem to rise from the orchards and peep at the little lanes, bending over them.

The village is beginning to awaken: women start going to the fountain or to the washing place, while fishermen unload the baskets of fish, or haggle over prices, in very loud voices, with merchants who have come from other villages, while others carry the fish to their houses. I call it a village, though not a small one. It is a rather modest place, at least what I see of it, but it is quite large and spreads mostly along the lake.

GRM 49

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Maria sees John of Zebedee. He sees the Master and calls out to him. The two men talk. Jesus was praying and thinking about what he was going to say to the synagogue, but seeing spiritually that John was looking for him, he went to meet him. The son of Zebedee asks him if Jesus loves him, and Christ returns the question. John then reveals that he loves him very much, that his soul, according to him, had always been looking for him. When the Savior asks him what he will do if he has to leave his father, mother, brothers and sisters, as well as life, wife and love, John replies that Christ's love will take the place of father, mother, brothers, sister and wife. When Jesus speaks of his death, John doesn't want that to happen at all, and asks him for permission to love his Lord. Jesus grants it. James' brother is happy.

They then talk about Andrew and Peter, and Jesus heads for the synagogue. On the way, he comforts the child James, who is about to cry because he ran too fast. They talk briefly about the children of the Exodus and Limbo, and the boy is promised that he will go straight to Heaven when he dies, if he is good. This gives John the opportunity to ask the Master about his parentage. He confirms that he has no nephews, brothers or sisters, only cousins and his Mother. Finally, Jesus goes to preach in the synagogue.

He reads from the Book of Jeremiah, addressing the people of Israel who are weeping because of foreign occupation. Some say they still have the Temple, but the Lord reminds them that prayer is only holy if we have love for our neighbor. The rich who make great offerings, but are hard-hearted, are not accepted by God. So Christ urges them to be of good will, to be sincere and kind. He reminds us that the Law is simple, if we give the Commandments the light of love. After alluding to the Eucharist, he encourages souls to love.

Having finished his speech, he returns to Peter and Andrew. Jesus states Peter's character: he is a man who should refrain from judging without first informing himself, but he sincerely acknowledges his wrongs. The Master also asks Andrew why he didn't come earlier, and Peter confesses that it was he who held him back. The fisherman also confesses his weaknesses, and Jesus already gives him some initial advice. For the moment, God is not asking him to tear out his heart and separate himself from his most holy affections, but he is asking him to practice justice, love mercy, and apply himself totally to following his God. This pleases Peter. Andrew says nothing, but the Lord promises that he will become a lion. The Galileans leave him, but John wants to follow him to Jerusalem. Simon of Jonah encourages him to go and see Christ, and Jesus agrees to let John accompany him.

Jesus ends with a dictation on John's humility. He is the one who brings Peter to the Savior, but since the son of thunder knew Andrew's shyness, and John was just, Andrew fades into the background of his Gospel and lets people believe that Andrew is the Lord's first apostle.

How many, by comparison, proclaim themselves to be great apostles when their success comes from a combination of things, not only holiness, but also human audacity, luck, the fact that some people are less bold than we are, but perhaps holier than we are.

Christ encourages us not to glorify ourselves when we act well: we must always have a clear eye and "give to whom it may concern the praise that is due to him". We need to recognize the apostles through whom we can do our work effectively. We must be able to say: "I am the active instrument, but this one has more love than I do, prays better than I do, and it's thanks to him that I have the strength to act.

John is the favorite, he is the pure, the loving, the obedient, and he is very humble. Jesus mirrored himself in him, and his Mother felt as if she had a second son.

GRM 50

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Jesus leaves Capernaum and goes to Bethsaida. Peter welcomes him and invites him to stay in his house. Christ accepts, and Simon de Jonas is delighted. Jesus retires to pray, and later goes outside. He meets a few children, including one who doesn't want to play at war. Jesus supports his point of view, explaining that war is God's punishment. When the kids point out that the kid refuses because he always loses, Jesus smiles and declares that we shouldn't refuse something when it harms us: that's selfishness. You should refuse something when it harms everyone, even if you're sure you'll win. The conversation continues, and Jesus speaks to them for a moment about the Last Judgment and the approaching Redemption, drawing on the book of Nehemiah. The children recognize that he is the Messiah, and he promises to take them with him if they are good and obedient to their parents.

Philip comes to him and Jesus invites him to follow. The apostle accepts, and Jesus tells him about Nathanael. The old man goes to fetch Bartholomew, and everything goes according to the Gospel.

Jesus then goes to Bethsaida to preach. The Savior comes to reiterate the law of the Decalogue, which was simple in the beginning. Nothing else is needed, and the Messiah enjoins us above all to love. He even encourages us to love our enemies.

When the sermon is over, Jesus says he's going to Jerusalem. Peter is torn, but decides to follow the Master. James of Zebedee, Andrew, Philip and Nathanael embark. Jesus accepts them, and the group prays together. Christ then sends them away, explaining that he will continue to pray during this time. The Son of Man needs prayer to continue to be the Redeemer.