GRM 35.8
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
Nothing is to be our master except God.
Notes for this theme
Reading comfort
GRM 35.8
Nothing is to be our master except God.
GRM 35.8
I Myself appreciated friendship and because of Judas’ betrayal, I suffered as for a moral crucifixion.
Jesus said:
GRM 35.9
I had preached sacrifice, detachment, a pure life, humble positions.
GRM 35.10
Mary’s virginity after Her delivery and Joseph’s chastity have been strongly denied by those who being putrid mud themselves, are not prepared to admit that one like them can be as pure and clear as light. They are wretched people whose souls are so corrupted and their minds so prostituted to the flesh, that they are incapable of thinking that one like them can respect a woman seeing in her not her flesh but her soul, neither can they elevate themselves to live in a supernatural atmosphere, craving not for what is flesh, but only for what is God.
Well, I wish to tell those deniers of the most beautiful things, those worms incapable of becoming butterflies, those reptiles covered with the slavery of their own lewdness, incapable of understanding the beauty of a lily, I wish to tell them that Mary was and remained a virgin, and that only Her soul was married to Joseph, exactly as Her spirit was united only to the Spirit of God by Whose deed She conceived Her Only Son: I, Jesus Christ, the Only Begotton Son of the Father and of Mary.
GRM 35.10
(...) I wish to tell them that Mary was and remained a virgin, and that only Her soul was married to Joseph, exactly as Her spirit was united only to the Spirit of God by Whose deed She conceived Her Only Son: I, Jesus Christ, the Only Begotton Son of the Father and of Mary.
This is not a tradition embellished afterwards, out of loving respect for the Blessed Virgin Who was My Mother. It is the truth and has been known since early times.
Matthew was not born after centuries. He was a contemporary of Mary. Matthew was not a poor ignorant man brought up in a forest and likely to believe any idle story. He was a clerk in the taxation office, as you would say nowadays, he was an excise man, as we said then. He could see, hear, understand, and distinguish truth from lies. Matthew did not hear things reported by third parties. He heard them directly from Mary’s lips to Whom he turned for information, prompted by his love for his Master and for the truth.
I do not believe that those repudiators of Mary’s inviolability will dare think that She may have lied. My own relatives could have given Her the lie, had there been other children: James, Judas, Simon and Joseph were disciples together with Matthew. Therefore Matthew could have easily compared their versions, had there been more than one. But Matthew does not say: ‘Get up and take your wife’. He says: ‘Take His Mother’. Before he says: ‘A virgin betrothed to Joseph’; ‘Joseph Her spouse’ (...).
Jesus speaks of Mary's virginity and says that, if the Virgin had had other children, her relatives would have been able to tell.
GRM 36
Maria saw a very poor house in Egypt. She sees the Child Jesus playing on the ground, at the age of two, two and a half at the most. Mary works at her loom while watching the child. At one point, she hands him his sandals, gives him a kiss, then puts away her loom. She returns, gives the Child her hand, and they leave the house for the street. Finally, she stops at a well. Joseph arrives in the meantime and quickens his pace when he sees his wife and Son. Joseph bends down to give the Child a piece of fruit, and there's a gentle, affectionate embrace between Jesus and his putative father. Joseph rises, taking Jesus in his right arm, and the three of them return to the house. Maria sees them preparing supper and eating together very simply, after praying.
Jesus then gives a dictation, insisting on the humility, resignation and perfect harmony of the Holy Family. Joseph and Mary are the guardians of the Holy Family, but they derive no material benefit from it. They live in poverty, in exile, in a world where people are suspicious of each other because they are strangers. Yet there is peace, serenity and harmony.
In this house, "there are no nervous, touchy people, closed faces or mutual reproaches, and even less reproaches towards God who does not shower them with material well-being." In this house," says Jesus, "we pray, we are frugal, we love work. Humility reigns in the Holy Family, and the supernatural, moral and material order is respected. We respect God (supernatural order), we respect Joseph as father and head of the family (moral order), we thank God for the goods we possess, even if they are poor (material order).
Jesus concludes by inviting us to meditate on this vision.
GRM 36.1-6
36.1 The sweet vision of the Holy Family. The place is in Egypt. I have no doubt because I see the desert and a pyramid.
I see a small house with a single floor, a ground floor, completely white. A poor house of very poor people. The walls are just plastered and whitewashed. There are two doors, one near the other, leading into the only two rooms of the house which, for the time being, I do not enter. The little house is in the middle of a small piece of sandy ground, enclosed by a fence of canes fixed into the ground, a very weak protection against thieves; it can only be used as a protection against cats or stray dogs. On the other hand, who would think of stealing where it is quite visible that there is not even the shadow of riches?
The little piece of ground, enclosed by the cane hedge, has been patiently cultivated as a little garden, notwithstanding that the earth is arid and poor. In order to make the hedge a little thicker and less scanty, they have grown some creepers which appear to be modest convolvuli, only on one side there is a shrub of jasmine in full bloom and a bush of common roses. In the kitchen garden I see some very modest vegetables in the centre under a tall plant which I do not recognise and which gives some shade to the arid ground and to the little house. A little black and white goat is tied to the plant and it is browsing on the leaves of some branches thrown on the ground.
36.2 And nearby on a mat on the ground there is the Child Jesus. I think He must be two years old, or two and a half at the very most. He is playing with some little pieces of carved wood, which look like little sheep or little horses, and with some clear wood shavings, less curly than His golden curls. With His little plump hands He is trying to put those wooden necklaces onto the necks of His little animals.
He is quiet and smiling. Very beautiful. His little head is a mass of very thick little golden curls, His skin is clear and slightly rosy, His eyes are live and bright, of a deep blue colour. The expression of course, is different, but I recognise the colour of the eyes of my Jesus: two beautiful dark sapphires.
He is wearing a kind of long white shirt which must certainly be His tunic, with short sleeves. At present He has nothing on His feet. His tiny sandals are on the mat and they, too, are being used as a toy by the Child, Who is placing His little animals on the mat, and then pulls the sandal by the strap as if it were a little cart. The sandals are very simple: a sole and two straps one of which coming from the tip and the other from the heel of the sole. The one coming from the tip then splits at a certain point and one piece passes through the eyelet of the strap from the heel, then goes round and is tied with the other piece, forming thus a ring at the ankle.
36.3 A little farther away, sitting also in the shade of the tree, there is Our Lady. She is weaving at a rustic loom and watching the Child. I can see Her white slender hands moving backwards and forwards throwing the shuttle on the weft while Her foot, shod in a sandal, is moving the pedal. She is wearing a tunic the colour of mallow flowers: a rosy violet like certain amethysts. She is not wearing anything on her head, and so I can see that Her hair is parted, forming two simple plaits which gather at the nape of Her neck. Her sleeves are long and rather narrow. She has no other ornament except Her beauty and Her most sweet expression. The colour of Her face, of Her hair and Her eyes, the form of Her face are always the same every time I see Her. She looks very young now. She looks about twenty years old.
At one point She gets up, and bends over the Child, puts His sandals back on again and ties them carefully. She then pats Him and kisses His little head and His beautiful eyes. The Child prattles and She answers. But I do not understand the words. She then goes back to Her loom; She covers the fabric and the weft with a piece of cloth, picks up the stool on which She was sitting and takes it into the house. The Child follows Her with His eyes without troubling Her when She leaves Him alone.
Obviously Her work is finished, and it is almost evening. In fact, the sun is setting on the barren sand, and a huge fire invades the whole sky behind the far away pyramid.
Mary comes back. She takes Jesus by the hand and lifts Him from His mat. The Child obeys without any resistance. While His Mother picks up His toys and the mat and takes them into the house, He toddles on His well shaped little legs towards the little goat and throws His little arms around her neck. The little goat bleats and rubs her head on Jesus’ shoulder.
Mary comes back. She is now wearing a long veil on Her head and is carrying an amphora in Her hand. She takes Jesus by the hand and they both start walking, turning round the little house towards the other side.
I follow them admiring the gracefulness of the picture. Our Lady adjusts Her step to the Child’s, and the Child toddles and trips along beside Her. I can see His rosy heels moving up and down, with the typical grace of children’s steps, on the sand of the little path. I notice that His little tunic does not reach down to His feet, but only to half His calf. It is very clean and simple and it is held tight to His waist by a little white cord.
I see that on the front of the house the hedge is broken by a rustic gate, which Mary opens to go out onto the road. It is a poor road at the end of a town or a village, whatever it may be, where it ends up with the country that here is formed of sand and some other houses, as poor as this one, with some scanty kitchen gardens.
I do not see anybody. Mary looks towards the centre of the town not towards the country, as if She were waiting for someone; She then moves towards a vessel or well, whatever it may be, which is some ten metres further up, and on which some palm trees form a shady circle. Over there some green can be seen on the ground.36.4 I can now see a man coming along the road; he is not very tall, but is well built. I recognise Joseph, who is smiling. He looks younger than when I saw him in the vision of Paradise. He may be forty years old at the most. His hair and beard are thick and black, his skin is rather tanned, his eyes are dark. An honest pleasant face, inspiring confidence.
When he sees Jesus and Mary, he quickens his step. On his left shoulder he has a kind of saw and a kind of plane, and he is holding in his hand other tools of his trade, not exactly like the ones we use now, but almost similar. He is probably coming back after working in somebody’s house. He is wearing a tunic the colour of which is between hazel and dark brown; it is not very long — it reaches a good bit up from his ankles — and its sleeves are short. I think he is wearing a leather belt at his waist. It is the proper tunic of a workman. On his feet he has sandals tied at his ankles.
Mary smiles and the Child utters cries of joy and He stretches out the hand which is free. When the three meet, Joseph bends down and offers the Child a fruit which I think is an apple, by its colour and shape. He then stretches his arms and the Child leaves His Mother and cuddles in the arms of Joseph, bending His little head into the cavity of Joseph’s neck; he kisses Him, and is kissed by Him. A scene full of loving grace.
I almost forgot to say that Mary had promptly taken Joseph’s work tools, to leave him free to embrace the Child.
Then Joseph, who had crouched down to the ground to be at the same level as Jesus, stands up, takes his tools with his left hand and holds little Jesus tight to his strong chest with his right arm. And he moves towards the house, while Mary goes to the fountain to fill Her amphora.
After entering the enclosure of the house, Joseph puts the Child down, takes Mary’s loom into the house, and then he milks the goat. Jesus watches all these activities carefully and in particular the closing of the little goat in a little closet in one side of the house.
It is now getting dark. I can see the red of the sunset becoming violet on the sands which seem to be trembling because of the heat. The pyramid looks darker.
Joseph goes into the house, into a room which must be his workshop, the kitchen, the dining room all in one. The other room is obviously the bedroom. But I do not go in there. The fire is lit in a low fireplace. There is a carpenter’s bench, a small table, some stools, some shelves with two oil lamps and some kitchenware on them. In a corner, there is Mary’s loom. And a great deal of order and cleanliness. A very poor dwelling, but very clean.
And this is a remark I wish to make: in all the visions concerning the human life of Jesus I have noticed that both He and Mary, as well as Joseph and John, are always tidy and clean both in their garments and their bodies. They wear modest and simple garments, but they are so clean that they look like gentlemen in them.
36.5 Mary comes back with the amphora and the door is closed on the rapidly growing dusk. The room is illuminated by a lamp that Joseph has lit and placed on his bench, where he now starts working on some little boards, while Mary is preparing supper. The fire, too, illuminates the room. Jesus, with His little hands leaning on the bench and His little head turned upwards, is watching what Joseph is doing.
They then sit down at the table after saying their prayers. Obviously they do not bless themselves with the sign of the cross, but they pray. It is Joseph who says the prayers, and Mary answers. I do not understand anything at all. It must be a psalm. But it is said in a language entirely unknown to me.
They then sit down at the table. The lamp is now on the table. Mary is holding Jesus in Her lap and makes Him drink some of the goat’s milk, into which She dips some small slices of bread that She has cut off a little round loaf. The crust of the loaf, as well as the inside, is very dark, it looks like rye bread or bread made with barley. It certainly contains a lot of bran, judging by its colour. In the meantime Joseph eats some bread and cheese, a small slice of cheese and a lot of bread. Then Mary sits Jesus on a little stool near Her and brings some cooked vegetables to the table — they appear to be boiled and dressed as we use them nowadays — and She also eats some of them after Joseph has helped himself. Jesus is nibbling happily at His apple, and He smiles displaying His little white teeth. Their supper ends with some olives or dates. I cannot tell exactly which because they appear to be too light to be olives and too hard to be dates. There is no wine. The supper of poor people.
But there is so much peace in this room that not even the sight of the most solemn royal palace could give me as much. And how much harmony!
36.6 Jesus does not speak this evening. He does not explain the scene. He has taught me with the gift of His vision and that is enough. May He be always and equally blessed.
Matthew 2:14-15:
Joseph arose, took the child and his mother by night, and withdrew into Egypt, where he remained until Herod's death, to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by the prophet: Out of Egypt I have called my son.
GRM 36.2
And nearby on a mat on the ground there is the Child Jesus. I think He must be two years old, or two and a half at the very most. He is playing with some little pieces of carved wood, which look like little sheep or little horses, and with some clear wood shavings, less curly than His golden curls. With His little plump hands He is trying to put those wooden necklaces onto the necks of His little animals.
He is quiet and smiling. Very beautiful. His little head is a mass of very thick little golden curls, His skin is clear and slightly rosy, His eyes are live and bright, of a deep blue colour. The expression of course, is different, but I recognise the colour of the eyes of my Jesus: two beautiful dark sapphires.
He is wearing a kind of long white shirt which must certainly be His tunic, with short sleeves. At present He has nothing on His feet. His tiny sandals are on the mat and they, too, are being used as a toy by the Child, Who is placing His little animals on the mat, and then pulls the sandal by the strap as if it were a little cart. The sandals are very simple: a sole and two straps one of which coming from the tip and the other from the heel of the sole. The one coming from the tip then splits at a certain point and one piece passes through the eyelet of the strap from the heel, then goes round and is tied with the other piece, forming thus a ring at the ankle.
Maria sees the baby Jesus in Matarea, during the Flight to Egypt.
GRM 36.3
36.3 A little farther away, sitting also in the shade of the tree, there is Our Lady. She is weaving at a rustic loom and watching the Child. I can see Her white slender hands moving backwards and forwards throwing the shuttle on the weft while Her foot, shod in a sandal, is moving the pedal. She is wearing a tunic the colour of mallow flowers: a rosy violet like certain amethysts. She is not wearing anything on her head, and so I can see that Her hair is parted, forming two simple plaits which gather at the nape of Her neck. Her sleeves are long and rather narrow. She has no other ornament except Her beauty and Her most sweet expression. The colour of Her face, of Her hair and Her eyes, the form of Her face are always the same every time I see Her. She looks very young now. She looks about twenty years old.
At one point She gets up, and bends over the Child, puts His sandals back on again and ties them carefully. She then pats Him and kisses His little head and His beautiful eyes. The Child prattles and She answers. But I do not understand the words. She then goes back to Her loom; She covers the fabric and the weft with a piece of cloth, picks up the stool on which She was sitting and takes it into the house. The Child follows Her with His eyes without troubling Her when She leaves Him alone.
Obviously Her work is finished, and it is almost evening. In fact, the sun is setting on the barren sand, and a huge fire invades the whole sky behind the far away pyramid.
Mary comes back. She takes Jesus by the hand and lifts Him from His mat. The Child obeys without any resistance. While His Mother picks up His toys and the mat and takes them into the house, He toddles on His well shaped little legs towards the little goat and throws His little arms around her neck. The little goat bleats and rubs her head on Jesus’ shoulder.
Mary comes back. She is now wearing a long veil on Her head and is carrying an amphora in Her hand. She takes Jesus by the hand and they both start walking, turning round the little house towards the other side.
I follow them admiring the gracefulness of the picture. Our Lady adjusts Her step to the Child’s, and the Child toddles and trips along beside Her. I can see His rosy heels moving up and down, with the typical grace of children’s steps, on the sand of the little path. I notice that His little tunic does not reach down to His feet, but only to half His calf. It is very clean and simple and it is held tight to His waist by a little white cord.
I see that on the front of the house the hedge is broken by a rustic gate, which Mary opens to go out onto the road. It is a poor road at the end of a town or a village, whatever it may be, where it ends up with the country that here is formed of sand and some other houses, as poor as this one, with some scanty kitchen gardens.
I do not see anybody. Mary looks towards the centre of the town not towards the country, as if She were waiting for someone; She then moves towards a vessel or well, whatever it may be, which is some ten metres further up, and on which some palm trees form a shady circle. Over there some green can be seen on the ground.
The Holy Family is in Matarea. Maria gives a physical description of Mary in the very first paragraph.
GRM 36.4-6
36.4 I can now see a man coming along the road; he is not very tall, but is well built. I recognise Joseph, who is smiling. He looks younger than when I saw him in the vision of Paradise. He may be forty years old at the most. His hair and beard are thick and black, his skin is rather tanned, his eyes are dark. An honest pleasant face, inspiring confidence.
When he sees Jesus and Mary, he quickens his step. On his left shoulder he has a kind of saw and a kind of plane, and he is holding in his hand other tools of his trade, not exactly like the ones we use now, but almost similar. He is probably coming back after working in somebody’s house. He is wearing a tunic the colour of which is between hazel and dark brown; it is not very long — it reaches a good bit up from his ankles — and its sleeves are short. I think he is wearing a leather belt at his waist. It is the proper tunic of a workman. On his feet he has sandals tied at his ankles.
Mary smiles and the Child utters cries of joy and He stretches out the hand which is free. When the three meet, Joseph bends down and offers the Child a fruit which I think is an apple, by its colour and shape. He then stretches his arms and the Child leaves His Mother and cuddles in the arms of Joseph, bending His little head into the cavity of Joseph’s neck; he kisses Him, and is kissed by Him. A scene full of loving grace.
I almost forgot to say that Mary had promptly taken Joseph’s work tools, to leave him free to embrace the Child.
Then Joseph, who had crouched down to the ground to be at the same level as Jesus, stands up, takes his tools with his left hand and holds little Jesus tight to his strong chest with his right arm. And he moves towards the house, while Mary goes to the fountain to fill Her amphora.
After entering the enclosure of the house, Joseph puts the Child down, takes Mary’s loom into the house, and then he milks the goat. Jesus watches all these activities carefully and in particular the closing of the little goat in a little closet in one side of the house.
It is now getting dark. I can see the red of the sunset becoming violet on the sands which seem to be trembling because of the heat. The pyramid looks darker.
Joseph goes into the house, into a room which must be his workshop, the kitchen, the dining room all in one. The other room is obviously the bedroom. But I do not go in there. The fire is lit in a low fireplace. There is a carpenter’s bench, a small table, some stools, some shelves with two oil lamps and some kitchenware on them. In a corner, there is Mary’s loom. And a great deal of order and cleanliness. A very poor dwelling, but very clean.
And this is a remark I wish to make: in all the visions concerning the human life of Jesus I have noticed that both He and Mary, as well as Joseph and John, are always tidy and clean both in their garments and their bodies. They wear modest and simple garments, but they are so clean that they look like gentlemen in them.
36.5 Mary comes back with the amphora and the door is closed on the rapidly growing dusk. The room is illuminated by a lamp that Joseph has lit and placed on his bench, where he now starts working on some little boards, while Mary is preparing supper. The fire, too, illuminates the room. Jesus, with His little hands leaning on the bench and His little head turned upwards, is watching what Joseph is doing.
They then sit down at the table after saying their prayers. Obviously they do not bless themselves with the sign of the cross, but they pray. It is Joseph who says the prayers, and Mary answers. I do not understand anything at all. It must be a psalm. But it is said in a language entirely unknown to me.
They then sit down at the table. The lamp is now on the table. Mary is holding Jesus in Her lap and makes Him drink some of the goat’s milk, into which She dips some small slices of bread that She has cut off a little round loaf. The crust of the loaf, as well as the inside, is very dark, it looks like rye bread or bread made with barley. It certainly contains a lot of bran, judging by its colour. In the meantime Joseph eats some bread and cheese, a small slice of cheese and a lot of bread. Then Mary sits Jesus on a little stool near Her and brings some cooked vegetables to the table — they appear to be boiled and dressed as we use them nowadays — and She also eats some of them after Joseph has helped himself. Jesus is nibbling happily at His apple, and He smiles displaying His little white teeth. Their supper ends with some olives or dates. I cannot tell exactly which because they appear to be too light to be olives and too hard to be dates. There is no wine. The supper of poor people.
But there is so much peace in this room that not even the sight of the most solemn royal palace could give me as much. And how much harmony!
36.6 Jesus does not speak this evening. He does not explain the scene. He has taught me with the gift of His vision and that is enough. May He be always and equally blessed.
Physical description of Joseph at the beginning of EMV 36.4