Notes for this theme
Reading comfort
GRM 55.3
One day I will grant a greater purity… One day the sealed tombs will violently expel those who are really dead, and they will appear and laugh with their empty eye sockets, with their bare jaws, because of the rejoicing of the souls freed from Limbo, a remote rejoicing and yet perceived even by skeletons. They will appear to laugh because of this liberation and to throb knowing it is due to…
GRM 55.4-5
55.4 Peter mumbles something. Jesus hears him.
«What is the matter with you, Peter? You either grumble or are silent. You seem to be discontented. Why?»
«I am discontented. We were the first and You did not work a miracle for us. We were the first and You let a stranger sit beside You. We were the first and You entrust him, not us, with a task. We were the first and… yet, yes, we seem to be the last ones. Why are You going to wait for them on the road near the river? Certainly to entrust them with some mission. Why them, and not us?»
Jesus looks at him. He is not angry. On the contrary He smiles as one smiles at a child. He gets up, goes slowly over to Peter and, smiling, says to him: «Peter! Peter! You are a big, old baby!» And He says to Andrew, who is sitting beside his brother: «Go and take My seat» and He sits beside Peter, clasping his shoulders with His arm, and He speaks to him, holding him thus against His own shoulder: «Peter, you think I am being unfair, but I am not. On the contrary it is a proof that I know what you are worth. Look. Who needs proof? He who is not yet certain. I knew you were so certain about Me, that I did not feel any need to give you evidence of My power. Proof is required here in Jerusalem, where vices, lack of religion, politics and many worldly things dim souls to such an extent that they can no longer see the Light passing by. But up there, on our beautiful lake, so clear under a clear sky, amongst honest and good willing people, no proof is required. You will have miracles. I will pour torrents of graces upon you. But consider how I valued you, I took you without demanding any proof and without finding it necessary to give you any, because I know who you are. You are dear to Me, so dear, and so faithful.»
Peter cheers up: «Forgive me, Jesus.»
«Yes, I forgive you because your sulkiness is a sign of love. But do not be envious any more, Simon of Jonas. Do you know what the heart of your Jesus is? Have you ever seen the sea, the real sea? You have? Well, My heart is bigger than the immense sea! And there is room for everybody. For the whole of mankind. And the smallest person has a place just like the greatest. And a sinner finds love just like an innocent. I am entrusting these with a mission. Certainly. Do you want to forbid Me? I chose you. You did not choose yourselves. I am therefore free to decide how I want to employ you. And if I leave them here with a mission — which might well be a test, as the lapse of time granted to the Iscariot may be due to mercy — can you reproach Me? How do you know that I am not keeping a greater mission for you? And is not the nicest mission to be told: “You will come with me”?»
«It is true. I am a blockhead! Forgive me…»
«Yes. I forgive everything. Oh! Peter!… But I beg you all never to discuss merits and positions. I could have been born a king. I was born poor, in a stable. I could have been rich. I lived with My work and now I live out of charity. And yet, believe Me, My friends, there is no one greater than I in the eyes of God. Greater than I am, Who am here: the servant of man.»
«You a servant? Never!»
«Why not, Peter?»
«Because I will serve You.»
«Even if You served Me as a mother serves her child, I have come to serve man. I will be a Saviour for him. What service is there like that?»
«Oh! Master! You explain everything. And what seemed dark becomes clear at once!»
«Are you happy now, Peter? 55.5 Now let Me finish talking to Thomas.»
Jesus gives a mission to Thomas, who has just joined the apostolic group, and Peter grumbles.
GRM 55.4
«Do you know what the heart of your Jesus is? Have you ever seen the sea, the real sea? You have? Well, My heart is bigger than the immense sea! And there is room for everybody. For the whole of mankind. And the smallest person has a place just like the greatest. And a sinner finds love just like an innocent. I am entrusting these with a mission. Certainly. Do you want to forbid Me? I chose you. You did not choose yourselves. I am therefore free to decide how I want to employ you. And if I leave them here with a mission — which might well be a test, as the lapse of time granted to the Iscariot may be due to mercy — can you reproach Me? How do you know that I am not keeping a greater mission for you? And is not the nicest mission to be told: “You will come with me”?»
GRM 55.4
«I beg you all never to discuss merits and positions. I could have been born a king. I was born poor, in a stable. I could have been rich. I lived with My work and now I live out of charity. And yet, believe Me, My friends, there is no one greater than I in the eyes of God. Greater than I am, Who am here: the servant of man.»
«You a servant? Never!»
«Why not, Peter?»
«Because I will serve You.»
«Even if You served Me as a mother serves her child, I have come to serve man. I will be a Saviour for him. What service is there like that?»
GRM 56
Near the ford of the Jordan, Maria sees Thomas, Jude of Alphaea and Simon the Zealot. They've been waiting for Jesus at this spot for three days, and Jude assures them that if his cousin has promised to meet them here, he will. Jude talks about his connection with Jesus, explaining that he is his cousin, that he was Joseph's favorite, and that he grew up very much at the side of the Virgin Mary. The man from Nazareth also tells of the divisions in his family, but now he wants to follow Christ. He just regrets that fathers can be their child's enemy. Simon the Zealot sighs at this remark, but Thomas reveals that his father encouraged him to follow the Messiah.
Jesus finally arrives. Jude then reveals his intention to follow his Master, and Christ welcomes him: he also confirms to him that it is indeed permissible to follow the Lord, for "there is nothing above God."
After complimenting Thomas on his obedience and faithfulness, Jesus turns his attention to Simon the Zealot. He asks him to follow him, and the two discuss his kinship, his father and his illness. The Master then unites Simon the Zealot and Jude, one childless because of his infirmity, the other having lost his father in following the Lord. For the time being, however, he gave each of them a mission. Thomas is to evangelize in Judea. Jude is to evangelize Nazareth. Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip and Bartholomew return to their boats in Capernaum and Bethsaida.
GRM 56.2
One of the six said to me, when the Master was going away amid the acclamations of the crowd, after the miraculous healing of a crippled beggar, who was healed at the Fish Gate: “We are now going out of Jerusalem. Wait for us five miles between Jericho and Doco, at the bend of the river, along the road in the woodland”. This one. He also said: “We will be there in three days’ time at dawn”. This is the third day, and we have been here before dawn.
Thomas talks with Jude and Simon and says to them:
GRM 56.3
56.3 «Have you always been with Him?»
«Yes, always. Since He came back to Nazareth He was my good companion. We were always together. We are about the same age, I am a little older. And I was the favourite of His father, who was my father’s brother. Also His Mother was very fond of me. I grew up more with Her than with my own mother.»
«She was fond… Is She no longer as fond of you, now?»
«Oh! Yes, She is. But we have parted a little since He became a prophet. My relatives are not happy about it.»
«Which relatives?»
«My father and the two older brothers. The other one is undecided… My father is very old and I did not have the courage to hurt him. But now… Now, no longer so. Now I am going where my heart and my mind tell me. I am going to Jesus. I don’t think I am offending the Law by doing so. In any case… if what I want to do was not right, Jesus would tell me. I will do what He says. Is it right for a father to prevent a son from doing good? If I feel that my salvation is there, why prevent me from reaching it? Why, at times, are our fathers our enemies?»
Simon sighs as if he were overwhelmed by sad memories, he lowers his head, but does not speak.
Thomas instead replies: «I have already overcome the obstacle. My father listened to me and he understood me. He blessed me saying: “Go. May this Passover be for you the liberation from the slavery of waiting. You are lucky because you can believe. I will wait. But if it is really Him, and you will find out following Him, then come and say to your old father: ‘Come, Israel has the Expected One’”.»
«You are luckier than I am. And we always lived beside Him!… And we, in the family, do not believe!… We say, that is: they say: “He has gone mad”!»
Simon the Zealot asks Jude if he has always accompanied Christ.
GRM 56.4
Translation in progress
GRM 56.5
56.5 «You too, Judas, My cousin, are here?»
They embrace each other. Judas is weeping.
«Why are you weeping?»
«Oh! Jesus! I want to stay with You!»
«I have been waiting for you all the time. Why did you not come?»
Judas lowers his head and is silent.
«They did not let you! And now?»
«Jesus, I… I cannot obey them. I want to obey You only.»
«But I did not give you an order.»
«No, You did not. But it is Your mission that gives it! It is He, Who sent You, Who is speaking here, in my heart, and says to me: “Go to Him”. It is She, Who bore You, my sweet teacher, Who with Her gentle look, as mild as a dove’s, says to me without uttering a word: “Be of Jesus!”. Can I ignore that heavenly voice that pierces my heart? Can I ignore the prayers of such a Holy Woman, Who implores me for my own good? Only because I am Your cousin on Joseph’s side, am I not to acknowledge You for what You are, whereas the Baptist recognised You, although he had never seen You, here, on the banks of this river and he greeted You as the “Lamb of God”? And I, should I not be capable of anything, although I was brought up with You, and I was good because I followed You, and I became a son of the Law through Your Mother, from Whom I learned not the six hundred and thirteen precepts of the rabbis, besides the Scriptures and the prayers, but the essence of them all?»
«And your father?»
«My father? He does not lack bread and assistance, and then… You give me the example. You have thought of the welfare of the people, rather than the little advantage of Mary. And She is alone. Tell me, Master, is it not right for a son to say to his father, without lacking respect: “Father, I love you. But God is above you and I will follow Him”?»
«Judas, My cousin and My friend, I tell you: you have made good progress on the way to Light. Come. It is lawful to speak thus to a father, when it is God Who calls. There is nothing above God. Also the laws of relationship cease, that is they are raised to a dignity, because with our tears we give our fathers and mothers a greater help and for something everlasting, not for a short time in this world. We draw them with us to Heaven, and by sacrificing our affections, to God. So, Judas, stay here. I have been waiting for you and I am happy to have you, the friend of My life at Nazareth.»
Judas is touched.
GRM 56.5
Only because I am Your cousin on Joseph’s side, am I not to acknowledge You for what You are, whereas the Baptist recognised You, although he had never seen You, here, on the banks of this river and he greeted You as the “Lamb of God”?
Jude speaks to Jesus and says: