Religions and beliefs

• Paganism and pagans

«Master, You lie with Your own words!»

The sudden resentful remark comes from the centre of the crowd. They all turn around in the direction of the voice. There is some confusion.

Peter says: «I told You! Eh! When there is one of those over there… everything goes wrong!» Many people in the crowd hiss and grumble against the reviler.

Jesus is the only one who remains calm. He has folded His arms and is standing, tall as He is, on His rock, with the sun in front of Him, in His dark blue tunic.

The reviler, heedless of the reaction of the crowd, goes on: «You are a bad Master because You teach what You do not do and…»

«Be quiet! Go away! Shame!» shout the crowd. And again: «Go back to your Scribes! The Master is quite enough for us! Let the hypocrites go with the hypocrites! You false masters! Usurers!…» and they continue but Jesus thunders out: «Silence! Let him speak» and the crowds no longer shout but they whisper their insults glaring at him at the same time.

«Yes. You teach what You do not do. You told us that we should give alms without being seen, and yesterday in the presence of a whole crowd You said to two poor people: “Stay and I will appease your hunger”.»

«I said: “Let the two poor people stay here. They will be the blessed guests who will give flavour to our bread”. Nothing else. I did not say I wanted to satisfy their hunger. Which poor man has not at least some bread? It was My joy to extend our good friendship to them.»

«Of course! You are cunning and You can play the part of the lamb!…»

The old man stands up, turns around and raising his walking stick he shouts: «Infernal tongue who are accusing the Holy One, do you think that you know everything and that you can accuse Him of what you know? As you do not know who God is and who He is Whom you are insulting, so you do not know His deeds. Only the angels and my overjoyed heart know. Listen, men, listen everybody and see whether Jesus is the liar and the proud man as this traitor to the Temple is saying. He…»

«Be quiet, Ishmael! Be quiet for My sake! If I made you happy, please make Me happy by being silent» Jesus begs him.

«I obey You, Holy Son. But let me say only this: the blessing of an old faithful Israelite is on Him Who assisted me in the name of God and God put that blessing on my lips for me and for Sarah, my new daughter. But there will be no blessing on your head. I will not curse you. I will not foul, with a curse, my mouth which must say to God: “Receive me”. I did not do it to her who disowned me, and I have already received a divine reward for it. But there is One who will take the place of the Innocent you are accusing and of Ishmael, the friend of God, Who assists Him.»

A chorus of shouts closes the speech of the old man who sits down again, while a man sneaks away, followed by insults. The crowds then shout to Jesus: «Go on, go on, Holy Master! We will listen only to You. Listen to us, not to those cursed birds of evil omen! They are jealous, because we love You more than we love them! But You are holy, they are wicked. Go on, speak to us. You can see that we have no other wish but to hear You. Our homes, our business? They are nothing, we left them to hear You.»

«I will speak to you. But do not be upset by what happened. Pray for those poor people. Forgive them as I do. Because if you forgive men their faults, your Father Who is in Heaven will forgive you your sins as well. But if you bear men a grudge and do not forgive them, neither will your Father forgive you your shortcomings. And everybody needs to be forgiven.

• Anonymous characters
• Ishmael of Bethany
• Pharisees
• Sarah of Bethany
• Scribes

Do not be of little faith. Do not worry about an uncertain future saying: “What shall I eat when I am old? What shall I drink? How will I clothe myself?”. Leave such worries to the Gentiles, who do not have the lofty certainty of the divine paternity. You have it and you know that the Father is aware of your needs and loves you. Therefore trust Him. Seek first what is really necessary: faith, goodness, charity, humility, mercy, purity, justice, meekness, the three and four main virtues, and all the others as well, in order to be the friends of God, and have a right to His Kingdom. And I can assure you that all the rest will be given to you as well, without having to ask for it. There is no rich man richer than a saint or any man safer than he is. God is with the saint and the saint is with God. He does not ask anything for his body, and God supplies what is necessary. But he works for his soul, and God gives Himself to him in this world, and Paradise in the next one.

• Cardinal and theological virtues
• Charity
• Faith
• Friendship with God
• Humility
• Justice
• Kindness
• Kingdom of God - Kingdom of Heaven
• Mercy and forgiveness
• Paganism and pagans
• Purity
• Softness
• Trust in God
• Virtues

One of the men comes: «I have a daughter, Lord. Unfortunately she went to Tiberias with some girl friends and it was as if she had taken some poison. When she came back to me she was like a mad woman. She wants to go away with a Greek man… and then… Why was she born? Her mother is heartbroken and perhaps will die of grief… I… only Your words, which I heard last winter, keep me from killing her. But, I tell You, my heart has already cursed her.»

«No. God, Who is a Father, only curses an accomplished and obstinate sin. What do you want from Me?»

«That You get her to mend her ways.»

«I do not know her and she will certainly not come to Me.»

«But You can change her heart also from far away! Do You know who sent me to You? Johanna of Chuza. She was leaving for Jerusalem when I went to her mansion to ask her whether she knew that wretched Greek. I was afraid she might not know him, because she is good, although she lives at Tiberias, but since Chuza has contacts with the Gentiles… She does not know him. But she said to me: “Go to Jesus. He called my soul back from very far away and He cured me, by that call, of my phthisis. He will cure your daughter’s heart as well. I will pray and you must have faith”. I have faith. You can see it. Have mercy on me, Master.»

«Your daughter this evening will weep on her mother’s knees asking to be forgiven. You must be as good as her mother and forgive her. The past is dead.»

«Yes, Master. As You wish and may You be blessed.»

He turns around to go away… but retraces his steps: «Forgive me, Master… But I am so afraid. Lust is such a demon! Give me a thread of Your tunic. I will put it in my daughter’s pillow. The demon will not tempt her while she is asleep.»

Jesus smiles and shakes His head… but satisfies the man saying: «That your mind may be quieter. But you must believe that when God says: “I want it” the demon goes away without any further need. So keep this as a souvenir of Mine», and He gives him a small tuft from His fringe.

• Greeks
• Jeanne de Kouza
• Kouza
• Locations - Tiberias
• Paganism and pagans

An intelligent man does not become the laughing stock of the first doctrine he hears. A man saturated with a doctrine cannot make room in his mind for any other. This explains the difficulties met when one endeavours to convince those, who are persuaded of other doctrines, to follow the true Doctrine. But if you admit that you change your mind like a weathercock, I can see that you are thoroughly empty, that your spiritual stronghold is full of breaches, that the dam of your mind is leaking in hundreds of places, through which good water runs out and foul water runs in and you are so stupid and listless that you are not even aware of it and you do not see it. You are a wretch.

• Discernment
• Doctrine
• Instruction
• Intelligence
• Knowledge
• Religion

There is much excitement amongst the people who crowd around the path leading to the tableau. The people closest to Jesus turn their heads around. Everybody’s attention is distracted. Jesus stops speaking and turns His eyes in the same direction as the others. He is serious and handsome in His dark blue tunic, His arms folded on His chest while the first rays of the sun rising above the eastern peak of the hill shine on His head.

«Make room, you plebeians» shouts the angry voice of a man. «Make room for the beauty who is passing…» and four dandies. smartly dressed, come forward, one of whom is certainly Roman, because he is wearing a Roman toga; they are carrying Mary of Magdala, still a great sinner, triumphantly on their hands, crossed to form a seat.

And she smiles with her beautiful mouth, throwing back her head and her golden hair, which is all plaits and curls held by precious hair-pins and a pale gold leaf strewn with pearls, which encircles the upper part of her forehead like a diadem, from which small light curls hang down to veil her splendid eyes, made larger and more seductive by a refined make-up. The diadem disappears behind her ears, under the mass of plaits at the back of her snow-white completely bare neck. And her nakedness extends much farther than her neck. Her shoulders are bare down to her shoulder-blades and her breast is even more so. Her dress is held on her shoulders by two little gold chains. It is completely sleeveless. Her body is covered, so to say, by a veil the only purpose of which is to protect her skin from sunburn. The dress is of a very light fabric and when she throws herself back, out of affection, against one or the other of her lovers, she seems to be doing so completely naked. I am under the impression that the Roman is the one she prefers because she glances and smiles at him more frequently and rests her head on his shoulder.

«The desire of the goddess has been satisfied» says the Roman. «Rome has acted as a mount for the new Venus. Over there, there is the Apollo you wanted to see. Seduce Him, therefore… But leave some crumbs of your charm to us as well.»

Mary laughs and with an agile provoking movement she jumps to the ground, showing her small feet shod in white sandals with golden buckles, as well as a good length of her leg. Then her dress covers her whole body. It is in fact a very wide one of snow-white wool as thin as a veil, held tight at the waist, very low, near her sides, by a large belt made of supple gold bosses. And she stands on the green tableland, where there is a vast amount of lilies of the valley and wild narcissi, like a flower of flesh, an impure flower, which has opened there by witchcraft.

She is more beautiful than ever. Her tiny purple lips seem a carnation opening on the whiteness of her perfect set of teeth. Her face and body would satisfy the most exacting painter or sculptor both because of her complexion and her figure. With her broad breast, her perfectly sized sides, her naturally supple slender waist, as compared with her sides and breast, she does look like a goddess, as the Roman said, a goddess sculptured in a light pinkish marble on the sides of which a fabric is draped and then hangs in the front in a mass of folds. Everything has been devised to please.

Jesus stares at her. And she defiantly resists His look while she smiles and twists lightly as the Roman tickles her, running on her bare shoulders and breast a lily picked among the grass. Mary with affected indignation, lifts her veil saying: «Have respect for my innocence» which causes the four to burst into a guffaw.

Jesus continues staring at her. As soon as the noise of the laughter fades away, Jesus carries on speaking, as if the apparition of the woman had kindled the flame of the sermon, which was losing intensity in its conclusion, and no longer looks at her. He looks instead at His audience who seem embarrassed and scandalised at the event.

• Romans

I told you to be faithful to the Law, to be humble and merciful, to love not only your brothers by the flesh but also those who are brothers because they were born, like you, of man. I told you that forgiveness is better than hostility, that compassion is better than stubbornness. But now I tell you that you must not condemn unless you are free from the fault you wish to condemn. Do not behave like the Scribes and Pharisees who are severe with everybody except themselves, who call impure what is exterior and can only contaminate what is exterior and then they receive impurity in the very depths of their hearts.

• Bible - Gospel of Luke
• Bible - Gospel of Matthew
• How to perfect and sanctify yourself
• Humility
• Jesus Christ's reproaches to the Pharisees
• Judgment
• Loyalty
• Man - God's creature
• Mercy and forgiveness
• Modern self-righteousness (quibbling and bickering)
• Phariseeism
• Pharisees
• Scribes
• Severity - Intransigence - Toughness
• Sin
• Word of God - Law of God

In the meantime Jesus tells Peter to take the tent down.

«Are we really going away?»

«Yes, we are.»

«Because she came?…»

«Yes, but do not tell anybody, especially the Zealot. He would be upset because of Lazarus. I cannot allow the word of God to be mocked at by heathens…»

«I see, I see…»

«Well, there is another thing you must understand.»

«Which, Master?»

«That it is necessary to be silent in certain cases. Please do not forget. You are so dear, but you are also so impulsive as to burst out into biting criticism.»

«I understand… You do not want for Lazarus and Simon…»

«And for others as well.»

«Do You think there will be any today?»

«Today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, always. It will always be necessary to watch the rashness of My Simon of Jonah. Go now and do what I told you.»

Peter goes away calling his companions to help him.

• Enemies of Jesus Christ
• Lazare
• Pharisees
• Simon the Zealot (apostle)
• Simon-Pierre - Simon de Jonas (apostle)

I cannot allow the word of God to be mocked at by heathens…

• Contempt - Disdain
• Don't throw pearls to swine
• Paganism and pagans
• Word of God - Law of God

«Master, I would like to remind You that today is Friday and that these people… I do not know whether they will be able to get food in time for tomorrow or reach their homes» says Bartholomew.

«That’s true. It is Friday!» several of them say.

«It does not matter. God will provide. But we will tell them.»

Jesus stands up and goes to His new place, in the middle of the crowds spread in the thickets. «First of all I wish to remind you that today is Friday. I say that those who are afraid they cannot reach their homes in time and are not in a position to believe that God will provide food for His children tomorrow, should go away at once, so that they will not be still on the road at sunset.»

Of all the crowd there, about fifty people get up. All the others stay where they are.

174.18

Jesus smiles and begins to speak.

• Anonymous characters
• Barthélémy - Nathanaël (apostle)
• John of Capernaum (the disciple)
• Sabbath
• Trust in Providence - Be like the birds