Religions and beliefs

53.1 I see Jesus entering the enclosure of the Temple with Peter, Andrew, John, James, Philip and Bartholomew. There is a very large crowd both inside and outside the enclosure. Pilgrims are arriving in flocks from every part of the town.

From the top of the hill on which the Temple is built, one can see the narrow twisted streets of the town, swarming with people. It seems as though a mobile, multi-coloured ribbon has been laid between the white houses. The town looks like a rare toy indeed, a toy made of gaily-coloured ribbons between two white threads, all converging onto the point where the domes of the House of the Lord are shining.

Inside it is… a real market. The concentration of a holy place has been destroyed. Some run, some call, some bargain for lambs, shouting and cursing because of the extortionate prices, some drive the poor bleating animals into their enclosures (rough partitions made of ropes and pegs, at the entrance of which stand the merchants or owners, awaiting buyers). Blows with cudgels, bleatings, curses, shouts, insults to the boys who are not quick in gathering together or selecting the animals, abuses to the purchasers who haggle over prices or who go away, more serious insults to those who wisely brought their own lambs.

Near the benches of the money-changers there is more bawling. It is obvious that either always, or at Passover time, the Temple operated as a… stock exchange or black market. There was no fixed rate of exchange. There must have been a legal rate, but the money-changers imposed a different one, making whatever profit they fancied for exchanging the money. And I can assure you they were not joking in their usury transactions!… The poorer the people were and the farther they came from, the more they were fleeced: old people more than young people, those coming from beyond Palestine more than the old folk.

Some poor old men looked over and over again at the money they had saved in a whole year, I wonder with how much hard work, they took it out and put it back into their purses dozens and dozens of times, going from one money-changer to another and at times ending up by going back to the first one, who took avenge for their original desertion by increasing the premium for the exchange. And the big coins passed from the hands of the sighing owners into the clutches of the usurers and were changed into smaller coins. Then a further tragedy would take place with vendors over the choice and payment of their lambs, and the poor old men, particularly if they were half blind, were fobbed off with the most wretched little lambs.

• Places - Jerusalem Temple

53.5 Priests, rabbis and Pharisees rush to the spot. Jesus is still in the middle of the yard, on His way back from the chase. The lash is still in His hands.

«Who are You? How dare You do that, upsetting the prescribed ceremonies? From which school are You? We do not know You, neither do we know where You come from.»

«I am He Who is Mighty. I can do anything. Destroy this true Temple and I will raise it to give praise to God. I am not upsetting the holiness of the House of God or of the ceremonies, but you are perturbing it, allowing His House to become the centre of usurers and merchants. My school is the school of God. The same school that the whole of Israel had when the Eternal God spoke to Moses. You do not know Me? You will know Me. You do not know where I come from? You will learn.»

• Jesus Christ's reproaches to the Pharisees
• Pharisees

58.3 Jesus asks His apostle: «Will you have a good haul?»

«The weather is right. The water is calm, it will be clear moonlight. The fish will come to the surface from the bottom and my net will drag them.»

«Are we going by ourselves?»

«Oh! Master! How could we manage by ourselves with this type of net.»

«I have never gone fishing and I expect to be taught by you.» Jesus goes down very slowly towards the lake and He stops near the boat, on the coarse, pebbly sands.

«See, Master: this is what we do. I go out beside the boat of James of Zebedee, and we go thus to the right point, both boats together. Then we lower the net. We hold one end. You said You wanted to hold it.»

«Yes, if you tell Me what I have to do.»

«Oh! You only have to watch it going down. It must be lowered slowly without making any knots. Very slowly, because we will be in a fishing area, and any harsh movement may drive the fish away. Without knots, otherwise the net would close up, whereas it must open like a bag, or if You prefer so, like a veil blown by the wind. Then, when the net is fully lowered, we will row gently, or we may set sail, according to circumstances, forming a semicircle on the lake. And when we understand by the vibration of the safety peg that the haul is good, we head for the shore. When we are almost on the shore — not before to avoid running the risk of losing all the fish; not after, to avoid damaging both the fish and net on the stones — we will haul in the net. At this point we must be very careful, because the boats must be so close as to allow one boat to catch the end of the net from the other one, but they must not collide, to avoid crushing the netful of fish.

58.4 Please, Master, be careful, it is our daily bread. Keep an eye on the net, that jolts may not overturn it. The fish fight for their freedom with strong strokes of their tails, and if there is a lot of them… You will understand… They are small things, but if ten, one hundred, a thousand get together, they become as strong as Leviathan.»

«The same happens with sins, Peter. After all, one fault is not irreparable. But if one is not careful in controlling oneself, and one adds fault to fault, at the end a little fault, perhaps a single omission, or a simple weakness, becomes bigger and bigger, it becomes a habit, it becomes a capital vice. At times one starts with a lustful glance and ends up by committing adultery. At times, while simply lacking charity when speaking to a relative, one ends up by doing violence to one’s neighbour. Never, never allow faults to increase in seriousness and in numbers, if you wish to avoid trouble! They become dangerous and overbearing like the infernal Snake himself, and they will drag you down into Gehenna.»

«What You say is right, Master… But we are so weak!»

«Care and prayer are necessary to become strong and obtain help, together with a strong will not to sin. And you must have full trust in the loving justice of the Father.»

• Fishing in the time of Jesus
• Lessons and Teachings for the Apostles

«I cannot bear the fact that they do not love You!»

«Oh! Peter! You will see much greater indifference! You will have many surprises, Peter! People that the so called “holy” world scorns as being money-changers, who instead will set an example in the world, an example which will not be followed by those who despise them. Heathens who will be My most faithful ones. Prostitutes who will become pure by strong will power and penance. Sinners who amend their way of living…»

«Listen: that a sinner amends his way… it may well be. But a prostitute and a money-changer!…»

«You do not believe it?»

«I do not.»

«You are mistaken, Simon.»

• Fishermen
• Paganism and pagans
• Pharisees
• Publicans and prostitutes go before you into the Kingdom of God

64.1 I see the shore of the lake of Gennesaret. And I can see the boats beached by the fishermen; on the foreshore, leaning against the boats, are Peter and Andrew, intent on mending the nets, which their assistants bring them still dripping, having rinsed them in the lake to remove entangled rubbish. About ten yards away, John and James, bent over their boat, are busy at tidying it up, and they are helped by an assistant and by a man about fifty or fifty-five years old, who I think is Zebedee, because the assistant calls him «master» and also because he is very like James.

Peter and Andrew, with their backs to the boat, are working silently knotting the threads of the nets and fixing corks to them. Now and again they exchange a few words about their work, which, as far as I understand, has not been profitable.

Peter is sorry about it, not because of the loss of profit or the unprofitable work, but he says: «I am sorry, because… what shall we do to feed these poor people? We receive only occasional offerings and I am not going to touch the ten pieces of silver and the seven drachmas we collected during the last four days. Only the Master can tell me to whom and how that money is to be given. And He will not be back here until Sabbath! If we had had a good haul!… I would have cooked the small fish for the poor… and if anyone at home grumbled, I would not have cared. Healthy people can find food for themselves. But sick people!…»

«Above all that paralytic!… They have already travelled so much to bring him here…» says Andrew.

(...) [Jesus returns to his disciples, and the Master delivers a sermon in the home of one of his apostles.]

People crowd into the big room at the back of the house, which is used as a store for nets, ropes, baskets, oars, sails, and provisions. Peter must have put it at Jesus’ disposal, because everything has been piled up in one corner to make room. The lake cannot be seen from here. Only its gently lapping waves can be heard. Instead one can see the low greenish wall of the kitchen garden, with the old vine and the leafy fig-tree. There are people even on the road, as they pass from the room into the kitchen garden and hence onto the road.

64.4 Jesus begins to speak. In the front row, there are five… high-ranking people, who have elbowed their way through the crowd taking advantage of the fear they strike into poor people. Their sumptuous garments and their pride announce them as Pharisees and doctors.

(...) 64.5 «Master!» shouts Peter amidst the crowd, «the sick people are here. Two of them can wait until You come out, but this one is crushed amongst the crowd and… he cannot stay here any longer. It is impossible for us to come in. Shall I send him back?»

«No, lower him down through the roof.»

«You are right. We will do that at once.»

I can hear them shuffling on the low roof of the big room, the terrace of which is not built of cement, as the store-room is not really part of the house. The roof is formed with branches covered by chips of stone like slate. I do not know what stone it is. They make an opening through which, by means of ropes, they lower down the little stretcher on which the patient is lying. It is lowered in front of Jesus. The crowds throng closer to see.

«Both you and who brought you have great faith.»

«Oh! Lord! How could we have no faith in You?»

«Well, I say to you: son (he is a very young man) your sins are forgiven.»

The man looks at him, crying… perhaps he is somewhat disappointed because he was hoping to be healed in his body. The Pharisees and doctors whisper something to one another turning up their noses, foreheads and mouths in disdain.

«Why are you muttering, more in your hearts than with your lips? According to you, it is easier to say to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven” or “Get up, take your little bed and walk away”? You think that only God can forgive sins. But you cannot answer which of these things is greater, because this man, whose whole body is lost to him, has spent a lot of money without being healed. And he can only be healed by God. Now, that you may learn that I can do everything, that you may learn that the Son of man has authority both over bodies and souls, on the earth and in Heaven, I say to him: “Get up. Pick up your bed and walk. Go home and be holy”.»

The man jerks, he shouts, stands up, he throws himself at Jesus’ feet, kisses and caresses them, he cries and laughs, and his relatives and the crowd do likewise. The crowd divides into two to let him pass, as if he were triumphant, and they follow him rejoicing. The five resentful men go away, conceited and as stiff as sticks.

• Bible - Gospel of Luke
• Bible - Gospel of Mark
• Bible - Gospel of Matthew
• Healed paralytic
• Healing and physical miracles
• Miracles of Jesus Christ
• Pharisees

64.1 I see the shore of the lake of Gennesaret. And I can see the boats beached by the fishermen; on the foreshore, leaning against the boats, are Peter and Andrew, intent on mending the nets, which their assistants bring them still dripping, having rinsed them in the lake to remove entangled rubbish. About ten yards away, John and James, bent over their boat, are busy at tidying it up, and they are helped by an assistant and by a man about fifty or fifty-five years old, who I think is Zebedee, because the assistant calls him «master» and also because he is very like James.

Peter and Andrew, with their backs to the boat, are working silently knotting the threads of the nets and fixing corks to them. Now and again they exchange a few words about their work, which, as far as I understand, has not been profitable.

• Fishing in the time of Jesus
• Zebedee (father of James and John of Zebedee)

65.2 Jesus says to Simon: «Call the other two. Let us go on to the lake and cast the net.»

«Master, my arms ache with fatigue: all night I cast and hauled the net, and all in vain. The fish are down at the bottom. I wonder where.»

«Do as I tell you, Peter. Always listen to those who love you.»

«I will do as You say, out of respect for Your word.» And he shouts to the assistants and also to James and John: «Let us go out fishing. The Master wants to go.» And while they are moving away, he says to Jesus: «However, Master, I assure You that it is not the right time. Goodness knows where the fish will be resting just now!…»

Jesus, sitting at the prow, smiles and is silent.

They form a semicircle on the lake and then cast the net. After a few minutes’ waiting, the boat is shaken in a strange way, because the lake is as smooth as a glass pane under the midday sun.

«But that is fish, Master!» says Peter, with his eyes wide open.

Jesus smiles and is silent.

«Heave ho! Heave ho!» Peter orders his assistants. But the boat tilts to one side, where the net is: «Hey there! James! John! Quick! Come Quick! With the oars! Quick!»

They rush and the joint efforts of the two crews succeed in hauling in the net without damaging the catch.

The two boats draw closer. They are now united. One, two, five, ten baskets. They are all full of wonderful fish, and there are still so many wriggling in the net: live silver and bronze, struggling to escape death. There is only one thing to be done: to empty the net into the bottom of the boats. They do that and the bottoms become a turmoil of agonizing lives. And the crew are up to their ankles in such abundance that the boats sink below the water-line because of the excessive weight.

«To the shore! Steer! Quick! The sails! Watch the depth line! Have the poles ready to prevent a clash. We have too much weight!»

65.3 As long as the manoeuvre lasts, Peter thinks of nothing else. But when he gets ashore, he begins to realise. He understands. He is frightened. «Master! My Lord! Go away from me! I am a sinner! I am not worthy of being near You!» He is on his knees on the damp shore.

Jesus looks at him and smiles: «Get up! Follow Me! I will not leave you anymore! From now on, you will be a fisher of men, and your companions with you. Be afraid of nothing. I am calling you. Come!»

«At once, Lord. You look after the boats. Take everything to Zebedee and to my brother-in-law. Let us go. We are all for You, Jesus! Blessed be the Eternal Father for this choice.»

And the vision ends.

• André (apostle)
• Fishing in the time of Jesus
• James of Zebedee (apostle)
• John of Zebedee (apostle)
• Miraculous fishing
• Simon-Pierre - Simon de Jonas (apostle)

«You want to follow Me for a human reason, Judas. But I must dissuade you. I have not come for that.»

«But are You not the designated King of the Jews? The one of whom the Prophets spoke? Others have come. But they lacked too many things and they fell like leaves no longer supported by the wind. But You have God with You, in fact You work miracles. Where there is God, the success of the mission is guaranteed.»

«You have spoken the truth. I have God with Me. I am His Word. I was prophesied by the Prophets, promised to the Patriarchs, expected by the people. But why, Israel, have you become so blind and deaf that you are no longer able to read and see, to hear and understand the reality of events? My Kingdom is not of this world, Judas. Allow yourself to be convinced of that. I have come to Israel to bring Light and Glory. But not the light and glory of the earth. I have come to call the just of Israel to the Kingdom. Because it is from Israel that the plant of eternal life is to come, and with Israel it is to be formed, the plant, the sap of which will be the Blood of the Lord, the plant that will spread all over the earth, until the end of time. My first followers will be from Israel. My first confessors will be from Israel. But also My persecutors will be from Israel. Also My executioners will be from Israel. And also My traitor will be from Israel.»

«No, Master. That will never happen. If everyone should betray You, I will remain with You and defend You.»

«You, Judas? And on what do you base your certainty?»

«On my honour as a man.»

«Which is more fragile than a cobweb, Judas. It is God we have to ask for the strength to be honest and faithful. Man!… Man accomplishes human deeds. To accomplish spiritual deeds — and to follow the Messiah with truthfulness and justice is to accomplish a spiritual deed — it is necessary to kill man and make him be born again. Are you capable of so much?»

«Yes, Master. And in any case… Not everybody in Israel will love You. But Israel will not give the Messiah executioners and traitors. Israel has been waiting for You for centuries!»

«I will be given them. Remember the Prophets… Their words… and their end. I am destined to disappoint many. And you are one of them. Judas, you have here in front of you a mild, peaceful poor man, who wishes to remain poor. I have not come to impose Myself and make war. I am not going to contend with the strong and mighty ones for any kingdom or any power. I contend only with Satan for souls and I have come to break the chains of Satan with the fire of My love. I have come to teach mercy, sacrifice, humbleness, continence. I say to you and to everybody: “Do not crave for human wealth, but work for eternal coins”. You are deceiving yourself if you think I am to triumph over Rome and the ruling classes. Herods and Caesars can sleep in peace, while I speak to the crowds. I have not come to snatch anybody’s sceptre,… and My eternal sceptre is already ready, but no one, unless one was love as I am, would like to hold it.»

• Israel's mistake - The Jews' mistake
• Kingship of Jesus Christ - Christ-King

• Jesus Christ
• Judas de Kérioth (apostle)
• Locations - Jerusalem
• Miracles of Jesus Christ
• Summary of EMV

67.1 I see Jesus walking along a shady road all alone. It looks like a fresh little valley, rich in waters. I call it a little valley because it is embanked between two risings of the ground and a rivulet flows in its centre.

The place is deserted in the early morning hour. The sun has just risen, a beautiful, clear summer day, and with the exception of the warbling of the birds in the trees and the plaintive cooing of wild doves nesting in the crevices of the barren hill, no other sound is heard. The trees are mostly olive-trees, particularly on the hill on the left-hand side, whereas the other hill is more barren with low lentisk, thorny acacia and agave bushes, etc. Even the rivulet, with very little water lying in the centre of the riverbed, does not seem to make any noise, and flows gently reflecting in its depth the green of the surrounding hills, and therefore looks dark emerald.

Jesus crosses a primeval little bridge: the trunk of a tree, half planed, thrown across the torrent, without a parapet or any protection, and goes on His way on the other bank.

I can now see walls and gates and also some merchants with vegetables and foodstuffs crowding near the gates, still closed, waiting to go into town. Donkeys are busy braying and brawling; also their owners scuffle in robust style. Insults and blows with cudgels are aimed at and given not only to the donkeys’ backs, but also to human heads.

• Locations - Jerusalem