Jewish religion, castes, rites and festivals at the time of Christ

• Places - Jerusalem Temple
• Summary of EMV

It is the eve of Passover. Jesus is alone with His apostles, because the women have not joined the group, and He is waiting for Peter, who has taken the lamb of Passover to be sacrificed. While they are waiting and Jesus is speaking to Marjiam of Solomon, Judas crosses the large yard. He is with a group of young men speaking, gesticulating ostentatiously and assuming an inspired attitude. He shakes his mantle continuously, then drapes it round himself posing skilfully. I do not think that Cicero looked so stately when delivering his orations…

«Look, Judas is over there!» says Thaddeus.

«He is with a group of saforim» remarks Philip.

And Thomas says: «I am going to hear what he is saying» and he runs away before Jesus may express a foreseeable «don’t».

Oh! Jesus’ countenance! A countenance of suffering and of severe judgement. Marjiam, who was looking at Him while He was speaking kindly and somewhat sadly of the great king of Israel, notices, the sudden change, is almost frightened by it and shakes Jesus’ hand to call Him back to His senses exclaiming: «Don’t look! Don’t look! Look at me, for I love You.»…

202.2

Thomas is successful in reaching Judas without being seen by him and follows him for a few steps. I do not know what he hears, but I know that he bursts into a sudden thundering exclamation. which causes many people to turn around, and in particular Judas, who becomes livid with rage: «How many rabbis there are in Israel! I congratulate you, new light of wisdom!»

«I am not a flint-stone. I am a sponge. And I absorb. And when the desire of those starving for wisdom demands it, I squeeze out all my juices of life to give them…» Judas is pompous and contemptuous.

«You sound like a perfect echo. But an echo can only exist, if it is near the Voice. Otherwise it fades away, my friend. You seem to be going away from it. He is over there. Are you not coming?»

Judas changes colour, with the rancorous disgusting countenance of his worst moments. But he controls himself. He says: «Goodbye, my friends. Here I am with you, Thomas, my dear friend. Let us go to the Master at once. I did not know that He was here in the Temple. If I had known, I would have looked for Him» and he clasps Thomas’ shoulders with his arm, as if he were very fond of him.

• Anonymous characters
• Scribes

• Locations - Gethsemane
• Locations - Jerusalem
• Locations - Mount of Olives - Gethsemane olive grove
• Summary of EMV

Jesus comes out with His apostles from a house near the walls and I think that they are still in the Bezetha district, because to go outside the walls, one must pass again by Joseph’s house, near the Gate, which I hear people call Herod’s Gate. The town is semi-deserted in the placid moonlit evening. I understand that they have celebrated Passover in one of Lazarus’ houses, which, however, is not the one of the Last Supper. They are, in fact, poles apart. One in the north, the other in the south of Jerusalem.

On the doorstep Jesus takes leave, with His usual kindness, of John of Endor, who is to take care of the women and whom He thanks for accepting that task. He kisses Marjiam, who has also come to the door and then sets out for Herod’s Gate.

• Jean d'Endor (Félix)
• Joseph of Arimathea
• Locations - Jerusalem
• Marie Salomé (mother of James and John of Zebedee)
• Marie d'Alphée (Mary of Cleophas)
• The Virgin Mary
• Yabeç (Jabé) - Marziam (Margziam)

“Our Father”.

I call Him: “Father”. Father of the Word, Father of the Incarnate. That is how I want you to call Him because you are all one with Me, if you remain in Me. Once man had to prostrate himself with his face on the ground to whisper, trembling with fear: “God!” He who does not believe in Me and in My word is still in such paralyzing fear… Watch the interior of the Temple. Not God, but the very remembrance of God is concealed from the eyes of the faithful by a triple veil. He who prays is separated by remoteness and veils, everything has been devised to say to him: “You are mud. He is Light. You are contemptible. He is Holy. You are a slave. He is King”.

But now!… Stand up! Come near Me! I am the Eternal Priest. I can take you by the hand and say: “Come”. I can grasp the veils and draw them, and thus throw open the inaccessible place closed so far. Closed? Why? Closed by Sin, yes. But even more closed by the dispirited thought of man. Why closed if God is Love, if God is Father? I can, I must, I want to take you not into the dust, but into the azure; not far, but near; not as slaves, but as children onto the heart of God.

Say: “Father! Father!”. And never tire repeating this word. Do you not know that every time you say it, Heaven shines because of God’s joy? If you said with true love no other word but that one, you would be saying a prayer pleasing to the Lord. “Father! Father!” the little ones say to their fathers. It is the first word they say: “Mother, father”. You are the little children of God. I created you from the old man you were and whom I destroyed by means of My love to give birth to the new man, the Christian. Call, therefore, the Most Holy Father Who is in Heaven, with the first word that little children learn.

• Children of God - Sons of God
• Consequences of Fault - Original sin
• Fear of God
• God
• God the Father
• Heaven - Paradiso
• Jerusalem Temple (spiritual state - teachings - various episodes)
• Original sin
• Temple Veil

«What do You want, Mother?»

«My Son, some Gentiles have come with some ladies. They say that they heard from Johanna that You were here. They also said that they have been waiting for You all these past days near the Antonia…»

«Ah! I know! I will come at once. Where are they?»

«At Lazarus’ house, in his garden. He is loved by the Romans and does not feel the repugnance towards them that we do. He let them go into the large garden with their carts, so that no one would be scandalised…»

«All right, Mother.

204.2

They are Roman soldiers and ladies. I know.»

«And what do they want from You?»

«What many in Israel do not want: light.»

«But how and what do they believe You are? God perhaps?»

«Yes, in their way of thinking. It is easier for them to accept the idea of the incarnation of a god in mortal flesh, than it is for us.»

«So they believe in Your faith…»

«Not yet, Mother. I must destroy theirs, first. For the time being they consider Me a wise man, a philosopher, as they say. But both their desire to become acquainted with philosophical doctrines and their inclination to believe the incarnation of a god as possible, are of great help to Me in leading them to the true Faith. Believe Me, they are more ingenuous in their way of thinking, than many Israelites.»

«But are they sincere? It is rumoured that the Baptist…»

«No. Had it been for them, John would be free and safe. Non-rebellious people are left in peace. On the contrary I can assure You that for them to be a prophet – they say a philosopher because the loftiness of supernatural wisdom is still philosophy to them – is a guarantee of respect. Do not worry, Mother. No harm will come to Me from that end…»

«But the Pharisees… if they find out, what will they say also about Lazarus? You are You… and You are to bring the Word to the world. But Lazarus!… They already offend him so much…»

«But they cannot touch him. They know that he is protected by Rome.»

«I leave You, Son. Here is Maximinus, he will take You to the Gentiles» and Mary, Who had walked beside Jesus all the time, withdraws quickly, and goes towards the Zealot’s house. Jesus on the other hand, goes through a little iron door in the garden wall, into a distant part of the garden, where it actually becomes an orchard and precisely near the place where Lazarus will be buried later.

• Incarnation
• Jean-Baptiste
• Jesus Christ - God-Man
• Lydia (Roman lady)
• Maximin of Bethany
• Paganism and pagans
• Pharisees
• Philosopher
• Philosophy
• Plautina (Roman lady)
• Prophet
• Roman ladies
• Romans
• Valeria (Roman lady)

«May Light come to you all.»

«Hail, Master!» greets Quintilian, who is wearing civilian clothes.

The ladies stand up to greet Jesus. They are Plautina, Valeria and Lydia; there is also another elderly woman, but I do not know who she is or whether she is of the same rank as the others. They are all wearing very plain clothes without any sign of distinction.

«We were anxious to hear You, but You never came. I was on duty when You arrived. But I never saw You.»

«Neither have I seen at the Gate of the Fish a soldier, who was a friend of Mine. His name was Alexander…»

«Alexander? I am not sure whether he is the one I am thinking of. I know that some time ago, in order to calm the Jews, we had to remove a soldier who was guilty of… speaking to You. He is now at Antioch. But perhaps he will come here again. How boring they are… they want to rule even now that they are subject! One has to be clever to avoid greater trouble… They make life difficult for us, believe me… But You are good and wise. Will You speak to us? I may be leaving Palestine soon, and I would like to have something to remind me of You.»

«Yes, I will speak to you. I never disappoint anyone. What do you wish to know?»

• Alexander (Roman soldier)
• Pharisees

«How many there are nowadays in this land, to whom God has sent His Word! God has really invited the allies, the friends, the great ones of His people, through His servants, and He will invite them again, and more urgently, as the hour of My Wedding approaches.

But they will not accept the invitation, because they are false allies, false friends and they are great only by name, because they are shallow.» Jesus’ voice is becoming louder and louder and His eyes are flashing like two gems, in the light of the fire lit between Him and His audience, to give light in the moonless night; the moon is in fact waning and will rise later.

«Yes, they are shallow. And because of their shallowness, they do not understand that it is their duty and an honour for them to accept the King’s invitation. Pride, harshness, lust act like a wall in their hearts. And – wicked as they are! – they hate Me and so they do not want to come to My wedding. They refuse to come. They prefer to be connected with filthy policy, with even filthier money and with the most filthy sensuality, rather than come to My wedding. They prefer shrewd calculations, conspiracies, underhand conspiracies, snares, crimes.

I condemn all that in the name of God. Consequently the voice that speaks and the feasts to which they are invited, are hated by them. Those who kill the servants of God are to be looked for among this people: the Prophets who have been the servants till now; My disciples who are the servants from now onwards. The swindlers of God who say: “Yes, we will come”, whereas inwardly they think: “Never on your life!” are to be selected among this people. All that is in Israel.

And the King of Heaven will send to gather at the crossroads those who are not friends, not great ones, not allies, but only people passing by, so that His Son may have a worthy wedding celebration. And through Me, through Me the Son and the servant of God, the gathering has already begun. They will come, whoever they are… And they have already come. And I help them to be clean and properly dressed for the wedding feast. But there will be someone, who for his own misfortune, will also misuse the munificence of God, Who gives him scents and regal garments to make him appear what he is not, that is a rich and worthy person, and he will take abominable advantage of such bounty to seduce and make a profit… An individual with a wicked soul, embraced by the revolting octopus of all vices… and he will embezzle scents and garments to make an unlawful profit, as he will not use them for the wedding of the Son, but for his own wedding with Satan.

All that will happen. Because many are called but few are those, who knowing how to persevere in their vocation, are chosen. But it will also happen that those hyenas, who prefer putrid food to living nourishment, will be punished by being thrown out of the Banquet hall into the dark and mud of an eternal pond, in which Satan will grin horribly at each triumph over a soul and where there is an eternal sound of desperate weeping of the mad people who followed Crime instead of following Bounty Who had called them.»

• Betrayal of Jesus Christ
• Damnation - Perdition - Hell and the damned
• Enemies of Jesus Christ
• Israel's mistake - The Jews' mistake
• Jesus Christ - Word of God
• Jesus Christ's reproaches to the Pharisees
• Paganism and pagans

Simon of Jonah comes forward, he reaches Jesus’ group and asks: «Is this the road to Bethlehem? John says that the last time You took another road.»

«That is true» replies Jesus. «But that was because we were coming from Jerusalem. This one is shorter. At Rachel’s sepulchre, which the women wish to see, we will part, as you decided some time ago. We will meet later at Bethzur, where My Mother wishes to stop.»

• Bible - Book of Genesis
• Locations - Bethsur - Bet-Çur - Bethsour
• Places - Rachel's tomb
• Rachel (biblical character)

They proceed westwards, along the cool valley. The road then bends lightly to the north along a protruding hill and they thus reach the road which takes from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, near a cube-shaped building surmounted with a small dome, which is Rachel’s tomb. They all go near it and pray reverently.

«Joseph and I stopped here… Everything is exactly the same as then. Only the season is different. It was a cold day in the month of Chislev. It had rained and the roads were muddy, then an ice-cold wind began to blow and perhaps during the night there was frost. The roads had hardened, but furrowed by cart-wheels and crowded with people, they were like a sea crowded with boats and My little donkey had difficulty in proceeding…»

«And did You not, Mother?»

«Oh! I had You!…» and She looks at Him with a tender blissful face. She then resumes speaking: «It was getting dark and Joseph was very worried… a biting cold wind was blowing stronger and stronger… People were rushing towards Bethlehem, pushing one another and many took to abusing My little donkey because it was going so slowly in an effort to find suitable places for its hooves… It seemed to be aware that You were there… and that You were sleeping for the last time in the cradle of My bosom. It was cold… But I was warm. I could feel You coming… Coming? You could say: “Mother, I had been there nine months”. Yes. But now it was as if You were coming from Heaven. Heaven was bending down over Me and I could see its brightness… I could see God inflamed with joy for Your oncoming birth and those flames pierced Me, burned Me, abstracted Me from everything… Cold… wind… crowds… it was all… nothing! I saw God… Now and again, with an effort, I would succeed in bringing My spirit back to the earth and I would smile at Joseph, who was afraid I might be cold and tired, and he led the little donkey lest it should stumble and he wrapped Me in a blanket lest I should get cold… But nothing could have happened to Me. I felt no jolts. I seemed to be moving along a starry path, among snow-white clouds, supported by angels… And I smiled… First at You… I looked at You, through the barrier of the flesh, while You were sleeping, with Your little fists closed, in Your cradle of living roses, My lily-bud… Then I smiled at My spouse, who was so distressed, to encourage him… And then at the people who were not aware that they were already breathing the air of the Saviour…

We stopped near Rachel’s tomb to let the donkey rest for a moment and to eat a little bread and some olives, the provisions of poor people. But I was not hungry. I could not be hungry… I was nourished with My joy…

• Bethlehem donkey
• Bible - Book of Genesis
• Places - Rachel's tomb
• Rachel (biblical character)