Religious holidays

3.2 I am beginning to see and I write.

Outside the walls of Jerusalem, on the hills and among the olive trees, there is a large crowd. It looks like a large market. But there are no stalls. There are no shouting charlatans or pedlars. No games. There are coarse wool tents, certainly waterproof, hanging on posts fixed to the ground, and tied to the posts there are green branches, providing both ornamental decoration and practical coolness. Other tents, instead, are made entirely of branches fixed to the ground and tied, thus forming small green tunnels. Under each tent there are people of every age and condition, speaking quietly and earnestly, with the cry of a child breaking the quietness now and again.

It is nightfall and the lights of small oil lamps are glittering here and there throughout the odd camp. Around the lights some families are eating their supper on the ground, the mothers holding the little ones in their laps. Many of these tired infants fall asleep holding pieces of bread in their tiny pink fingers while their small heads fall on their mothers’ breasts, like little chicks under hens. The mothers finish their meals, as best they can, each with only one hand free, while the other hand is holding the child against her heart. Meanwhile other families are not yet having supper and are talking in the dimness of twilight, waiting for the food to be ready to eat. Small fires are lit here and there and women are busy around them. Slow, somewhat plaintive, lullabies soothe children who are having difficulty in going to sleep.

High above there is a beautiful clear sky, which is becoming a deeper and deeper blue until it looks like an enormous black-bluish soft velvet velarium. On this cloth, a little at a time, invisible craftsmen and decorators fix gems and night lights, some isolated, some in odd geometrical patterns, amongst which the Great Bear and the Little Bear stand out, in the shape of a cart, with its shaft resting on the ground after the oxen have been freed from the yoke. The Pole Star is smiling in all its brightness.

I realise it is October because the loud voice of a man says so: «This month of October is beautiful as very rarely in past years!» (...)

3.4 The night is more and more crowded with stars and the camp with lights. Then little by little many lights go out. They are the lamps of those who were the first to have supper and who now go to sleep. Also the buzzing slowly decreases. No more children’s voices are heard. Only some babies still unweaned raise their lamb-like little voices seeking their mothers’ milk. The night blows her breath over places and people and obliterates pains and memories, hopes and ill-feelings. Or perhaps these last two survive in dreams, although alleviated by sleep.

• Feast of Tents - Feast of Tabernacles
• Location - Near Jerusalem
• Locations - Galileo field
• Locations - Mount of Olives - Gethsemane olive grove

Alphaeus’ father calls him [his son], but he answers: «I am staying with Anne. I will help her.» Everybody laughs.

«Leave him. He does not disturb us. He is not bound by the Law yet. Here or there he is but a little bird eating» states Anne.

• Bible - Book of Leviticus
• Bible - Book of Numbers
• Father of Alphée de Sarah
• Feast of Tents - Feast of Tabernacles

«Last night I dreamt that next year I will be coming to the Holy City for two feasts, instead of one only. And one will be the offering of my creature to the Temple… Oh! Joachim!…»

«Keep on hoping, Anne. Did you not perceive anything else? Did the Lord not whisper anything to your heart?»

«Nothing. Only a dream…»

«Tomorrow is the last day of prayer. All the offerings have already been made. But we will renew them again tomorrow, solemnly. We shall gain our favour from God by our faithful love.

• Bible - Book of Deuteronomy
• Bible - Book of Exodus
• Bible - Book of Numbers
• Feast of Tents - Feast of Tabernacles

The old tree has borne a new branch and I am blessed.

At the Feast of Lights hope scattered the seed;

Now the fragrance of Nisan sees it germinating.

Like an almond-tree my flesh is adorned with flowers in spring.

• Conception of the Virgin Mary
• Feast of the Dedication - Feast of the Encenias - Feast of Lights - Feast of the Purification

39.2 I see Mary bending over a tub, or rather a terracotta container, in which She stirs something that steams in the cool clear air which fills the kitchen garden in Nazareth.

It must be the depth of winter, because, with the exception of the olive-trees, all the plants and trees are bare and look like skeletons. High above, the sky is very clear and there is a beautiful sunshine. But it does not mitigate the bitterly cold wind that shakes the bare boughs and the little green-grey branches of the olive-trees.

Our Lady is wearing a heavy dark-brown dress, which is so dark that it is almost black, and She has tied in front of it a rough piece of cloth, like an apron, to protect it. She takes out of the vessel the stick with which She was stirring its contents and I can see some beautiful ruby-red drops dripping from it. Mary looks at them, She wets Her finger with them, checks the colour against Her apron and seems satisfied.

She goes into the house and then comes out with a lot of skeins of snow-white wool. She dips them patiently and carefully into the tub, one by one.

39.3 While She is busy doing that, Her sister-in-law, Mary of Alphaeus, comes in through Joseph’s workshop. They greet each other, and start conversing.

«Is it coming all right?» asks Mary of Alphaeus.

«I hope so.»

«That Gentile lady assured me that it is exactly the colour, and that is exactly how they do it in Rome. She gave it to me only because of You, because of the embroidery work You did for her. She said that not even in Rome is there anyone who can embroider so well. You must have become blind doing it…»

Mary smiles and shakes Her head as if to say: «It was a mere trifle!»

Her sister-in-law looks at the last skeins of wool, before handing them over to Mary. «How beautifully You have spun them! They are so thin and smooth that they look like hair. You do everything so well. And You are so quick! Will these last ones be of a lighter colour?»

«Yes, they are for the tunic. The mantle is darker.»

The two women work together at the tub. They then pull out the skeins of a beautiful purple colour and they run quickly to dip them into the ice-cold water that fills the little vessel under the thin spring of water that tumbles babbling softly. They rinse them over and over again, then they lay the skeins on canes which they fasten to the branches of the trees.

«They will dry very well and rapidly in this wind,» says Her sister-in-law.

«Let us go to Joseph. There is a fire in there. You must be frozen,» says Our Blessed Lady. «It was very kind of you to help Me. I did it very quickly and without working so much. I am very grateful to you.»

«Oh! Mary! What would I not do for You! To be near You is a great joy. And then… all this work is for Jesus. And He is such a dear, Your Son!… I will feel that He is also my Son, if I help You with His feast when He comes of age.»

The two women go into the workshop, which is full of the smell of planed wood, as is usual in carpenters’ workshops.

• Feast of the coming of age of Jesus Christ
• Majority Day (Bar-Mitzvah) - Majority exam
• Marie d'Alphée (Mary of Cleophas)
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
• The Virgin Mary

I see Jesus with His Mother going into the dining room (let us call it so), in Nazareth.

Jesus is a handsome young boy, twelve years old, tall, well built, strong but not fat. He looks older than His years, because of His complexion. He is already tall, in fact He reaches up to the shoulders of His Mother. His face is the rosy round face of a child and later, in His youth and then in His manhood, it will get thinner and thinner and it will become colourless, the colour of some very delicate alabasters with a hue of yellowish pink.

Also His eyes are still the eyes of a child. They are large, wide open when looking, with a sparkle of joy lost in the seriousness of His glance. Later they will not be so wide open… His eyelashes will cover half of them to conceal the excessive wickedness which is in the world, from the Pure and Holy One. Only when working miracles they will be open and bright, even brighter than now… to cast out demons and death, to heal diseases and sins. And they will no longer have that sparkle of happiness mingled with seriousness… death and sin will be more and more present and close, and with them the knowledge, also the human knowledge of the uselessness of His sacrifice, because of the unwillingness and aversion of man. Only in the rarest moments of joy, when He is with faithful believers and particularly with pure people, mostly children, will His holy mild kind eyes shine again with happiness.

But now He is at home with His Mother, in front of Him there is Saint Joseph who is smiling lovingly, and there are His little cousins who admire Him, and His aunt Mary of Alphaeus who is patting Him… He is happy. My Jesus needs love to be happy.

• Feast of the coming of age of Jesus Christ
• Jesus Christ
• Majority Day (Bar-Mitzvah) - Majority exam

I see Jesus with His Mother going into the dining room (let us call it so), in Nazareth.

Jesus is a handsome young boy, twelve years old, tall, well built, strong but not fat. He looks older than His years, because of His complexion. He is already tall, in fact He reaches up to the shoulders of His Mother. His face is the rosy round face of a child and later, in His youth and then in His manhood, it will get thinner and thinner and it will become colourless, the colour of some very delicate alabasters with a hue of yellowish pink.

Also His eyes are still the eyes of a child. They are large, wide open when looking, with a sparkle of joy lost in the seriousness of His glance. Later they will not be so wide open… His eyelashes will cover half of them to conceal the excessive wickedness which is in the world, from the Pure and Holy One. Only when working miracles they will be open and bright, even brighter than now… to cast out demons and death, to heal diseases and sins. And they will no longer have that sparkle of happiness mingled with seriousness… death and sin will be more and more present and close, and with them the knowledge, also the human knowledge of the uselessness of His sacrifice, because of the unwillingness and aversion of man. Only in the rarest moments of joy, when He is with faithful believers and particularly with pure people, mostly children, will His holy mild kind eyes shine again with happiness.

But now He is at home with His Mother, in front of Him there is Saint Joseph who is smiling lovingly, and there are His little cousins who admire Him, and His aunt Mary of Alphaeus who is patting Him… He is happy. My Jesus needs love to be happy. And in this moment He has it.

He is dressed in a loose woollen tunic which is a light ruby red colour. It is soft, perfectly woven in its compact thinness. Round the neck, in the front, at the ends of the long wide sleeves and at the bottom of the tunic which hangs down to the ground, so that only His feet can be seen, there is a Greek fret which is not embroidered, but woven in a darker colour into the ruby of the tunic. He is wearing new sandals which appear to be very well made, they are not just the usual soles tied to the feet by means of straps of leather. His tunic must be the work of His Mother because Her sister-in-law admires and praises it.

His lovely blond hair is already somewhat darker than when He was a little boy, with auburn reflections in the curls ending under His ears. They are no longer the soft graceful curls of His childhood. It is not yet the wavy long hair of His manhood, reaching down to His shoulders, ending there in a soft, big curl. But it already resembles more the latter in its colour and style.

39.5 «Here is our Son,» says Mary lifting Her right hand which is holding Jesus’ left one. She seems to be introducing Him to everybody and confirming the paternity of the Just man who is smiling. And She adds: «Bless Him, Joseph, before leaving for Jerusalem. There was no ritual blessing for His first step in life, because it was not necessary for Him to go to school. But now that He is going to the Temple to be proclaimed of age, please bless Him. And bless Me with Him. Your blessing…» (Mary sobs softly) «will fortify Him and give Me strength, to detach Myself a little more from Him…»

«Mary, Jesus will always be Yours. The formality will not affect our mutual relationship. Neither will I contend with You for this Son, so dear to us. No one deserves, as You do, to guide Him in life, o my Holy Spouse.»

Mary bends down and takes Joseph’s hand and kisses it. She is the respectful, loving spouse of Her consort!

Joseph receives the sign of respect and love with dignity, he then lifts the hand which She has kissed and lays it on the head of his Spouse and says to Her: «Yes. I bless You, o Blessed One, and I bless Jesus with You. Come to me, my only joys, my honour and essence of my life.» Joseph is solemn. With his arms stretched out and the palms of his hands turned down above the two heads which are bent down, both equally blond and holy, he pronounces his blessing: «May the Lord look upon You and bless You. May He have mercy on You and give You peace. May the Lord give You His blessing.» And then he says: «And now let us go. The hour is favourable for the journey.»

39.6 Mary takes a wide dark brown mantle and She drapes it on the body of Her Son. How She caresses Him in doing so!

They go out, they close up the house. They set off. Other pilgrims are going in the same direction. Outside the village the women separate from the men. The children go where they like. Jesus stays with His Mother.

The pilgrims go along through the country which is so beautiful in the happiest springtime, and they sing psalms most of the time. The meadows are fresh and the crops are fresh, and the leaves on the trees have just begun to bloom. You can hear men singing in the fields along the roads and birds singing their songs of love among the branches of the trees. Clear streams reflect like mirrors the flowers on the banks, while little lambs are jumping about near their mothers… Peace and happiness under the loveliest April sky.

The vision ends in this way.

• Feast of the coming of age of Jesus Christ
• Holy Family
• Jesus as a child
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Majority Day (Bar-Mitzvah) - Majority exam
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
• Rosary
• The Virgin Mary

40.1 The Temple on a feast day. People going in and coming out of the enclosure gates, crossing yards, halls and porches, disappearing in this or that building on the various floors, which form the bulk of the Temple.

Also the group of Jesus’ family go in singing psalms in low voices. All the men are in front, the women come behind. Other people have joined them, perhaps from Nazareth, perhaps their friends in Jerusalem. I do not know.

Joseph, after worshipping the Most High with all the others at the point, obviously, where men were allowed to do so, (the women stopped on a lower landing), parts from the rest and with his Son goes back through some yards, he then moves to one side and enters a vast room which looks like a synagogue. I do not know why. Were there synagogues also in the Temple? He speaks to a Levite and the latter disappears behind a striped curtain, then he comes back with some elder priests, I think they are priests, they are certainly masters in the knowledge of the Law, and they are therefore appointed to examine the believers.

40.2 Joseph introduces Jesus. First of all, they both bow down deeply to the ten doctors, who have sat down with dignity on low wooden stools. «Here,» he says, «this in my Son. Three months and twelve days ago He reached the age which the Law prescribes to come of age. And I want Him to comply with the prescriptions of Israel. I would ask you to note that His constitution proves that He is no longer in His childhood or minor age. And I ask you to examine Him kindly and fairly, to judge that what I here, His father, have stated, is the truth. I have prepared Him for this hour and for this dignity of son of the Law. He knows the precepts, the traditions, the decisions, the customs of the fringes and the phylacteries, He knows how to say the daily prayers and blessings. Therefore, since He knows the Law in Itself and in its three branches of Halascia, Midrasc and Aggada, He can behave as a man. Therefore I wish to be free from the responsibilities of His actions and of His sins. From now on, He must be subject to the precepts and He must pay the penalty for His failures towards them. Examine Him.»

«We will.

40.3 Come forward, Child. What is Your name?»

«Jesus of Joseph, from Nazareth.»

«A Nazarene… can You therefore read?»

«Yes, rabbi, I can read the words which are written and those which are construed in the words themselves.»

«What do you mean?»

«I mean that I also understand the meaning of the allegory or of the symbol which is hidden under the appearance, as a pearl does not appear but it is inside an ugly closed shell.»

«A clever answer and a very wise one. We seldom hear that on the lips of adults; in a child, and a Nazarene in addition!…»

The attention of the ten has been awakened. Their eyes do not miss for an instant the beautiful blond Child, Who is looking at them sure of Himself, without boldness, but also without fear.

«You honour Your master, who, certainly, was deeply learned.»

«The Wisdom of God was gathered in his just heart.»

«But listen to that! You are a happy man, father of such a Son!»

Joseph, who is at the end of the room, smiles and bows down.

40.4 They give Jesus three different rolls saying: «Read the one closed with the golden ribbon.»

Jesus opens the roll and reads. It is the Decalogue. But after the first few words, one of the judges takes the roll from Him saying: «Go on by heart.» Jesus continues so sure of Himself, that He seems to be reading. Every time He mentions the Lord, He bows down deeply.

«Who taught You that? Why do You do that?»

«Because that Name is holy and it is to be pronounced with a sign of internal and external respect. Subjects bow down to their king, who is king only for a short time and he is dust. To the King of kings, the Most High Lord of Israel, Who is present even if He is only visible to the spirit, shall not every creature bow down since every creature depends on Him with eternal subjection?»

«Very clever! Man: we advise you to have your Son educated either by Hillel or Gamaliel. He is a Nazarene… but His answers give us hope that He will become a new great doctor.»

«My Son is of age. He will decide according to His own will. If His decision is an honest one, I will not oppose it.»

40.5 «Listen, Child. You said: ‘Remember to sanctify feast days. Not only for yourself, but also for your son and your daughter, your servant and your maidservant, even for your horse it is said that they must not work on Sabbaths’. Now tell me: if a hen lays an egg on a Sabbath or a sheep lambs on a Sabbath, will it be legal to use the fruit of its womb, or will it be considered as an opprobrium?»

«I know that many rabbis, Shammai is the last of them and is still alive, say that an egg laid on a Sabbath is against the precept. But I think that there is a difference between man and animals or whoever fulfils a natural act, such as giving birth. If I compel a horse to work I am responsible for its sin, because I force it to work with a whip. But if a hen lays an egg which has matured in its ovary or a sheep lambs a little one on a Sabbath, because it is ready to be born, no, such a deed is not a sin, neither is the egg laid or the lamb born on a Sabbath a sin in the eyes of God.»

«But why, if every kind of work is a sin on Sabbaths?»

«Because to conceive and give birth correspond to the will of the Creator and comply with the laws which He gave to every creature. Now, the hen does nothing but obey the law according to which after so many hours of growth an egg is complete and ready to be laid, and the sheep also obeys the laws laid by Him Who created everything, according to which laws twice a year when springtime is on the meadows in bloom, and when the trees in the forest lose their leaves and men muffle themselves up because of the intense cold, sheep should mate so that later they may give milk, meat and nourishing cheese in the opposite seasons of the year, that is in the months when the toil for the crops is harder or the bleakness is more painful because of frostbite. If therefore a sheep, when its time is up, gives birth to a little lamb, oh! the little lamb can certainly be sacred also on an altar, because it is the fruit of the obedience to the Creator.»

40.6 «I would not examine Him any further. His wisdom is greater than the wisdom of grown up people and is really surprising.»

«No. He said that He is capable of understanding also the symbols. Let us hear Him».

«First, let Him say a psalm, the blessings and the prayers.»

«Also the precepts.»

«Yes. Repeat the Midrasciot.»

Jesus repeats a long litany of «Don’t do this… don’t do that…» without any hesitation. If we were still obliged to keep all those limitations, rebels as we are, I am sure that no one would be saved…

«That is enough. Open the roll with the green ribbon.»

Jesus opens it, and He is about to read.

«Further on, yes, further on.»

Jesus obeys.

«That is enough. Now read and explain it, if You think there is a symbol.»

«In the Holy Word it is seldom missing. It is we who cannot see and apply it. I read: Fourth Book of the Kings, Chapter twenty-two, Verse ten: ‘Then Shaphan, the secretary, informed the king saying: «Hilkiah, the High Priest, has given me a book», and Shaphan read it aloud in the king’s presence. On hearing the contents of the Law of God, the king tore his garments, and gave the following…’.»

«Read after all the names.»

«“…the following order: ‘Go and enquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s wrath that burns against us because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book, they did not act in accordance with all that is written in it’…”.»

«That is enough. This happened many centuries ago. Which symbol do You find in an event of ancient history?»

«I find that time cannot be related to what is eternal. And God is eternal and our soul is eternal, and the relation between God and our soul is also eternal. Therefore the thing that gave rise to a punishment then, is the same thing that gives rise to punishment now, and the effects of the fault are the same.»

«That is?»

«Israel is no longer acquainted with the Wisdom, which comes from God. It is to Him, and not to poor men, that we must apply for light, and it is not possible to have light if there is no justice and loyalty to God. That is why men sin, and God, in His anger, punishes them.»

«We are no longer acquainted? But what are You saying, Child? And the six hundred and thirteen precepts?»

«The precepts exist, but they are mere words. We know them but we do not practise them. That is why we are not acquainted with them. This is the symbol: every man, in every period of time, must consult the Lord to know His will and comply with it to avoid drawing His anger on himself.»

40.7 «The Child is perfect. Not even the trap of the tricky question has upset Him in His reply. Let us take Him to the real synagogue.»

They go into a larger and more splendid room. The first thing they do there is to shorten His hair. His big curls are picked up by Joseph. They then tighten His red tunic with a long band turned several times round His waist, they tie some little strips to His forehead, arm and mantle. They fix them on with some sort of studs. They then sing psalms, and Joseph praises the Lord with a long prayer invoking all blessings on his Son.

The ceremony is over. Jesus goes out with Joseph. They go back to where they came from, they join their male relatives, they buy and offer a lamb; then, with the slaughtered victim, they reach the women.

Mary kisses Her Jesus. It seems She has not seen Him for years. She looks at Him, now that He is more manly in His clothes and in the style of His hair, She pats Him…

They go out and it all ends here.

• Feast of the coming of age of Jesus Christ
• Jesus as a child
• Majority Day (Bar-Mitzvah) - Majority exam

• Bible - First Book of Maccabees
• Feast of the Dedication - Feast of the Encenias - Feast of Lights - Feast of the Purification
• Judas (biblical character - book of Maccabees)
• Preaching Jesus Christ at Belle-Eau
• Preaching of Jesus Christ

• Feast of the Dedication - Feast of the Encenias - Feast of Lights - Feast of the Purification
• Light of the world