Facts about the public life of Jesus Christ

25.9 Also My Joseph suffered his passion. It began in Jerusalem when he noticed My condition. And it lasted several days, exactly as it had happened to Jesus and to Me. Neither was it less painful for his soul. And only because of the holiness of My just spouse, it was contained in such a dignified and secret form, that it has been hardly noticed throughout centuries.

Oh! Our first Passion! Who can feel its intimate and silent intensity? Who can describe My pain when I realised that Heaven had not yet heard My prayer by revealing the mystery to Joseph?

I understood that he was not aware of it when I saw that he was respectful to Me as usual. If he had known that I bore in Me the Word of God, he would have adored that Word enclosed in My womb, with the acts of veneration which are due to God and which he would not have failed to accomplish, as I would not have refused to receive, not for My own sake, but for Him Who was within Me and that I bore, as the Ark of the Alliance carried the stone code and the vases of manna.

Who can measure My struggle against the dismay that endeavoured to overwhelm Me in order to convince Me that I had hoped in vain in the Lord? Oh! I think it was the furious rage of Satan! I perceived doubt rising behind My back, and stretching its icy claws to imprison My soul and prevent it from praying. Doubt is so dangerous and lethal to the spirit. It is lethal because it is the first agent of the deadly disease called ‘despair’, against which we must react with all our strength, so that our souls may not perish, and we may not lose God. (...)

The three days of Joseph’s passion were short in number, but deep in intensity. And they were tremendous also for Me, those days of My first passion. Because I was aware of his suffering, which I could not alleviate, in fact I had to obey God’s command Who had said to Me: ‘Be silent!’

And when, after we arrived in Nazareth, I saw him go away with a laconic goodbye, and bent as if he had aged in a short time, and I noticed that he no longer came to see Me in the evening as he used to do, then I tell you, My children, that My heart wept very bitterly. Closed in My house, all alone, in the house where everything reminded Me of the Annunciation and the Incarnation, and where everything reminded Me of Joseph, married to Me with spotless virginity, I had to fight despair and Satan’s insinuation, and hope, hope, hope. And pray, pray, pray. And forgive, forgive, forgive Joseph’s suspicion, his disturbance and just despair.

My children: you must hope, pray, forgive in order to obtain God’s intervention in our favour. You must live your passions, because you deserved them with your sins. I can teach you how to overcome them and turn them into joy. Hope beyond measure. Pray with confidence. Forgive to be forgiven. God’s forgiveness will be the peace you desire, My children.

• Temptations of the Virgin Mary

It is Passion time. Have pity on your Redeemer. Listen to His cries, and count His wounds and tears. The former were suffered, the latter shed for you. Let every other vision disappear before that one that reminds you of the Redemption accomplished for you.

• Passion of Jesus Christ
• Redeemer
• Redemption
• Suffering and pain of Jesus Christ
• The cry of Jesus Christ
• Wounds of Jesus Christ

«Nazareth? But you must stay here. The Messiah must grow up in Bethlehem. It is David’s town. The Most High, through Caesar’s will, brought Him to the town in David’s land, the holy land of Judaea. Why take Him to Nazareth? You know in what opinion the Jews hold the Nazarenes. This Child is to be in future years the Saviour of His people. The capital town must not scorn its King because He comes from a despised land. You know as well as I do how captious the Sanhedrin is and how disdainful its three main castes are… And then, here, near me, I will be able to help you somehow, and put everything I have, not so much in the way of material things, but of moral gifts, at the service of this New-Born Baby. And when He is old enough to understand, I will be very happy to be His teacher, as I will be for my own son, so that later, when He is grown up, He will bless me. We must consider that He is destined for great things and, consequently, He must be in a position to present Himself to the world with all the necessary means to win His game. He will certainly possess Wisdom. But also the simple fact that He was educated by a priest, will make Him more accepted by the difficult Pharisees and Scribes and will render His mission easier.»

31.5 Mary looks at Joseph, and Joseph looks at Mary. Above the rosy innocent head of the Child, sleeping unaware of it all, there is a silent exchange of questions. And they are questions full of sadness. Mary is thinking of Her little house, Joseph is concerned about his work. Here, where only a few days ago they were completely unknown, they must start from scratch. Here they have none of the dear things they left at home, and which they had prepared with so much love for the Child.

(...) «It will certainly help. Think it over, and you will see the reasons.»

«It is also said that the Messiah will be called Nazarene…» objects Mary.

«True. But at least, until He is grown up, let Him grow up in Judaea. The Prophet says: ‘And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, will be the greatest, because out of you will come the Saviour’. He does not speak of Nazareth. Perhaps that title was given to Him for some reason unknown to us. But this is His land.»

«You say so, you, priest, and we… we listen to you with sad hearts, and we believe you. But how painful it is!… When shall I see that house where I became a Mother?» Mary is weeping, silently. And I understand Her grief. Oh! I do understand.

The vision ends with Mary’s weeping. (...)

[In a lesson that Mary then gives, the Virgin says:]

Zacharias is a priest. Joseph is not. But you must note how he, who is not a priest, has a more heavenly soul than the priest. Zacharias thinks in a human way, and in a human way he expounds the Scriptures because he allows himself to be led by his good human sense, and it is not the first time he does so. And he was punished for it. But he relapses, although less gravely. With regard to John’s birth he said: ‘How can that happen, if I am old, and my wife is barren?’ Now he says: ‘To smooth His way, Christ is to be brought up here.’ And with that subtle root of pride that persists also in the best people, he thinks that he can be useful to Jesus. Not useful in the sense that Joseph wanted to be, by serving Him, but by teaching Him… God forgave him, because of his good intention. But did the ‘Master’ need teachers?

• Preparing for the mission of Jesus Christ

The Prophet says: ‘And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, will be the greatest, because out of you will come the Saviour’.

• Bible - Book of Micah
• Biblical prophecies

«It is also said that the Messiah will be called Nazarene…» objects Mary.

«True. But at least, until He is grown up, let Him grow up in Judaea. The Prophet says: ‘And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, will be the greatest, because out of you will come the Saviour’. He does not speak of Nazareth. Perhaps that title was given to Him for some reason unknown to us. But this is His land.»

«You say so, you, priest, and we… we listen to you with sad hearts, and we believe you. But how painful it is!… When shall I see that house where I became a Mother?» Mary is weeping, silently. And I understand Her grief. Oh! I do understand.

The vision ends with Mary’s weeping.

• Bible - Gospel of Matthew
• Biblical prophecies

He is Your Son, the Saviour, the Christ of God and consequently, to save the world, He will have to take upon Himself the evil of the world, of which one of the punishments is death.

• Redeemer
• Redemption

(...) During the whole night and the following morning they prepare with the most ardent prayer their souls for the communion with the Child-God.

They do not go to that altar, which is the virginal lap holding the Divine Host, with their souls full of human worries, as you do. They forget to eat and to sleep, and if they wear the most beautiful robes, it is not for human ostentation, but to honour the King of kings. In royal palaces the dignitaries wear the most beautiful clothes. And should the Magi not go to that King in their best garments? Which greater opportunity is there for them?

Oh! In their far away countries, many a time they had to adorn themselves for men like themselves. To welcome and honour them. It is only fair, therefore, that they should prostrate purples and jewels, silks and precious feathers at the feet of the Supreme King. It is fair to put at His sweet little feet the fibres of the earth, the gems of the earth, the feathers of the earth, the metals of the earth — they are all His work — so that all these things of the earth may adore their Creator. And they would be happy if the Little Creature should order them to lie down on the ground and become a living carpet for His little baby steps, and if He trampled on them, since He left the stars to come down to them, who are but dust.

• Eucharist
• Kingship of Jesus Christ - Christ-King
• Leaders and heads of state - Kings and monarchs

34.17 A last, kind, important lesson.

It is Mary who takes the hand of Jesus, Who does not yet know how to bless, and She guides it in the holy gesture.

It is always Mary who takes Jesus’ hand and guides it. Even now. Now Jesus knows how to bless. But sometimes His pierced hand falls down tired and disheartened, because He knows that it is useless to bless. You destroy My blessing. It falls also indignant, because you curse Me. It is Mary then Who removes the disdain from My hand with Her kisses. Oh! the kiss of My Mother! Who can resist that kiss? And then, with Her slender, but lovingly irresistible fingers, She takes My wrist and forces Me to bless.

I cannot reject My Mother, but you must go to Her, and make Her your Advocate. She is My Queen, before being yours, and Her love for you makes such allowances that no one can possibly imagine or understand. And even without any word, but only with Her tears, and the memory of My Cross, the sign of which She makes Me trace in the air, She pleads your cause and exhorts Me: ‘You are the Saviour. Therefore save’.

34.18 That is, My dear children, the ‘Gospel of faith’ in the vision of the scene of the Magi. Meditate on it and imitate it. For your own good.»

• Coming to Jesus through Mary
• Coronation of the Virgin Mary in Heaven
• God's blessing
• Intercession of the Virgin Mary
• Love of the Virgin Mary
• Loving the Virgin Mary
• Rosary
• Sauveur
• The Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary - Co-Redemptrix

(...) You are so hampered by your humanity — it really overwhelms your souls too much — that you cannot follow My ways and you fall; or you stop disheartened. You go on saying to yourselves and to those who would like to assist you, quoting the examples of the Gospel for you: ‘But Jesus, but Mary, but Joseph (and so on for all the saints) were not like us. They were strong, they were immediately comforted in their sorrow, also in the little sorrow which they experienced, they did not feel passion. They were already beings out of this world’.

35.8 That little sorrow! They did not feel passion!

Sorrow has been our faithful friend and it had all the most varied forms and names.

Passion… do not use a word wrongly, by calling passion the vices which mislead you. Be honest and call them ‘vices’, and capital ones in addition. It is not true that we did not know them. We had eyes to see and ears to hear, and Satan caused those vices to dance in front of us and around us, showing them to us with their heap of filth in action, or tempting us with his insinuations. But, since we firmly wanted to please God, his filth and insinuations, instead of achieving the purpose intended by Satan, obtained the very opposite. And the more he worked, the more we took shelter in the light of God, disgusted as we were with the muddy darkness he showed to the eyes of our bodies and of our souls.

But we did not ignore passions in our hearts, in their philosophical setting. We loved our country, and in our country we loved our little Nazareth above every other town in Palestine. We were fond of our house, of our relatives and friends. Why should we not? We did not become slaves to our feelings because nothing is to be our master except God. But our feelings were made good companions.

My Mother uttered a cry of joy when, after about four years, She went back to Nazareth and entered Her house, and kissed the walls where Her ‘yes’ had opened Her bosom to receive the Son of God. Joseph joyfully greeted his relatives and his little nephews, who had grown in numbers and in years, and he rejoiced when he saw that his fellow citizens remembered him and they sought him because of his ability. I Myself appreciated friendship and because of Judas’ betrayal, I suffered as for a moral crucifixion. And why not? Neither My Mother nor Joseph ever placed more love for their home or their relatives before the will of God.

• Holy Family
• Jesus Christ
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Passions
• Saints and blessed
• Suffering and pain of Jesus Christ
• Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary
• Temptation
• Temptations of Jesus Christ
• Temptations of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary

I Myself appreciated friendship and because of Judas’ betrayal, I suffered as for a moral crucifixion.

• Betrayal of Jesus Christ
• Suffering and pain of Jesus Christ