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Jesus Christ throughout the EMV

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GRM 189.1-4 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

The funeral comes out from the other side of the walls. It is not possible to see what there is on the stretcher, which is carried shoulder high by the bearers. One understands that there is a corpse, wrapped in bandages and covered by a sheet, only because of its outline and that it is the body of a fully grown person, because it is as long as the stretcher.

A veiled woman is walking beside it, weeping, supported by relatives or friends. The only sincere tears in all that farce of mourners. And when a bearer trips on a stone or heap in the ground or stumbles and causes the stretcher to shake, the mother moans: «Oh! No! Be careful! My boy has suffered so much!» and she raises her trembling hand to caress the edge of the stretcher. And as she is unable to do anything else, she kisses the veils and the ribbons, which blown by a gentle breeze lightly touch the immobile corpse.

Peter, sympathetic, his good keen eyes welling up with tears whispers: «She is the mother.» But he is not the only one whose eyes are shining with tears at the sight. Also the Zealot, Andrew, John, and even the ever merry Thomas have tears in their eyes. They are all deeply moved. Judas Iscariot whispers: «If it were I! Oh! Poor mother of mine…»

189.2

Jesus, the kindness of Whose eyes is so deep as to be unbearable, makes His way towards the stretcher.

The mother, who is now sobbing louder because the funeral is about to turn towards the open sepulchre, pushes Him aside resolutely, when she sees that Jesus wants to touch the stretcher. I wonder what she is afraid of in her grief. She shouts: «He is mine!» and looks at Jesus with staring eyes.

«I know, mother. He is yours.»

«He is my only son! Why should he die, he was so good and dear, he was my joy, and I am a widow. Why?» The crowd of the hired mourners mourn more loudly, forming a chorus with the mother who continues: «Why he, and not I? It is not just that she who has borne a child, should see her offspring perish. The offspring must live, otherwise why was my womb torn to give birth to a man?» and she strikes her abdomen wildly and desperately.

«Do not do that! Do not weep, mother.» Jesus takes her hands clenching them firmly in His left hand, while with His right one He touches the stretcher saying to the bearers: «Stop and put the stretcher down.»

The bearers obey and lower the little bed that rests on its four legs.

Jesus takes the sheet covering the dead boy and pulls it back uncovering the corpse.

The mother shouts her grief and the name of her son, I think: «Daniel!»

Jesus, still clenching the mother’s hands in His, stands up, His eyes imposingly bright, the power of miracle shining majestically on His face, lowering His right hand, orders in the full strength of His voice: «Young man! I tell you: get up!»

189.3

The dead boy, wrapped in bandages as he is, sits up on the little bed and calls: «Mother!» He calls her with the stammering frightened voice of a terrified child.

«He is yours, woman. I give him to you in the name of God. Help him to get rid of the sudarium. And be happy.»

And Jesus makes the gesture of withdrawing. Impossible! The crowds rivet Him to the stretcher, on which the mother has thrown herself groping for the bandages, endeavouring to be quick, while the imploring childish moaning repeats: «Mother! Mother!»

The sudarium and bandages are undone and mother and son can embrace each other, and they do so without bothering about the sticky balms, which the mother removes from his dear face and hands, making use of the same bandages. As she has not clothes to put on him, she takes off her mantle and wraps him in it, caressing him all the time…

189.4

Jesus looks at her… he looks at the loving group, close together on the edge of the little bed, no longer a stretcher, and He weeps.

Judas Iscariot sees His tears and asks: «Why are You weeping, my Lord?»

Jesus turns His face towards him and says: «I am thinking of My Mother…»

Detail

Jesus meets a funeral procession. The young man's mother is devastated.

GRM 194.5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«You did not tell Me who speaks of Me in the Book.»

«The Prophets, Lord. And even before, the Book speaks of You when Adam was expelled, and… then to Jacob, Abraham and Moses… Oh!… My father told me that he went to John — not this one other John, the one of the Jordan — and he, the great Prophet, called You the Lamb… Oh! Now I understand the lamb of Moses… You are Passover!»

John teases him: «But which Prophet spoke best of Him?»

«Isaiah and Daniel. But I…I like Daniel more, now that I love You as my father. Can I say that? That I love You as I loved my father? Yes? Well, now I prefer Daniel.»

«Why? Who speaks most of the Christ is Isaiah.»

«Yes, but he speaks of the sorrows of the Christ. Daniel instead speaks of the beautiful angel and of Your coming. It is true… he also says that Christ will be sacrificed. But I think that the Lamb will be sacrificed with one single blow. Not as Isaiah and David say. I always wept when my mother read them and she did not read them anymore.» He is almost weeping even now while caressing Jesus’ hand.

«Forget about it for the time being.»

Detail

Yabeç has just understood who Jesus is. He knows he's the Messiah, and Yabeç asks him who spoke of Him in the Old Testament.

GRM 199.4-5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«And now, let us go and see those unhappy people!» says Jesus, and turning His back to the town He goes towards a desolate place on the slope of a rocky hill which lies between the two roads from Jericho to Jerusalem, A strange place, similar to a flight of steps after the first slope, up which climbs a path, so that there is a drop of at least three yards from the first terrace to the path, and the same from the second one. It is an arid, dead… extremely sad place.

«Master» shouts Simon the Zealot «I am here. Stop where You are, that I may show You the way…» and the Zealot, who was leaning against a rock to be in the shade, comes forward and leads Jesus up the steps of a path leading towards Gethsemane, but separated from it by the road that from the Mount of Olives goes to Bethany.

«Here we are. I lived among the tombs of Siloam and my friends are here. Some of them. The others are at Ben Hinnom, but cannot come… They would have to cross the road and would be seen.»

«We shall go to them also.»

«Thank You! On their part and mine.»

«Are they many?»

«Winter has killed most of them. But here there are still five of those to whom I had spoken. They are waiting for You. There they are, on the edge of their prison…»

There are probably ten monsters. I say «probably», because if five, who are standing up, are clearly visible, the others, because of the greyish hue of their skin, the deformity of their faces and the fact that they hardly protrude from the stone barrier, cannot be counted accurately and they may be more than five or less. Among those standing up there is only one woman. One can tell only by her white dishevelled hair hanging coarse and dirty over her shoulders down to her waist. There is no other sign by which one could tell her sex, because the disease, which is in an advanced stage, has reduced her to a skeleton, destroying all feminine forms. Likewise among the men, only one still has traces of moustache and beard. All the others have been made hairless by the destructive disease.

They shout: «Jesus, our Saviour, have mercy on us!» and they stretch out their deformed or ulcerated hands. «Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!»

«What do you want Me to do for you?» asks Jesus looking towards their misery.

«We want You to save us from sin and from this disease.»

«Your will and repentance will save you from sin…»

«But if You wish, You can cancel our sins. At least those, if You do not want to cure our bodies.»

«If I say to You: “Choose either one or the other”, which one would you prefer?»

«God’s forgiveness, Lord. To be less desolate.»

Jesus has a gesture of approval. He smiles brightly, raises His arms and shouts: «Let it be granted. I want it.»

Granted! The grace might be granted for their sins, or for their disease, or for both, and the five unhappy people remain uncertain. But the apostles have no uncertainty and they can but shout their hosannas when they see the leprosy disappear as fast as a flake of snow that falls on a fire. The five then understand that the full grace has been granted to them. Their shouting resounds like a cry of victory. They embrace one another and throw kisses at Jesus, as they cannot prostrate themselves at His feet. They then turn to their companions saying: «And you still refuse to believe? What miserable wretches are you?»

«Good! Be good! Your poor brothers need time to think. Say nothing to them. Faith is not imposed, it is preached with peace, kindness, patience and perseverance. That is what you will do after your purification, exactly as Simon did with you. After all, the miracle preaches by itself. You who have been cured, will go to the priest as soon as possible. You, who are still ill, wait for us this evening. We will bring you some food. Peace be with you.»

Jesus descends again on to the road followed by the blessings of everybody.

199.5

«And now let us go to Ben Hinnom» says Jesus.

«Master… I would like to come. But I realise that I cannot. I will go to Gethsemane» says Lazarus.

«Go, Lazarus. Peace be with you.»

While Lazarus is slowly walking away, the apostle John says: «Master, I will go with him. He walks with difficulty and the road is not very good. I will join You later at Ben Hinnom.»

«Yes, you may go. Let us go.»

They cross the Kidron, walk along the southern side of Mount Tophet and enter the little valley completely strewn with tombs and filth. There is not one tree or any shade from the sun, which blazes down on this southern side heating the stones of these new hellish terraces where the stinking smell of burning rubbish increases the heat. And inside the sepulchres, similar to crematoria, there are poor bodies, which are wasting away… Siloam may be unpleasant in winter, damp as it is and facing north, but this place must be dreadful in summer…

Simon Zealot lets out a shout calling them, and first three lepers, then two, then one, and another one come, as best they can, to the prescribed limit. There are two women here, and one of them is holding by the hand a horrible looking boy whose face is particularly affected by leprosy. He is already blind… And there is a noble looking man, notwithstanding his miserable state. He speaks on behalf of everybody: «Blessed be the Messiah of the Lord, Who has come down to our Gehenna, to free from it those who hope in Him. Save us, o Lord, because we are perishing! Save us, Saviour! King of the House of David, King of Israel, have mercy on Your subjects. Oh! Shoot of the stock of Jesse, of Whom it is said that in Your time there will be no evil, stretch out Your hand and pick up the remains of Your people. Cast away this death from us, wipe our tears, because that is what is said of You. Call us, Lord, to Your delicious pastures, to Your fresh waters, for we are thirsty. Lead us to the eternal hills where there is no sin or sorrow. Have mercy, Lord…»

«Who are you?»

«John, one of the Temple. I was probably infected by a leper. As You can see, I caught the disease only recently. But these!… Some of them have been awaiting death for years, and this little girl came here even before she could walk. She does not know what is the creation of God. What she knows or what she remembers of the wonders of God are these tombs, this merciless sun and the stars at night. Have mercy on the guilty and the innocent ones, o Lord, our Saviour.» They have all knelt down stretching out their hands.

Jesus weeps at so much misery. He then opens His arms shouting: «Father, I want it: health, life, sight and salvation for them.» He remains with His arms stretched out praying intensely with all His spirit. He seems to become thinner and to rise in prayer, a flame of love, white and powerful in the powerful gold of the sun.

«Mummy, I can see!» is the first cry, which is answered by the shout of the mother who clasps her cured little girl to her heart; then the shouts of the others and of the apostles… The miracle has been worked.

«John, as you are a priest, you will lead your companions in the rite. Peace be with you. Towards evening we shall bring some food also to you.» He blesses and is about to go away.

But John, the leper, shouts: «I want to follow Your steps. Tell me what I must do, where I must go to preach You!»

«In this desolate barren land, which must turn to the Lord. Let the town of Jerusalem be your field. Goodbye.»

Detail

Simon the Zealot asked Jesus to go to the Valley of Death, where there are lepers.

Annotation

And Simon, who had leaned against the rock for a little shade, steps forward and leads Jesus along a stepped path that leads to Gethsemane, but is separated from it by the road that leads from the Mount of Olives to Bethany. This is followed by Maria Valtorta's drawing, which we reproduce here. She has placed the "little mount" in the center, on the top of which she has written "leper" three times. To the north is "Gethsemane", from which she wrote "The shortest road to Bethany and Jericho". On the other side, she has written in pencil: "The Mount of Olives is here". To the west she makes the "Cedron" flow, beyond which she has traced "The longest road to Bethany and Jericho".

And so it is with the men, only one of whom has a remnant of a moustache and beard. The others have been shaved by this destructive disease. Zechariah the leper. Cf. EMV 417.2.

GRM 203.1 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Thank you, My friends, for your great love for Me. If you could see how it comforts Me, you would be amazed. See: I proceed among continuous frictions and disappointments. Disappointments for you. You must convince yourselves that I am never disappointed, because I have not been granted the gift of ignoring… That is another reason why I advise you to agree to be guided by Me. If I allow this or that thing, do not hinder it. If I do not interfere to put an end to something, do not endeavour to do it yourselves. Each thing is to be done at the right moment. Trust Me, in everything.

GRM 205.8

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

… The apostles, together with Mary and the women, go towards the house, preceded by Marjiam who runs ahead frisking. But he soon comes back and takes Mary by the hand saying to Her: «Come with me. I have something to tell You, when we are alone.» And Mary follows him. They turn towards a well, situated in a corner of the little yard and completely covered by a thick bower that from the ground climbs up towards the terrace forming an arch. Behind it, there is the Iscariot.

«Judas, what do you want? Go, Marjiam… Speak. What do you want?»

«I am guilty… I dare not go to the Master or face my companions… Help me…»

«I will help you. But do you not consider how much grief you cause? My Son wept because of you. And your companions suffered. But come. No one will say anything to you. And, if you can, do not commit the same sins again. It is shameful for a man and a sacrilege against the Word of God.»

«And will You forgive me, Mother?»

«I? I count for nothing as far as you are concerned, since you think you are so great. I am the least of the servants of the Lord. How can you worry about Me, if you feel no pity for My Son?»

«Because I have a mother as well, and if You forgive me, I will feel as if she did, too.»

«She does not know about this fault of yours.»

«But she made me swear I would be good to the Master. I am a perjurer. I can feel the soul of my mother reproaching me.»

«You feel that, do you? But do you not feel the lament and the reproach of the Father and of His Word? You are disgraceful, Judas! You cause grief to yourself and to those who love you.»

Mary is very serious and sad. She speaks without bitterness but with much seriousness. Judas weeps.

«Do not weep. Improve yourself. Come» and She takes him by the hand and enters the kitchen.

Everybody is filled with astonishment. But Mary wards off any possible uncharitable remark. She says: «Judas has come back. Behave as the first-born did after his father’s speech. John, go and tell Jesus.»

John of Zebedee runs away. Silence hangs heavy on the kitchen… Then Judas says: «Forgive me, all of you, and you, Simon, first of all. Your heart is so paternal. And I am an orphan, too.»

«Yes, I forgive you. Please, say no more about it. We are brothers… and I do not like these ups and downs of forgiveness and relapses. They humiliate both the offender and the forgiver. Here is Jesus. Go to Him. That’s all.»

Judas goes away and Peter, not being able to do anything else, starts chopping wood with keen impetuosity…

GRM 206.10 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

I solemnly tell you that as I am in the Father, so the poor are in God. That is why I, the Word of the Father, wanted to be born poor and to remain poor. Because amongst the poor I feel closer to the Father Who loves the least people and is loved by them with all their strength. The rich have many things. The poor have but God. The rich have friends. The poor are alone. The rich have many comforts. The poor have none. The rich have many distractions. The poor have but their work. Money makes everything easy for the rich. The poor also have the cross of having to be afraid of diseases and famine, because they mean starvation and death to them. But the poor have God. Their Friend. Their Comforter. He Who distracts them from their painful present by means of heavenly hope. He, to Whom man can say – and they know how to say it, because they are poor, humble, alone –: “Father, support us in Your mercy”.

GRM 206.15 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Lazarus congratulates Jesus. He says: «Oh! I am sorry to see You go away. But I am happier than I would have been, had I seen You go away the day before yesterday!»

«Why, Lazarus?»

«Because You looked so tired and sad… You did not speak, and You hardly ever smiled… Yesterday and today You have become once again my kind holy Master, and that makes me so happy…»

«I was so even if I was quiet…»

«You were. But You are serenity and word. That is what we want from You. We drink our strength at those sources. And now those sources seemed to be dried up. Our thirst was painful… You see that also the Gentiles are amazed, and they have come looking for them…»

The Iscariot, whom John of Zebedee had approached, dares to speak: «Of course, they also inquired of me… Because I was very often at the Antonia, hoping to see You.»

«You knew where I was» replies Jesus briefly.

«I did. But I was hoping You would not disappoint those who were expecting You. Also the Romans were disappointed. I do not know why You behaved like that…»

«And you are asking Me? Are you not aware of the humours of the Sanhedrin, of the Pharisees, and of others as well, with regards to Me?»

«What? Were You afraid?»

«I was disgusted.»

Annotation

You see, even the pagans were surprised and came looking for them... Reference to EMV 204, with visits from Plautina, Lydia, Flavia Domitilla and Valeria.