Notes for this theme
Reading comfort
GRM 207.11 · Volume 3
I am really flesh and Mary is really the Mother of the Word Incarnate. If the hour of My birth was but an ecstasy, that is because She is the new Eve without the burden of sin and without the heritage of punishment. But I did not lower Myself by resting in Her.
Jesus said:
GRM 207.11 · Volume 3
I am really One with the Father forever, and I am united to God as Flesh, because as a matter of fact it is possible that Love reached what is unreachable because of His Perfection, by becoming Flesh to save flesh. A reply to all these errors is given by My whole life which shed blood from birth to death and was submitted to everything that is common to man, except sin. Yes, I was born of Her. For your welfare. You do not know how much Justice has been mitigated since the Woman has become its collaborator.
Some will claim that Jesus had no real flesh and knew neither suffering nor death. They will deny his Incarnation and his divinity. Jesus then said:
GRM 211.1 · Volume 3
«Avenger of the oppressed! I really am. But in a supernatural way. None of those who see Me with sceptre and axe in My hands as king and executioner according to the spirit of the earth, is right. I certainly came to free people from oppression. From the oppression of sin, which is the most serious, of illness, of desolation; from ignorance and selfishness. Many will learn that it is not fair to oppress people, simply because one has been placed by fate in a high position, and that, on the contrary, a high position should be used to raise up those who are down at the bottom.»
GRM 211.3 · Volume 3
If you do not wish to be anathematised by the Lord and by me, love the Messiah. And have no doubts. This is his evidence: spirit of peace, perfect love, greatest wisdom, heavenly doctrine, absolute meekness, power over everything, total humility, angelical chastity. You cannot be wrong. When you breathe peace near a man Who says He is the Messiah, when you drink the love emanating from Him, when you pass from your darkness into Light, when you see sinners being redeemed and flesh being cured, then say: ‘This is truly the Lamb of God!’
John the Baptist speaks to the people of Hebron and tells them to love the Messiah.
GRM 211.4
«Bring Me your sick people and then gather in this garden, which has been abandoned and was desecrated by sin, after it had been made a temple for the Grace that lived in it.»
The people of Hebron spread out in all directions as fast as swallows. Only the head of the synagogue remains and together with Jesus and the disciples he goes in beyond the enclosure of the garden, to the shade of a bower where entangled roses and vines have grown wild. The population is soon back. With them there is a paralytic in a stretcher, a blind young woman, a dumb boy and two sick people, whose trouble I do not know. The last two are walking supported by other people.
Jesus greets each sick person saying: «Peace to you.» Then He asks the kind question: «What do you want Me to do for you?» followed by the chorus of lamentations, as each one wishes to tell his own story.
Jesus, Who was sitting, stands up and goes to the dumb boy, whose lips He wets with His saliva and utters the great word: «Open.» And He repeats it wetting the sealed eyelids of the woman with His finger moistened with saliva. He then stretches out His hand to the paralytic and says to him: «Rise!», and finally He imposes His hands on the two sick people saying: «Be cured, in the name of the Lord!». And the boy who previously mumbled, says distinctly: «Mummy!», while the young woman winks at the light with her unsealed eyelids, and with her fingers protects her eyes from the unknown sun, weeping and laughing, and looks again, with half open eyes, not being accustomed to the light, at the leaves, the earth, the people and particularly at Jesus. The paralytic comes boldly off the stretcher and his compassionate bearers lift it, empty as it is, to make the people afar understand that the grace has been granted, while the two sick people cry for joy and kneel down to venerate their Saviour.
The crowds are frantically shouting hosanna, Thomas, who is near Judas, looks at him so intensely and with such a clear expression, that Judas declares to him: «I was foolish, forgive me.»
Thomas, who is standing next to Judas, looks at him so intensely and with such a clear expression that Judas replies, "I was a fool, forgive me." This follows a discussion between Thomas and Judas, in which the Iscariot accused Jesus of no longer performing miracles. Cf. EMV 210.
GRM 211.9 · Volume 3
Jesus has finished and there is wonder-struck silence. It seems that many are weighing, testing, enjoying and comparing the words they have heard.
While that is happening and Jesus, Who is tired and hot, sits down and speaks to John and Judas, a loud noise is heard coming from the other side of the garden enclosure. The shouts, at first confused, become clearer: «Is the Messiah there? Is He there?» and when they receive an affirmative reply, they bring forward a cripple who is so deformed that he looks like an S.
«Oh! it is Mashal!»
«But he is too crippled! What does he expect?»
«There is his mother, poor woman!»
«Master, her husband left her because of that freak of nature, her son, and she lives here of charity. But she is old and will not live very long…»
The freak of nature, he really is, is now before Jesus. It is not possible to see his face as he is so bent and twisted. He looks like the caricature of a man-chimpanzee, or of a humanised camel. His mother, a poor old wretch, does not even speak, she only moans: «Lord, Lord… I believe…»
Jesus lays His hands on the crooked shoulders of the man, who hardly reaches up to His waist, looks up to Heaven and thunders: «Rise and walk in the ways of the Lord» and the man gives a start and then springs up as straight as the most perfect man. His movement is so rapid that one would think that the springs, holding him in that abnormal position, had suddenly broken. He now reaches up to Jesus’ shoulders, he looks at Him, then falls on his knees, with his mother, kissing the feet of his Saviour.
What happens in the crowd is indescribable… And against His will, Jesus is compelled to stay in Hebron, because the people are ready to make barriers at the gates to prevent Him from going out.
He thus enters the house of the elderly head of the synagogue, who has changed so much since last year…
GRM 212.1-2 · Volume 3
The whole population of Juttah has run to meet Jesus with the wild flowers picked on the mountain sides and the early fruits they cultivate, besides the smiles of the children and the blessings of the citizens. And before Jesus can set foot in the village, He is surrounded by the good people who, warned by Judas of Kerioth and by John, sent ahead as messengers, have rushed with what they found best to honour the Saviour, and above all with their love.
Jesus blesses with gestures and words both adults and young people who press against Him kissing His tunic and hands, and lay sucklings on His arms so that He may bless them with a kiss. The first to do so is Sarah, who places against His heart the beautiful ten month old baby, whose name is Jesai.
Their love is so impetuous that it prevents progress. And yet it is like a rising wave. I think that Jesus proceeds carried more by that wave than by His own feet, and His heart is certainly carried very high, into the clear sky, by the joy of such love. His face shines with the brightness of the moments of greatest joy of Man-God. It is not the powerful magnetic looking face of the moments when He works miracles, nor the majestic face as when He discloses His continuous union with the Father, nor the severe one as when He condemns sin. They all sparkle with different lights, but the present one is the light of the hours of relaxation of His whole ego, assailed from so many sides, compelled to be always vigilant of every slightest gesture or word, both of His own or of others, surrounded by all the traps of the world that, like a malefic cobweb, throw their satanic threads around the Divine Butterfly of the Man-God, hoping to paralyze His flight and imprison His spirit, so that He may not save the world; to gag His word, so that He may not instruct the supreme guilty ignorance of the earth; to tie His hands, the hands of the Eternal Priest, so that they may not sanctify men, depraved by demon and flesh; to dim His eyes, so that the perfection of His look may not attract hearts to Himself, His look in fact is a magnet, forgiveness, love, charm overwhelming every resistance that is not the resistance of a perfect satan.
212.2
Oh! Is the work of the enemies of the Christ still not always the same against the Christ? Science and Heresy, Hatred and Envy, the enemies of Mankind, who sprang from Mankind itself like poisoned branches from a good tree, do they not do all that, so that Mankind may die, as they hate it more than they hate the Christ, because they hate it in an active way, unchristianising it in order to deprive it of its joy, whereas they can bereave Jesus of nothing, as He is God, whilst they are dust? Yes, they do that.
But the Christ takes shelter in faithful hearts, whence He looks, speaks and blesses Mankind and then… and then He gives Himself to those hearts and they… and they touch Heaven with its blessedness, still remaining here, but burning their senses and organs, in their feelings and thoughts and in their souls, to the extent of being delightfully tortured in their whole being…
Maria begins by describing her vision, then goes on to describe Jesus in more detail and continues with a personal reflection.
GRM 213.2-3 · Volume 3
«I will not teach the public, but I will give you a privileged thing: a prophecy. I ask you to remember it for the future when the most dreadful event of Mankind will darken the sun and in the darkness your hearts may be led to judge erroneously. I do not want you to be led into error, because from the first moment you have been good to Me. I do not want the world to be in a position to say: “Kerioth was the enemy of Christ”. I am just and cannot allow criticism, whether spiteful against Me or fond of Me, to be able to accuse you of faults against Me, spurred by its feelings. As it is not possible to expect equal holiness in the children of a large family, so it is not possible to expect it in a large town. But it would be strongly against charity to say: “The whole family or the whole town is anathema” because of one wicked son or one bad citizen.
Listen therefore, then remember, be always faithful, and as I love you so much as to wish to defend you from an unfair accusation, so you must love those who are innocent. Always. Whoever they may be. Whatever their kindred may be with the guilty ones.
213.3
Now listen. The time will come when in Israel there will be informers of the treasury and of the country, who in the hope of making friends with foreigners, will speak ill of the true High Priest, accusing him of alliance with the enemies of Israel and of wicked deeds against the sons of God. And to achieve their objective they are capable of committing crimes, laying the responsibility on the Innocent One. And the time will come, still in Israel, even more than at the times of Onias, when an infamous man, intriguing to become the Pontiff, will go to the mighty ones in Israel and will corrupt them with the gold of false words, which is even more infamous, and will twist the truth of facts, and he will not speak against crimes, on the contrary, pursuing his shameful object, he will do his best to corrupt customs to have a firmer grip on the souls deprived of God’s friendship: everything to reach his aim. And he will succeed. Of course! Because if in the very abode on Mount Moriah there are no gymnasia of the impious Jason, in actual fact they are in the hearts of the inhabitants of the mountain, who for the sake of exemptions are willing to sell what is worth much more than a piece of ground, that is, their very conscience. The fruits of the old error can still be seen, and he who has eyes to see, can see what is happening over there, where there should be charity, purity, justice, goodness and deep holy religion. But if those fruits are already the cause of tremor, the fruits of their seeds will cause not only tremor, but God’s malediction.
And here is the true prophecy. I solemnly tell you that he who slyly achieved a position and reliance, by means of long underhand tricks, will give into the hands of His enemies, in exchange for money the High Priest, the True High Priest. Deceived by protestations of love and pointed out to His executioners with an act of love, He, the True High Priest, will be killed without any regard for justice. What charges will be made against Christ, because I am speaking of Myself, to justify the right to kill Him? Which fate will be reserved for those who do that? A fate of immediate dreadful justice. Not an individual fate, but a collective one for the accomplices of the traitor. A more remote and even more dreadful fate than the destiny of the man whom remorse will drive to crown his demoniac soul by committing a final crime against himself. Because that one will end in a moment. This last punishment will be a long and frightful one. You will find it in the sentence: “… and His indignation was aroused and he ordered Andronicus to be stripped of the purple and to be killed on the very spot where he had laid impious hands on Onias”. Yes, the sacerdotal race will be struck in its sons as well as in the executioners. And you can read the destiny of the evil associated mass of people in the following words: “The voice of this blood cries to Me from the earth. Therefore you shall be accursed…” And they will be said by God to the whole people who did not guard the gift of Heaven. Because if it is true that I have come to redeem, woe to those who will be murderers and will not be redeemed, amongst this people whose first redemption is My Word.
I have told you. Remember that. And when you hear them say that I am an evil-doer, say: “No. He warned us. And this is the sign, which is being fulfilled and He is the Victim killed for the sins of the world”.»
Jesus gives a prophecy to Keroth, where Judas comes from. He knows that Judas will betray him, but he doesn't want his town to be the victim of an unjust accusation, so he gives them a prophecy.
Second book of the Maccabees, 4
2 M 4 : Simon, this informer of the treasury and of his country, spoke ill of Onias: it was he, he said, who had stirred up Heliodorus and who was the author of all the evil. The city's benefactor, the defender of his fellow citizens and the faithful observer of the laws, he dared to pass him off as an adversary of the state. This hatred went so far that murders were committed by one of Simon's affianced. Then Onias, considering the danger of these divisions and the outbursts of Apollonius, the military governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, who was encouraging Simon's wickedness, went to see the king, not to accuse his fellow citizens, but having in mind the general and particular interest of all his people. For he could see that, without the king's intervention, it would be impossible to pacify the situation, and that Simon would not give up his criminal ventures.
But after the death of Seleucus, Antiochus nicknamed Epiphanes succeeded him, and Jason, brother of Onias, set out to usurp the pontificate. In a meeting with the king, he promised three hundred and sixty talents of silver and eighty talents from other revenues. In addition, he promised to commit himself in writing to a further 150 talents, if he were allowed to establish, on his own authority and according to his own views, a gymnasium with an epebeum, and to register the inhabitants of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch. The king agreed to everything. As soon as Jason had obtained power, he set about introducing Greek customs among his fellow citizens. He abolished the franchises which the kings, out of humanity, had granted to the Jews thanks to the enterprise of John, father of Eupolemus, who had been sent on an embassy to conclude a treaty of alliance and friendship with the Romans, and, destroying legitimate institutions, he established customs contrary to the law. He took pleasure in founding a gymnasium at the very foot of the Acropolis, and raised the noblest children by putting them under the hat. Hellenism then grew to such an extent, and the excessive perversity of Jason, a godless man and by no means a high priest, led to such an inclination towards foreign customs, that the priests no longer showed any zeal for the service of the altar and, despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, rushed to take part, in the palaestra, in the exercises proscribed by the law, as soon as the call to throw the discus was heard. Paying no heed to the honorific functions of their country, they held in high esteem the distinctions of the Greeks. That's why serious calamities befell them, and in the very people whose way of life they imitated and to whom they wanted to resemble in everything, they found enemies and oppressors. For one does not violate divine laws with impunity; but this is what subsequent events will demonstrate.
While the five-yearly games were being celebrated in Tyre, which the king was attending, the criminal Jason sent spectators from Jerusalem, who were citizens of Antioch, bearing three hundred drachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules; but the same people who were carrying them asked that this money be used, not for sacrifices, which was not appropriate, but to cover other expenses. Thus the three hundred drachmas were indeed intended by the one who sent them for the sacrifice in honor of Hercules; but they were used, according to the desire of those who brought them, for the construction of triremes.
Apollonius, son of Menestheus, having been sent to Egypt, on the occasion of the enthronement of King Ptolemy Philometor, Antiochus learned that this king was ill-disposed towards him and, wishing to be safe from him, he went to Joppa, then to Jerusalem. Received magnificently by Jason and the whole city, he made his entry by torchlight and amidst acclamations; then he led his army to Phoenicia in the same way.
Three years later, Jason sent Menelaus, brother of the aforementioned Simon, to bring the money to the king and pay the registration fees for important business. But Menelaus recommended himself to the king, honored him with the outward appearance of a man in high place, and had the sovereign pontificate awarded to himself, offering three hundred talents of silver more than Jason had done. Having received his letters of investiture from the king, he returned to Jerusalem, having nothing worthy of the priesthood and bringing only the instincts of a cruel tyrant and the fury of a wild beast. Thus Jason, who had deceived his own brother, deceived in turn by another, had to flee to the land of the Ammonites. As for Menelaus, he obtained power; but, as he did not comply with the sum promised to the king, despite the complaints of Sostratus, commander of the Acropolis, who was responsible for collecting taxes, both were summoned to the king.
Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus to replace him as high priest, and Sostratus left Cratès, governor of Cyprus, to replace him. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Tarsus and Mallas revolted, because these two cities had been given as presents to Antiochides, the king's concubine. The king therefore left in haste to quell the sedition, having left as his lieutenant Andronicus, one of the great dignitaries. Menelaus, judging the circumstances favorable, took some gold vessels from the temple and gave them to Andronicus, and managed to sell others to Tyre and the neighboring cities.
When Onias became aware of Menelaus' new crime, he reproached him for it, after retiring to a safe haven at Daphne, near Antioch. Menelaus therefore took Andronicus aside and urged him to put Onias to death. Andronic therefore came to Onias and, using cunning, swore an oath on his right hand; then, although suspicious, he persuaded him to leave his asylum and immediately put him to death, without regard for justice. And so, not only the Jews, but many of the other nations were outraged and grieved at this man's unjust murder.
And when the king had returned from Cilicia, the Jews of Antioch, together with Greeks who were also enemies of violence, came to him about the unjust murder of Onias. Antiochus was deeply saddened and, moved by compassion for Onias, shed tears at the memory of the deceased's moderation and wise conduct. Red with anger, he immediately had Andronicus stripped of his purple, tore off his clothes and, having had him led through the whole city, he degraded this scoundrel in the very place where he had carried out his impious attack on Onias, the Lord thus striking him with just punishment.
Now, a great number of sacrilegious thefts having been committed in the city by Lysimachus, in agreement with Menelaus, and word of them having spread, the people rose up against Lysimachus, when already many golden vessels had been scattered. Seeing the multitude stirred up and their spirits inflamed with anger, Lysimachus armed some three thousand men and began to commit acts of violence, under the command of a certain Tyrant, a man advanced in age and no less in perversity. But when they heard of Lysimachus' attack, some seized stones, others large sticks, and some gathered ashes from the ground, and hurled them tumultuously at Lysimachus' followers. In this way, they wounded many of his men, killed several of them, put all the others to flight and massacred the sacrilegious man himself near the temple treasury.
An investigation against Menelaus then began. When the king came to Tyre, the three men sent by the elders explained the justice of their case. Seeing himself convinced, Menelaus promised Ptolemy, son of Dorymene, a large sum of money to make the king favorable to him. Ptolemy then took the king under the peristyle, as if to cool off, and made him change his mind. The king declared Menelaus innocent of the charges brought against him, though guilty of all crimes, and condemned to death unfortunate men who, had they pleaded their case even before Scythians, would have been returned innocent; and men who had defended the city, the people and sacred objects, suffered this unjust punishment without delay. The Tyrians themselves were outraged, and gave the victims a magnificent funeral. As for Menelaus, thanks to the greed of the powerful, he maintained his dignity, growing in malice and cruel scourge of his fellow citizens.
Book of Genesis 4, 10-11
Gen 4, 10-11 : Yahweh said: "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out from the earth to me. Now you are cursed by the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand."
GRM 213.4 · Volume 3
The people leave the synagogue and gesticulating they all speak of the prophecy and of the esteem that Jesus has of Judas. The people of Kerioth are elated at the honour conferred on them by the Messiah by choosing the town of an apostle, and precisely of the apostle of Kerioth to begin the apostolic teaching as well as at the gift of the prophecy. Although it is a sad one, it is a great honour to have received it with the loving words preceding it…
Jesus and the group of the apostles are the only ones to be left in the synagogue; they then go into the little garden between the synagogue and the house of the head of the synagogue. Judas has sat down and is weeping.
«Why are you weeping? I do not see any reason…» says the other Judas.
«Well. I almost feel like doing the same myself. Did you hear Him? We are to speak now…» says Peter.
«We have already done a little of that up on the mountain. And we will improve all the time. You and John did it successfully at once» says James of Zebedee to encourage them.
«I am the worst… but God will help me. Is that right, Master?» asks Andrew.
Jesus, Who was looking through some parchment rolls He had brought with Him, turns around and says: «What were you saying?»
«That God will help me when I have to speak. I will try and repeat Your words as best I can. My brother is afraid and Judas is weeping.»
«Are you weeping? Why?» asks Jesus.
«Because I have really sinned. Andrew and Thomas can tell You. I have been running You down and You benefit me by calling me “dearest disciple” and asking me to teach here… How much love!…»
«But did you not know that I loved you?»
«Yes. But… Thank You, Master. I will never grumble again; I am really darkness and You are the Light.»
The head of the synagogue comes back and invites them to his house, and while going there he says: «I am thinking of Your words. If I have understood You properly, as in Kerioth You found a favourite disciple, our Judas of Simon, so You prophesy You will find an unworthy one. I am sorry for that. Fortunately our Judas will make up for the other…»
«With my whole being» says Judas, who has collected himself.
Jesus does not speak, but He looks at His interlocutors and makes a gesture opening out His arms as if He wanted to say: «It is so.»
Jesus has just launched the apostles' preaching in Keroth, saying: "In the town of my dearest disciple, I won't be doing my usual teaching. We'll be staying here for a few days, and I want him to bring it back to you. For it is from here that I want direct contact to begin, the continual contact between the apostles and the people." The preaching is now over.
I really have sinned. André and Thomas can tell. I have spoken ill of you, and you reward me by calling me "my dearest disciple" and wanting me to teach here... What love! Judas spoke out in EMV 210.
GRM 215.5-7 · Volume 3
« And now let us enter Bethginna. You, precisely you, Philip, who are looking at Me so imploringly, will go around the village, with Andrew. While you are walking about, we shall stop near the fountain or in the village square.»
«Oh! Lord! Don’t send us alone. Please, come with us!» they beg.
«Go, I said. Obedience will be of more help to you than My mute presence.»
215.3
… And so Philip and Andrew go, at random, through the village, until they find a small hotel, an inn, rather than a hotel, and inside there are some brokers bargaining for lambs with some shepherds. They go in and stop disconcertedly in the middle of the yard, which is surrounded by very rustic porches.
The hotel-keeper rushes towards them: «What do you want? Lodgings?»
They consult looking at each other, and they appear to be utterly dismayed. Probably they cannot remember even one word of what they had decided to say. Andrew is the first to regain control of himself and he replies: «Yes, lodgings for us and for the Rabbi Israel.»
«Which rabbi? There are many of them! But they are wealthy gentlemen. They do not come to the villages of poor people to bring their wisdom to the poor. The poor have to go to them and we are lucky if they allow us to go near them!»
«There is only one Rabbi of Israel. And He has come to bring the Gospel to the poor, and the poorer and more sinful they are, the more He looks for them and approaches them» replies Andrew kindly.
«In that case He will not make much money!»
«He does not seek wealth. He is poor and good. When He can save a soul it is a full day for Him» replies once again Andrew.
«Oh! It is the first time that I hear that a rabbi is good and poor. The Baptist is poor but severe. All the others are severe and rich, as greedy as leeches. You over there, have you heard? Come here, you who travel around the world. These men say that there is a poor but good Master Who comes looking for poor people and sinners.»
«Ah! It must be the one who wears a white robe like an Essene. I saw him some time ago at Jericho» says one of the brokers.
«No. That one is by himself. It must be the one of whom Thomas told us, because he happened to speak about him with some shepherds on the Lebanon» replies a tall brawny shepherd.
«Indeed! And he would come as far as here, if he was on the Lebanon! For the sake of your eyes of a cat!» exclaims another one.
While the innkeeper is speaking and listening to his customers, the two apostles have remained standing in the middle of the yard like two poles.
215.4
At last one of the men says to them: «Ehi! You! Come here!
Who is He? Where does that man you spoke of come from?»
«He is Jesus of Joseph, from Nazareth» says Philip seriously and he looks as if he were expecting to be laughed at.
But Andrew adds: «He is the Messiah foretold. I implore you, for your own good, listen to Him. You have mentioned the Baptist. Well, I was with him, and he pointed to us Jesus Who was passing and said: “There is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world”. When Jesus descended into the Jordan to be baptised, the Heavens opened and a Voice cried out: “This is My beloved Son, My favour rests on Him” and the Love of God descended like a dove, shining over His head.»
«See? It is the Nazarene! But tell me, since you say you are His friends…»
«No, not His friends: we are His apostles, His disciples and we have been sent to announce that He is coming, so that those who are in need of salvation may go to Him» clarifies Andrew.
«All right. But tell me. Is He really as some say, that is, a holy man, holier than the Baptist, or is He a demon as others describe Him? You are always with Him, because if you are His disciples, you must be with Him, tell us frankly. Is it true that He is lewd and a guzzler? That He loves prostitutes and publicans. That He is a necromancer and He evokes spirits at night to find out the secrets of hearts?»
«Why do you ask these men such questions? Ask them instead whether it is true that He is good. They will take it amiss and they will go and tell the Master our evil reasoning and we will be cursed. One never knows!… Whether He is God or a demon, it is better to treat Him well.»
It is Philip who speaks now: «We can reply to you quite frankly because there is nothing wicked to be concealed. He, our Master, is the Saint of all saints. He spends His days teaching. He goes tirelessly from place to place seeking the hearts of men. He spends the night praying for us. He does not disdain the pleasures of the table and friendship, but not for His own advantage, but only to approach those who otherwise would be unapproachable. He does not repel publicans and prostitutes but only because He wants to redeem them. His way is traced out with miracles of redemption and miracles over diseases. Winds and seas obey Him. But He does not need anybody to work His prodigies, neither does He have to evoke spirits to know hearts.»
«How can He?… You said that winds and seas obey Him… But they are not endowed with reason. How can He give them orders?» asks the innkeeper.
«Tell me, man: according to you is it more difficult to give an order to the wind or the sea or to death?»
«By Jehovah! You cannot give orders to death! You can throw oil on the sea, you can hoist sails over it, or, more wisely, you can avoid going to sea. You can lock doors against the wind. But you cannot give an order to death. There is no oil capable of calming it. There is no sail which, hoisted on our little boat, can make it sail so fast as to leave death behind. And there are no locks for it. It comes in when it wants to, even if the doors have been locked. Oh! No one gives orders to that queen!»
«And yet our Master commands it. Not only when it is near. But also after it has come. A young man of Nain was about to be put into the dreadful mouth of his sepulchre, and He said to him: “I tell you: rise!” and the young man came back to life. Nain is not in the country of the hyperboreans. You can go and see.»
«Just like that? In the presence of everybody?»
«On the road. In the presence of the whole of Nain.»
215.5
The innkeeper and his customers look at one another in silence. Then the innkeeper says: «But He will do that only for His friends.»
«No, man. For all those who believe in Him and not for them only. He is Mercy on the earth, believe me. No one turns to Him in vain. Listen. Is there anyone amongst you who suffers from or weeps because of diseases in the family, doubts, remorse, temptations, ignorance? Go to Jesus, the Messiah of the Gospel. He is here today. He will be elsewhere tomorrow. The Grace of the Lord Who is passing should not be let it pass in vain» says Philip who has become more and more sure of himself.
The innkeeper ruffles his hair, opens and closes his mouth, tortures the fringes of his belt… at last he exclaims: «I will try! I have a daughter. Up to last summer she was all right. Then she became a lunatic. She remains like a mute animal in a corner, she never moves from it and only with difficulty her mother can dress her and feed her. The doctors say that her brain has been burnt by too much sunshine, others say that it is due to an ill-starred love. The people say she is possessed. How can that be, as she has never been away from here?! Where would she have got that demon? What does your Master say? That a demon can take also an innocent person?»
Philip replies without hesitation: «Yes, to torture the relatives and drive them to despair.»
«And… Can He cure lunatics? Should I hope?»
«You must believe» says Andrews promptly. And he tells them of the miracle of the Gerasenes and concludes: «If those who were a legion in the hearts of sinners fled thus, why should the one who forced his way into the heart of a young person not flee? I tell you, man: for those who hope in Him also what is impossible becomes as easy as breathing. I have seen the works of my Lord and I am a witness of His power.»
«Oh! in that case which of you is going to call Him?»
«I will go myself, man. I will soon be back.» And Andrew runs away while Philip remains speaking to them.
215.6
When Andrew sees Jesus standing in a lobby out of the merciless sun shining in every part of the square, he runs towards Him saying: «Come, Master. The daughter of the innkeeper is lunatic. Her father implores You to cure her.»
«Did he know Me?»
«No, Master. We have tried to make You known to him…»
«And you have succeeded. When one reaches the point of believing that I can cure an incurable disease, one is already well advanced in faith. And you were afraid that you did not know how to do it. What did you tell him?»
«I don’t think I could tell You. We told him what we thought of You and of Your deeds. Above all we told him that You are Love and Mercy. The world has such wrong knowledge of You!!!»
«But you know Me well. And that is enough.»
215.7
They arrive at the small inn. All the customers are standing at the door, full of curiosity, and in the middle there is Philip with the innkeeper who keeps talking to himself.
When he sees Jesus, he runs to meet Him: «Master, Lord, Jesus… I… I believe so firmly that You are You, that You know everything, You see everything, You can do everything, I believe it so firmly that I say to You: Have mercy on my daughter although I have so many sins in my heart. Do not punish my daughter because I have been dishonest in my trade. I will no longer be grasping, I swear it. You can see my heart with its past and with its present thought. Forgive and have mercy on us, Master, and I will speak of You to everybody who comes here, to my house…» The man is on his knees.
Jesus says to him: «Stand up and persevere in your present sentiments. Take Me to your daughter.»
«She is in a stable, my Lord. The sultry weather makes her feel worse. And she will not come out.»
«It does not matter. I will go to her. It is not the sultry weather. It is the demon who perceives My coming.»
They go into the yard and then into a dark stable, followed by all the rest.
The girl, unkempt and lean, becomes agitated in the darkest corner and as soon as she sees Jesus, she shouts: «Back, go back! Do not disturb me. You are the Christ of the Lord, I am one struck by You. Leave me alone. Why do You always follow me?»
«Go out of this girl. Go. I want it. Give your prey back to God and be quiet!»
There is a heart-rending shout, a jerk, her body becomes flabby and collapses onto the straw… then she calmly, sadly asks questions expressing her amazement: «Where am I? Why am I here? Who are they?» and she invokes: «Mummy». The young girl becomes shy when she realises that she is without veil and with a torn dress in the presence of many strangers.
«Oh! Eternal Lord! But she is cured…» and strange to be seen the innkeeper weeps like a child and tears stream down his ruddy cheeks… He is happy and he weeps and does not know what to do, except kiss Jesus’ hands, while the mother of the girl also weeps, surrounded by her amazed little ones, and kisses her first-born now free from the demon.
All the people present shout in amazement and many more rush to see the miracle. The yard is full.
«Remain with us. Lord. It is getting dark. Rest under my roof.»
«Man, we are thirteen.»
«Even if you were three hundred it would not matter. I know what You mean. But the greedy dishonest Samuel is dead, Lord. Also my demon has fled. Now there is a new Samuel. And he will still be the innkeeper. But a holy one. Come, come with me, that I may pay you homage as a king, a god. Such as You are. Oh! blessed be the sun that brought You here today…»
You mentioned John the Baptist. Well, I was with him, and it was he who pointed out Jesus as he was passing by, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” ” When Jesus went down to the Jordan to be baptized, the heavens opened and a voice cried out: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” and the love of God descended in the form of a dove to shine upon his head. See EMV 45.
A young man from Nain was about to be lowered into the dreadful mouth of the tomb when Jesus commanded, “I say to you, arise!” and the young man came back to life. Nain is not at the end of the world. You can go and see for yourselves. See EMV 189.
He then recounts the miracle of the Gerasenes. See EMV 186 or the keyword “the possessed Gerasenes.”