GRM 197.5 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
Blessed be those who after living with the blessing of the Lord go to sleep in a bright dawn and not in darkness.
Notes for this theme
Bible, tradition and sacred texts - Old and New Testaments
Page 187 of 221
Reading comfort
Aa
GRM 198
The Gospel as revealed to me
Detail
Apart from John, Judas and Peter, the other apostles are not named by Maria. Nevertheless, they are present.
GRM 198.4 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
They all set out towards Simon’s house: Mary with Jabez in Her arms, Jesus holding John of Endor by the hand, and then, around them and behind them, Lazarus and Martha, the apostles with Maximinus, Isaac, Joseph, and Timoneus.
They enter the house on the threshold of which Simon’s old servant greets Jesus and his master with deep respect.
«Peace to you, Joseph, and to this house» says Jesus, lifting His hand to bless after laying it on the old servant’s white head.
Lazarus and Martha, after their first expression of joy, are somewhat sad and Jesus asks them: «Why, My friends?»
«Because You are not staying with us and because everybody comes to You except the soul that we would like to be Yours.»
«Fortify your patience, your hope and your prayers. After all, I am with you. This house!… This house is but the nest from which the Son of man will fly every day to His dear friends, so close in space, but if we consider the situation in a supernatural way, infinitely closer in love. You are in My heart and I am in yours. Can we be closer than that? But we will be together this evening. Please sit at My table.»
GRM 198.6 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«Are you going to adopt him?» asks Lazarus.
«No. I cannot.»
«Well, I will take him.»
Peter sees his hopes vanish and he utters a really deep groan: «Lord! Everything to him?»
Jesus smiles: «Lazarus, you have already done so much and I am grateful to you. But I cannot entrust this child to you. He is “Our” boy. He belongs to all of us. He is the joy of the apostles and of the Master. Besides, he would be brought up in luxury here. I want to make him a present of My royal mantle: “honest poverty”. The poverty that the Son of man wanted for Himself, to be able to go near the greatest miseries without mortifying anybody. You have had a gift from Me also recently…»
«Ah! Yes! The old patriarch and his daughter. The woman is very active, the old man very good.»
«Where are they now? I mean: in which place?»
«They are here, in Bethany. Do You think I was going to send away the blessing You had sent me? The woman weaves linen. Light skilful hands are required for that job. Since the old man insists on working, I put him at the beehives. Yesterday he had a long golden beard, didn’t he, sister? The bees swarmed and clung to his long beard and he was speaking to them as if they were daughters. He is happy.»
«I am sure he is! May you be blessed!» says Jesus.
«Thank You, Master.»
Annotation
The old patriarch and his daughter. The woman is very active, and the old man is good. Ishmael and Sarah from the Sermon on the Mount. See EMV 172.9 and EMV 173.5.
GRM 199.2 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
They go into the kitchen and Thomas causes the two Maries, who are bent over the kitchen-stove, to start, when he shouts in his loud voice: «There is a young man here looking for you» and laughing he introduces the boy who was hiding behind his robust back.
«Oh! dear! Come here that I may give you a kiss! Look, Salome, how lovely he is!» exclaims Mary of Alphaeus.
«He is, indeed! All he needs now is to become more robust. But I’ll see to that. Come here, that I may kiss you, too» replies Salome.
«But Jesus is going to entrust him to the shepherds…» objects Thomas.
«Not on your life! My Jesus is mistaken here. What can you men do or pretend you can do? You are only good at quarrelling – because, incidentally, you are rather quarrelsome… like little goats which are fond of one another and gore one another with their horns – at eating, speaking and you have a thousand needs and you claim the Master to pay all His attention to you… otherwise you become sulky… Children need mothers. Is that right? »
Detail
Thomas brings young Marziam to Marie d'Alphée and Marie Salomé.
GRM 199.3 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
And there is Jesus coming from Lazarus’ house together with the latter. The boy runs towards Him and Jesus says: «Peace be with us, Marjiam. Let us exchange the kiss of peace.»
Lazarus, greeted by the boy, caresses him and gives him a sweet.
They all gather around Jesus. Also Mary, wearing a turquoise woolen dress on top of which a darker mantle is draped, comes towards Her Son smiling.
«We can go, then» says Jesus. «You, Simon, with My Mother and the boy, if you still wish to buy his robe, now that Lazarus has seen to it.»
«Of course I do! And then… I will be able to say that once I walked beside Your Mother. A great honour.»
«Go, then. Simon, you will take Me to your leper friends…»
«Really, Master? Then, if You do not mind, I will run ahead, to gather them… You will reach me. You know where they are…»
«All right, go. The others can do what they like. You are all free until Wednesday morning. At the third hour everybody is to be at the Golden Gate.»
«I am coming with You, Master» says John.
«And I» says his brother James.
«And us, too» say the two cousins.
«I will come, too» says Matthew, and Andrew after him.
«And I? I would like to come, too… but if I go to do the shopping, I cannot come…» says Peter, pressed by two desires.
«It can be done. We shall go to the lepers first, while My Mother with the boy goes to the house of a friend in Ophel. We will reach Her later and you will go with Her, while the others and I go to Johanna’s. We will meet at Gethsemane for our meal and towards sunset we will come back here.»
«If You allow me, I will go to see some friends…» says Judas Iscariot.
«I have already told you. Do what you like.»
«In that case, I will go to my relatives. Perhaps my father has already come. If he is there, I will bring him to see You» says Thomas.
«What about us two? What do you say, Philip? We could go and see Samuel.»
«Very good» Philip replies to Bartholomew.
«And what about you, John?» Jesus asks the man of Endor. «Do you prefer to remain here and sort out your books, or do you wish to come with Me?»
«Really, I would prefer to come with You… My books… I am already less fond of them. I prefer to read You, the Living Book.»
«Come, then. Goodbye, Lazarus…»
«I will come, too. My legs are a little better, and after we have seen the lepers, I will leave You and go to Gethsemane and wait for You there.»
«Let us go, Peace to you, women.»
They remain all together until they are near Jerusalem. Then they part, the Iscariot goes on his own and enters the town probably through the Gate near the Antonia Tower; Thomas, Philip and Nathanael walk for about ten more yards with Jesus and their companions and then enter the town through the suburb of Ophel, together with Mary and the boy.
Annotation
You, Simon, are going to accompany me to your leper friends... Simon the Zealot is a former leper, cured by Jesus.
You're all free until Wednesday morning. At the hour of tierce, everyone goes to the Golden Gate. This gate leads directly to the Temple from Bethany and Gethsemane.
Meanwhile, Mother and the child go to a friendly house in Ophel. This neighborhood is south of the Temple and therefore east of the city.
The two of us, what do you say, Philippe, we could go to Samuel's house. Probably Samuel, Annalia's fiancé.
He probably enters the city through the gate by the Antonia Tower. The Pisces Gate.
Keywords
- André (apostle)
- Barthélémy - Nathanaël (apostle)
- Father of Thomas the apostle
- James of Alphaeus (apostle)
- James of Zebedee (apostle)
- Jean d'Endor (Félix)
- Jeanne de Kouza
- John of Zebedee (apostle)
- Judas de Kérioth (apostle)
- Jude of Alphée (apostle)
- Matthew (apostle)
- Philip (apostle)
- Simon the Zealot (apostle)
- Simon-Pierre - Simon de Jonas (apostle)
- The Twelve
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 199.4 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«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.»
Detail
Jesus has just healed some lepers. There are still others, who have not asked for the miracle, but have seen their colleagues healed. They are then asked why they do not yet believe in the Messiah.
Keywords
GRM 199.5 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«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…»
GRM 199.6 · Volume 3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
Peter goes away with Mary and is very happy. They are both holding the boy by his hands and they look like a happy family. Many people turn around to look at them. Jesus watches them go away smiling.
«Simon is happy!» exclaims the Zealot.
«Why are You smiling, Master?» asks James of Zebedee.
«Because I see a great promise in that group.»
«Which promise, Brother? What do You see?» asks Thaddeus.
«This is what I see: that I shall be able to go away with a peaceful mind, when the time comes. I need not be afraid for My Church. Then it will be small and slender like Marjiam. But My Mother will be there to hold it by the hand and to be its Mother; and there will be Peter as its father. In his honest rough hands I can place the hand of My dawning Church without any worry. He will give it the strength of his protection. My Mother the strength of Her love. And the Church will grow… like Marjiam… He is really the symbol-child! May God bless My Mother, My Peter and their child and ours! Now let us go to Johanna’s.»