Bible, tradition and sacred texts - Old and New Testaments

Mary is not sleeping. She is kneeling near the cradle in Her light coloured dress and is praying, watching Jesus Who is sleeping peacefully. Jesus is the same age as I saw Him in the vision of the Magi: a Child about one year old, beautiful, rosy and fair haired. He is sleeping with His curly head sunk in the pillow and a clenched fist under His chin.

«Are You not sleeping?» Joseph asks Her in a low surprised voice. «Why not? Is Jesus not well?»

«Oh, no! He is alright. I am praying. Later I will sleep. Why have you come, Joseph?» Mary speaks, kneeling on the same spot.

Joseph speaks in a very low voice so as not to awaken the Child, but it is an excited voice. «We must go away from here at once. It must be at once. Prepare the coffer and a sack with everything You can put in them. I’ll prepare the rest, I’ll take as much as I can… We will flee at dawn. I would go even sooner but I must speak to the landlady…»

«But why this flight?»

«I will tell You later. It’s because of Jesus. An angel said to me: ‘Take the Child and His Mother and escape to Egypt.’ Don’t waste any time. I’m going to prepare what I can.»

35.3 There is no need to tell Mary not to waste time. As soon as She heard Joseph mention an angel, Jesus and flight, She understood that Her Creature was in danger and She jumped to Her feet, Her face whiter than wax, holding one hand against Her heart, completely distressed. And She began to move about, quick and agile, laying the clothes in the coffer and in a large sack which She placed on Her bed still untouched. Although She is disheartened, She does not lose Her head: She acts quickly but orderly. Now and again, when passing near the cradle, She looks at the Child Who is sleeping calmly.

«Do you need help?» Joseph asks now and again, peeping into the room through the door ajar.

«No, thank you,» replies Mary every time.

Only when Her sack is full, and it is obviously very heavy, She calls Joseph to help Her to close it and take it off the bed. But Joseph does not want any help, he prefers to do it himself, and he takes the long sack into his little room.

«Shall I also take the woollen blankets?» asks Mary.

«Take as much as You can. We will lose the rest. Do take as much as You can. Things will be useful because… because we will have to stay away for a long time, Mary!…» Joseph is very sad in saying so. And one can easily imagine how Mary feels. She folds Her blankets and Joseph’s, sighing deeply. Joseph ties the blankets with a rope and while doing so, he says: «We shall leave the quilts and the mats. Even if I take three donkeys I cannot overload them. We will have a long and uncomfortable journey, partly in the mountains and in the desert. Cover Jesus well. The nights will be cold both up in the mountains and in the desert. I have taken the gifts of the Magi because they will be very useful down there. I am going to spend all the money I have to buy two donkeys. We cannot send them back, so I will have to buy them. I’ll go now, without awaiting dawn. I know where to find them. You finish preparing everything.» And he goes out.

Mary gathers a few more things, then, after looking at Jesus, She goes out and comes back with some little dresses which appear to be still damp: perhaps they were washed the day before. She folds them, wraps them up in a cloth, and adds them to the other things. There is nothing else.

She looks around and in a corner She sees one of Jesus’ toys: a little sheep carved in wood. She picks it up sobbing, and kisses it. On the wood there are traces of Jesus’ little teeth and the ears of the little sheep are all nibbled. Mary caresses the thing without any value, a plain piece of light wood, which, however, is of great value to Her, because it tells Her of Joseph’s love for Jesus and speaks to Her of Her Child. She adds it to the other things placed on the closed coffer.

(...) 35.5 Joseph comes back. «Are you ready? Is Jesus ready? Have You taken His blankets and His little bed? We can’t take His cradle, but He must have at least His little mattress: poor Baby, Whose death they are seeking!»

«Joseph!» shouts Mary, while She grasps his arm.

«Yes, Mary, His death. Herod wants Him dead… because he is afraid of Him, that filthy beast, because of his human kingdom he is afraid of this innocent Child. I do not know what he will do when he realises that He has escaped. But we shall be far away by that time. I don’t think he will revenge himself by seeking Him as far as Galilee. It would be very difficult for him to find out that we are Galileans, least of all that we are from Nazareth and who we are exactly. Unless Satan helps him to thank him for being his faithful servant. But… if that should happen… God will help us just the same. Don’t cry, Mary. To see You crying is a greater pain for me than having to go into exile.»

«Forgive Me, Joseph. I am not crying for Myself, or for the few things I am losing. I am crying for you… You have already had to sacrifice yourself so much! And now once again you will have no customers, no home. How much I am costing you, Joseph!».

«How much? No, Mary. You do not cost me. You comfort me. Always. Don’t worry about the future. We have the gifts of the Magi. They will help us for the first days. Later I will find some work. A good clever workman will always make his way. You have seen what happened here. I haven’t got enough time for all the work I have.»

«I know. But who will relieve your homesickness for your native land?»

«And what about You? Who will relieve Your longing for Your home which is so dear to You?»

«Jesus. Having Him, I have what I had there.»

«And I, having Jesus, have my native land, in which I had hope up to some months ago. I have my God. You can see that I lose nothing of what is dear to me above all things. The only important thing is to save Jesus, and then we have everything. Even if we should never see this sky again, or this country or the even dearer country of Galilee, we shall always have everything, because we shall have Him. 35.6 Come, Mary, it is starting to dawn. It is time to say goodbye to our hostess and load our things. Everything will be alright.»

• Passion of the Virgin Mary and Joseph

35.4 Now there is really nothing else. Except Jesus in the little cradle. Mary thinks She should prepare the Child. She goes to the cradle and shakes it a little to wake up the Baby. But He whimpers a little, turns round and continues to sleep. Mary pats His curls gently. Jesus opens His little mouth yawning. Mary bends down and kisses His cheek. Jesus wakes up completely. He opens His eyes, sees His Mother and smiles and stretches His little hands towards Her breast.

«Yes, love of Your Mummy. Yes, Your milk. Before the usual time… But You are always ready to suck Your Mummy’s breast, My little holy Lamb!»

Jesus laughs and plays, kicking His little feet out of the blankets, moving His arms happily in a typical childish style, so beautiful to see. He pushes His feet against His Mummy’s stomach, He arches His back leaning His fair head on Her breast, and then throws Himself back and laughs, holding with His hands the laces that tie Mary’s dress to Her neck, endeavouring to open it. He looks most beautiful in His little linen shirt, plump and as rosy as a flower.

Mary bends down and in that position, looking over the cradle, as if in protection, She smiles and cries at the same time, while the Child prattles, uttering words which are not the words of all little children; among them the word «Mummy» is repeated very clearly. He looks at Her, surprised to see Her crying. He stretches one little hand towards the shiny traces of tears and it gets wet while patting Her face. And, very gracefully, He leans once again on His Mother’s breast, He clings to it and pats it with His hand.

Mary kisses His hair, picks Him up in Her arms, sits down and dresses Him. His little woollen dress has now been put on Him and His sandals have been tied on His feet. She nurses Him and Jesus avidly sucks His Mother’s good milk, and when He feels that only a little is coming from Her right breast, He looks for the left one, laughing while doing so and looking up at His Mother. Then He falls asleep again on Her breast, His rosy round little cheek resting against Her white round breast.

Mary rises very slowly and lays Him on the quilt on Her bed. She covers Him with Her mantle, She goes back to the cradle and folds its little blankets. She wonders whether She ought to take the little mattress as well. It’s so small. It can be taken. She puts it, together with the pillow, near the other things already on the coffer. And She cries over the empty cradle, poor Mother, persecuted in Her Little Creature.

• Jesus as a child
• Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary
• Tears of the Virgin Mary

35.5 Joseph comes back. «Are you ready? Is Jesus ready? Have You taken His blankets and His little bed? We can’t take His cradle, but He must have at least His little mattress: poor Baby, Whose death they are seeking!»

«Joseph!» shouts Mary, while She grasps his arm.

«Yes, Mary, His death. Herod wants Him dead… because he is afraid of Him, that filthy beast, because of his human kingdom he is afraid of this innocent Child. I do not know what he will do when he realises that He has escaped. But we shall be far away by that time. I don’t think he will revenge himself by seeking Him as far as Galilee. It would be very difficult for him to find out that we are Galileans, least of all that we are from Nazareth and who we are exactly. Unless Satan helps him to thank him for being his faithful servant. But… if that should happen… God will help us just the same.»

• Escape to Egypt
• Herod the Great
• Lucifer - Satan
• Massacre of the Innocents

The Decalogue is the Law; and My Gospel is the Doctrine that makes the Law clearer for you and more loving to follow. The Law and My Doctrine would be sufficient to make saints of men.

• Decalogue
• Doctrine
• Holiness
• Word of God - Law of God
• Words of wisdom

(...) 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

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.

• Escape to Egypt
• Rosary
• The Virgin Mary

Nothing is to be our master except God.

• Holy Family

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

I had preached sacrifice, detachment, a pure life, humble positions.

• Apostolate - Evangelism
• Apostolate of Jesus Christ
• Virtues

Those who make themselves ‘small’ are great in My Kingdom. Those who wish to be ‘great’ in the eyes of the world are not suitable to reign in My Kingdom. They are straw for the beds of the demons. Because the greatness of the world is the antithesis of the Law of God.

The world calls ‘great’ those who, by means which almost are always illicit, know how to get the best positions and to do so, they use their neighbour as a stool on which they then climb, crushing him. The world calls ‘great’ those who know how to kill in order to reign, and they kill materially or morally, and they usurp positions and countries and fatten themselves, bleeding both individuals and communities. The world often calls ‘great’ criminals. No. ‘Greatness’ is not to be found in criminality. It is in goodness, in honesty, in love, in justice. You can see which poisonous fruit your ‘great ones’ offer you, fruit which they have picked in the wicked devilish garden inside them!

• Bible - Gospel of Luke
• Bible - Gospel of Mark
• Bible - Gospel of Matthew
• The smallest and the biggest