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Notes for this theme

City of Jerusalem

Page 4 of 7

Reading comfort

Aa

GRM 67

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Jesus is alone. He meets two men who are quarrelling and trying to stab each other. Christ intervenes again, warning them to stop; then, when they don't listen, he works a miracle and the blades break.

As soldiers from Rome arrive, Jesus gives a brief sermon for the men of Israel, and then also for the pagans present, enjoining them to love, and also pointing out that it is not through violence that one is victorious, but through holiness. Anger is a sin that can cut us off from God's blessing; yet the Lord's children must be kind to one another and love one another.

Having finished his speech, he is asked if he is the Messiah, and Jesus does not deny it. He is asked again if he performs miracles, and he doesn't deny it either, even performing them when the sick are presented to him. The crowd rejoices and Jesus blesses.

Then Judas arrives, inquiring about what has happened. He asks if he's going to stay in Jerusalem, but Jesus tells him he's going to travel to Judea, promising to go to Keroth. Finally, they both speak of John the Baptist, whom Herod has arrested. If Jesus is Goodness, the Forerunner is Penitence. The vision ends there.

GRM 67.1

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

67.1 I see Jesus walking along a shady road all alone. It looks like a fresh little valley, rich in waters. I call it a little valley because it is embanked between two risings of the ground and a rivulet flows in its centre.

The place is deserted in the early morning hour. The sun has just risen, a beautiful, clear summer day, and with the exception of the warbling of the birds in the trees and the plaintive cooing of wild doves nesting in the crevices of the barren hill, no other sound is heard. The trees are mostly olive-trees, particularly on the hill on the left-hand side, whereas the other hill is more barren with low lentisk, thorny acacia and agave bushes, etc. Even the rivulet, with very little water lying in the centre of the riverbed, does not seem to make any noise, and flows gently reflecting in its depth the green of the surrounding hills, and therefore looks dark emerald.

Jesus crosses a primeval little bridge: the trunk of a tree, half planed, thrown across the torrent, without a parapet or any protection, and goes on His way on the other bank.

I can now see walls and gates and also some merchants with vegetables and foodstuffs crowding near the gates, still closed, waiting to go into town. Donkeys are busy braying and brawling; also their owners scuffle in robust style. Insults and blows with cudgels are aimed at and given not only to the donkeys’ backs, but also to human heads.

Detail

Near the Pisces Gate.

GRM 68.1

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

68.1 I see Jesus entering the enclosure of the Temple with Judas beside Him. After going through the first terrace, He stops in a porch on the side of a wide yard, paved with multicoloured marble. The place is beautiful and crowded.

GRM 69

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Jesus leaves the Temple with Judas. Judas wants to go with him, but Jesus tells him that he needs to pray with the Father. He affirms that the spirit must always take precedence over the flesh, and that the flesh must almost be killed in favor of supernatural life. Judas then asks how we can be unconcerned about the flesh, and evokes the commandment "Thou shalt not kill". Jesus replies that we must eat with continence, without poisoning ourselves or overeating, as this flatters the taste. He then returned to the subject of suicide, and spoke about it at length. Christ declares that he who commits suicide sins through pride. Judas points out that people commit suicide out of despair, but Jesus says that despair is nothing other than pride: for we believe that we have no help anywhere, not even from God, who is a Father and can reach out to us. Judas points out that all those who committed suicide in Scripture before his coming sinned, but the Master declares that they will have been able to receive God's Mercy, even if it is never permitted to do violence, to oneself or to others. After the coming of the Word, on the other hand, the sin of suicide will always be severely condemned by God's Justice if the sinner commits suicide, declaring that he is forever separated from God and cannot receive God's forgiveness. Since life is a gift from God, we must love it, and use it to gain eternity.

Judas understands Christ's thought, but finds it hard to apply. They talk about Christ's temptation, then Jesus talks about angels (pure spirits) and man, king of creation, whom Jesus has come to rehabilitate.

About to leave Jesus, Judas asks him if he can't take him somewhere other than the olive grove, to make him "better considered". But while Jesus thanks him for his consideration, he likes to stay in this humble environment. He will come for all, for the little ones as well as for the great, but will remain above all where humility is to be found. Finally, the two men part shortly afterwards.

GRM 70.3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

70.3 They go out into the olive-grove. But before going out, John takes something out of the knapsack in the corner. They walk for a little while and they reach a brow from which the whole of Jerusalem can be seen.

«Let us sit down here and talk a little» says Jesus.

But John prefers to sit at Jesus’ feet on the short grass, and he rests his arm on Jesus’ knees, with his head reclined on his arm, looking now and again at Jesus. He looks like a little boy near the person dearest to him. «It is beautiful also here, Master. Look how large the town seems at night. Larger than by day.»

«It is because the moonlight shades the outlines. See: the borders seem to widen out in a silver brightness. Look at the top of the Temple, up there. Does it not look as if it were suspended in mid air.»

«It seems supported by angels on their silver wings.»

Jesus sighs.

«Why are You sighing, Master?»

«Because the angels have abandoned the Temple. Its feature of purity and holiness is now confined to its walls only. Those who should impress it into its soul — because every place has its soul, that is the spirit for which it was built, and the Temple has, or should have, a soul of prayer and holiness — those who should energise such spirit, are instead the first to suffocate it. You can not give what you do not possess, John. And if there are many priests and Levites living there, not even one tenth of them are capable of giving life to the Holy Place. They give death instead. They transmit the death of their own souls, which are dead to what is holy. They have their formulae. But they do not have the essence of them. They are corpses that are warm only because putrifaction swells them.»

«Have they done You wrong, Master?» John is all upset.

«No. On the contrary they allowed Me to speak when I asked to.»

«Did You ask them? Why?»

«Because I do not want to be the one who starts war. There will be war in any case. Because I shall be the cause of a silly human fear for some, and the cause of reproach for others. But this must be written in their book, not in Mine.»

Detail

Jesus is with John, in the olive grove of Gethsemane. They see the whole city of Jerusalem.

GRM 71

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Jesus speaks to Judas. They are waiting for Simon the Zealot and John of Zebedee, who are to join him. Jesus reveals that John is his first disciple, and Judas is hurt, but he says nothing to the Master. The Master, who knows the heart, asks the Iscariot why he doesn't tell him what he thinks. Then he asks him if his father loved him, and Judas speaks of his sire with emotion. The Lord then assures him that, if his father raised him as Judas tells him, he was certainly a righteous man, and that he will rejoice to know him a disciple of the Messiah. But Judas must see in Jesus the father he had lost, and hide nothing from him. Judas declares that he will become good if Christ loves him that much. He confesses that he was hurt not to have been the first disciple, but Jesus assures him that He makes no difference in His heart between the first and the last.

Simon and John arrive in the meantime. The former leper greets his Savior with a shout of joy, and Jesus blesses him for the evangelistic work he has already accomplished. Simon takes the opportunity to mention Lazarus, and Jesus promises to visit him. Then the introductions between the disciples take place. Jesus sends John with Judas, and he asks Simon to be lenient with this man, whom Simon-Peter and others will not appreciate. Simon agrees, and with these words they go off to evangelize the people at the Temple.

GRM 72

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Jesus, John, Simon the Zealot and Judas are together. The Master asks them to accompany him to Judea, unless it would be very painful for them, especially Simon. But Simon says he has a new vigor since the Lord's miracle, and that the scales of hate have fallen from his heart. He even claims that this miracle of the heart is greater than the physical miracle, and grumbling, Judas asks why Jesus doesn't act this way with everyone. John then steps in and says that the Master is already changing them: at least he has been since the Messiah called him to follow him. The Beloved is then embarrassed to have spoken in front of the Master, but James' brother didn't want Judas to sadden the Master. Then Jesus speaks up and says that there will come a time when they will receive strength, grace and wisdom from the Lord, and judge justly. He even says that he will send them out and that they will be able to perform miracles... Judas rejoices at this thought, John less so, for they will no longer be with Jesus. Simon the Zealot nevertheless points out to them that if Christ acts in this way, it's because he'll know what he's doing and that they should trust him, remaining humble even when they perform miracles. Judas declares that if he wants to perform miracles, it's to see the Master triumph... And Simon speaks to him skilfully about the human thoughts that corrupt the image of Christ announced in Scripture: he takes the example of the Zealots, who wanted a human Kingdom and were punished by God and Rome. In his punishment, however, Simon knew the Son of God and recognized him at the right moment.

The conversation dies down, and Jesus reveals that they are going to Bethlehem.

GRM 85

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Jesus goes up to the Temple in Jerusalem with Simon the Zealot to pray to the Father. He has no intention of preaching there. Slight reference to the Shepherds of Bethlehem. Jesus plans what they're going to do: go to Jonah, go to Nazareth, then to Capernaum. They will also meet up with the other disciples. They talk about the soul, then about beautiful Galilee, Nazareth and Mary. Judas preaches to men in the Temple. Simon repents for thinking badly of him in EMV 83. The two men then go to meet John at the Olive grove in Gethsemane. There, he has met Annalia's mother, Elise, and encouraged her to come and see Jesus, as her daughter is very ill.