The Catholic Church

17.15 Mary, we must always be steps so that other people may ascend to God. It does not matter if they tread on us, providing they are successful in reaching the Cross. It is the new tree that has the knowledge of Good and Evil, because it tells man what is good and what is evil, so that he may choose and live, and at the same time it is a medicine that cures those who are intoxicated by the evil they wanted to taste. Let our hearts be under the feet of men, that the number of the redeemed may increase and the Blood of My Jesus not be shed fruitlessly. That is the destiny of the maids of God. But then we deserve to receive the holy Host in our hearts and to say at the foot of the Cross drenched with His Blood and our tears: “Here is, o Father, the immaculate Host which we offer to You for the salvation of the world. Look at us, Father, melted with It and give us Your blessing for Its infinite merits”.

• Apostolate - Evangelism
• Master of souls
• Pain and suffering
• Sacrifice and immolation
• The fruitfulness of suffering

I said: “metaphorical tree”. Now I will say: “symbolic tree”. Perhaps you will understand better. Its symbol is clear: the inclination to good and to evil of the two children of God would be understood by their behaviour towards the tree. Like ‘aqua regia’ that tests gold and the scales of the goldsmith that weigh its carats, that tree, by God’s command, became a means of testing and it gave the measure of Adam’s and Eve’s symbolic metal purity.

17.17 I can already hear your objection: “Was the punishment not excessive and the means used to condemn them not childish?”

Not so. Actual disobedience in you, who are their heirs, is not so grave as if it were in them. You have been redeemed by Me. But Satan’s poison is always ready to rise again, like certain diseases that never disappear completely in the blood. The First Parents possessed Grace without ever even nearing Disgrace. They were therefore stronger and more firmly supported by Grace that generated love and innocence. The gift given them by God was infinite. Much graver is therefore their fall notwithstanding that gift.

17.18 Also the fruit that was offered and eaten was symbolic. It was the fruit of an experience they wanted to have at Satan’s instigation to break God’s command. I had not forbidden men love. I only wanted them to love each other without malice; as I loved them in My holiness, they were to love each other in the holiness of affections unsoiled by lewdness.

17.19 It must not be forgotten that Grace is light, and whoever possesses it knows what is good and useful to know. Mary, Full of Grace, knew everything, because Wisdom taught Her, Wisdom that is Grace, and She knew how to live in a holy way. Also Eve knew what was good for her to know. But not more, because it is useless to know what is not good. But she did not have faith in God’s word, and was not faithful to her promise of obedience. She believed in Satan, she broke her promise, she wanted to know what was not good, she loved it without regret, she turned love into something corrupt and degraded, which I instead had permitted as something holy. A sullied angel, she wallowed in mud and litter, whereas she could have run happily amongst the flowers of the earthly Paradise and she could have seen her offspring flourish around her, like a plant that is covered with flowers without bending its leaves into the mire.

• Adam and Eve
• Original sin
• The Fall
• Tree of the knowledge of good and evil

17.17 I can already hear your objection: “Was the punishment not excessive and the means used to condemn them not childish?”

Not so. Actual disobedience in you, who are their heirs, is not so grave as if it were in them. You have been redeemed by Me. But Satan’s poison is always ready to rise again, like certain diseases that never disappear completely in the blood. The First Parents possessed Grace without ever even nearing Disgrace. They were therefore stronger and more firmly supported by Grace that generated love and innocence.

• A state of grace before the sin - Original sin
• Disobedience
• Innocence
• Love

I had not forbidden men love. I only wanted them to love each other without malice; as I loved them in My holiness, they were to love each other in the holiness of affections unsoiled by lewdness.

• Procreation before the Fault - Original sin

17.19 It must not be forgotten that Grace is light, and whoever possesses it knows what is good and useful to know. Mary, Full of Grace, knew everything, because Wisdom taught Her, Wisdom that is Grace, and She knew how to live in a holy way. Also Eve knew what was good for her to know. But not more, because it is useless to know what is not good. But she did not have faith in God’s word, and was not faithful to her promise of obedience. She believed in Satan, she broke her promise, she wanted to know what was not good, she loved it without regret, she turned love into something corrupt and degraded, which I instead had permitted as something holy. A sullied angel, she wallowed in mud and litter, whereas she could have run happily amongst the flowers of the earthly Paradise and she could have seen her offspring flourish around her, like a plant that is covered with flowers without bending its leaves into the mire.

• A state of grace before the sin - Original sin
• Adam and Eve
• Original sin
• The Virgin Mary - Full of Grace
• The Virgin Mary - New Eve

• Elizabeth of Hebron (mother of John the Baptist)
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Locations - House of Nazareth
• Summary of EMV
• The Virgin Mary

18.1 The little house of Nazareth appears to me with Mary in it. Mary, a young girl, as when the Angel of God appeared to Her. This simple sight fills my soul with the virginal perfume of the house. The scent still remains in the room where the Angel gently waved his golden wings. That divine perfume was all concentrated on Mary to make a mother of Her and it now emanates from Her.

It is evening, because shadows begin to invade the room into which so much heavenly light had descended.

Mary is kneeling near Her little bed and is praying with Her arms crossed over Her breast and Her face bowed down very low. She is still dressed as She was at the moment of the Annunciation. Everything is exactly as it was then. The flowery branch is in its vase, the furniture in the same position. Only the distaff and the spindle are now leaning in a corner, the former with its flax, the latter with its bright thread wrapped around it.

Mary stops praying and stands up, Her face is flushed as if it were lit up by a flame. Her lips are smiling, but Her eyes are shining with tears.

• Annunciation
• Saint Gabriel Archangel

18.1 The little house of Nazareth appears to me with Mary in it. Mary, a young girl, as when the Angel of God appeared to Her. This simple sight fills my soul with the virginal perfume of the house. The scent still remains in the room where the Angel gently waved his golden wings. That divine perfume was all concentrated on Mary to make a mother of Her and it now emanates from Her.

It is evening, because shadows begin to invade the room into which so much heavenly light had descended.

Mary is kneeling near Her little bed and is praying with Her arms crossed over Her breast and Her face bowed down very low. She is still dressed as She was at the moment of the Annunciation. Everything is exactly as it was then. The flowery branch is in its vase, the furniture in the same position. Only the distaff and the spindle are now leaning in a corner, the former with its flax, the latter with its bright thread wrapped around it.

Mary stops praying and stands up, Her face is flushed as if it were lit up by a flame. Her lips are smiling, but Her eyes are shining with tears. She takes the oil lamp and lights it with a flint. She checks that everything is in good order in the room. She straightens up the blanket on the bed as it had been displaced. She adds some water to the vase containing the flowery branch and She places it outside, in the cool of the night. She then comes back in. She takes the folded embroidery from the bookcase and the lamp and goes out closing the door. She takes a few steps in the little kitchen garden, along the side of the house and then goes into the little room where I saw the parting goodbye of Jesus and Mary. I recognise it although some pieces of furniture which were there previously are now missing.

Mary disappears into another small adjoining room, taking the lamp with Her, and I am left alone in the company of the embroidery work laid on the corner of the table. I can hear Mary’s light steps moving to and fro, She then makes a noise with water as if She were washing something. Then there is the noise of broken sticks and I understand that She is lighting the fire.

Then She comes back and goes into the little garden. She comes in once again with some apples and vegetables. She puts the apples on the table, on an engraved metal tray, possibly made of copper. She goes back into the kitchen, (the kitchen is definitely over there). Now the flames of the fireplace are merrily casting light through the open door into this room and make dancing shadows on the wall.

Some time goes by and Mary comes in with a small brown loaf and a bowl of hot milk. She sits down and dips some small slices of bread into the milk. She eats them slowly. Then leaving half of the bowl of milk, She goes into the kitchen and comes back with the vegetables on which She pours some oil and She eats them with the bread. She quenches Her thirst with the milk. She then takes an apple and eats it. The meal of a little girl.

Mary eats and thinks and She smiles at some inner thought. She looks up and all around the walls and seems to be telling them a secret.

Mary eats and thinks and She smiles at some inner thought. She looks up and all around the walls and seems to be telling them a secret. Now and again, She turns serious, almost sad. But soon Her smile is back on Her lips again.

• Prayer of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary

18.2 There is a knocking at the door. Mary gets up and opens it. Joseph comes in. They greet each other. Then Joseph sits on a stool in front of Mary, on the opposite side of the table.

Joseph is a handsome man in the prime of life. He must be thirty-five years old at the most. His face is framed by his dark brown hair and a beard of the same colour and his eyes are very sweet and very dark, almost black. His forehead is large and smooth, his nose thin and slightly aquiline, his cheeks are roundish of a brown hue, but not olive-coloured, on the contrary they are rosy near the cheek-bones. He is not very tall, but he is strong and well built.

Before sitting down he has taken off his mantle and it is the first I have seen of its kind, because it is a full circle. It is held close at the neck by a kind of hook and it has a hood. The colour is light brown and it seems to be made of a cloth of coarse waterproof wool. It looks like the mantle of a mountaineer suitable to shelter from inclement weather.

18.3 Also before sitting down he offers Mary two eggs and a bunch of grapes, somewhat withered, but well preserved. And he smiles saying: «The grapes were brought to me from Cana. I was given the eggs by a Centurion for some repair work I did to his cart. A wheel was broken and their carpenter is ill. They are freshly laid. He took them from the hen house. Drink them. They will do You good.»

«Tomorrow Joseph. I have just finished My meal.»

«But You can take the grapes. They are good, as sweet as honey. I carried them very carefully, so that they would not get ruined. Eat them. There are plenty more. I’ll bring them tomorrow in a little basket. I couldn’t this evening, because I came straight from the Centurion’s house.»

«Well, then, you have not had any supper yet.»

«No, I haven’t, but it does not matter.»

Mary gets up at once and goes into the kitchen and She comes back with some milk, some olives and cheese. «I have nothing else» She says. «Take an egg.»

But Joseph does not want it. The eggs are for Mary. He eats with relish his bread and the cheese and he drinks the luke warm milk. He then accepts an apple. And his supper is over.

Mary takes Her embroidery after cleaning the table and Joseph helps Her and he remains in the kitchen even when She comes back here. I can hear him putting things away. He pokes the fire because it is a cool evening. When he comes in, Mary thanks him.

18.4 They speak to each other. Joseph tells Her how he spent the day. He talks of his little nephews and he takes an interest in Mary’s work and in Her flowers. He promises to bring Her some beautiful flowers which the Centurion has promised him. «They are flowers we haven’t got here. They were brought from Rome. And he promised me some little plants. Now, when the moon is in the right quarter I will plant them for You. They have lovely colours and a beautiful scent. I saw them last year, because they bloom in summer. They will scent the whole house for You. Then I will prune the trees when the moon is right. It is time.»

Mary smiles and thanks him. Then there is silence. Joseph looks at Mary’s fair head bowed over Her embroidery. A look of angelical love. Certainly, if an angel were to love a woman with the love of a husband, he would look at her in this way.

• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• The Virgin Mary
• Words of the Virgin Mary

Then Mary, as if She were taking a sudden decision, lays the embroidery on Her lap and says: «I also have something to tell you. I never have anything to say, because you know how withdrawn I live. But today I have some news. I heard that our relative Elizabeth, Zacharias’ wife, is about to have a child…»

Joseph opens his eyes wide and exclaims: «At her age?»

«At her age» replies Mary smiling. «The Lord can do everything, and now He is giving this joy to our relative.»

«How do you know? Is the news certain?»

«A messenger came. One who would not tell lies. I would like to go to Elizabeth’s, to help her and tell her that I am rejoicing with her. If you will allow Me…»

«Mary, You are my lady and I Your servant. Whatever You do is well done. When would You like to go?»

«As soon as possible. But I shall be away for some months.»

«And I will count the days waiting for You. Go and don’t worry. I will look after the house and Your little garden. You will find the flowers as beautiful as if You had taken care of them. But… wait. Before Passover I must go to Jerusalem to buy some things for my work. If You can wait for a few days, I will come with You as far as Jerusalem. I can’t go any farther, because I must hurry back. But we can go there together. I will be happier if I know that You are not on the road by Yourself. When You want to come back, You can let me know and I will come and meet You.»

«You are so good, Joseph. May the Lord reward you with His blessings and keep sorrow away from you. I always pray to Him for that.»

18.6 The chaste couple smile at each other angelically. There is silence again for a little while.

Then Joseph gets up. He puts his mantle on and he covers his head with the hood. He says goodbye to Mary Who has also got up, and he goes out.

Mary looks at him going out and She sighs rather sadly. She then lifts Her eyes to Heaven. She is certainly praying. She closes the door carefully. She folds the embroidery. She goes into the kitchen, puts out or covers up the fire. She makes sure that everything is in order. She then takes the oil lamp and goes out closing the door. With Her hand She shields the feeble flame that flickers in the cool evening breeze… She enters Her room and prays once again.

The vision ends thus.

• Elizabeth of Hebron (mother of John the Baptist)
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Passion of the Virgin Mary and Joseph
• Rosary
• Saint Gabriel Archangel
• Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary
• Visitation
• Words of the Virgin Mary