Meeting characters (mentioned once)

28.1 I see a main road which is very crowded. Little donkeys, loaded with goods and chattels or with people, are going one way. Other little donkeys are going the opposite way. The people are spurring their mounts and those on foot are walking fast because it is cold.

The air is clear and dry. The sky is serene, but everywhere there is the sharp atmosphere common to winter days. The barren country seems vaster, the short grass in the pastures has been nipped by the winter winds; on the grazing ground, the sheep are looking for some grass and they are also looking for some sunshine, as the sun is rising very slowly. They are standing very close together one against the other, because they also are cold, and they bleat, lifting their heads and looking at the sun as if they were saying: «Come quick because it is cold!» The ground is undulating and its undulations are becoming clearer and clearer. It is a really hilly place. There are valleys and slopes covered with grass, and ridges. The road runs through the centre and goes south-east.

Mary is on a little grey donkey. She is wrapped in a heavy mantle. In front of the saddle there is the fitting already seen in Her journey to Hebron, and on it there is the little trunk with basic essentials.

Joseph is walking on the side holding the reins. «Are you tired?» he asks Her now and again.

Mary looks at him smiling and replies: «No, I am not.» The third time She adds: «You must be tired walking.»

«Oh! Me! It’s nothing for me. I was only thinking that if I had found another donkey You would have been more comfortable, and we could have travelled faster. But I just could not find another one. Everybody needs a mount nowadays. But take heart. We shall soon be in Bethlehem. Ephrathah is beyond that mountain.»

They are both silent. The Virgin, when She does not speak, seems to concentrate on internal prayer. She smiles mildly at one of Her thoughts and if She looks at the crowd, She does not seem to see it for what it is: a man, a woman, an old man, a shepherd, a rich or a poor man, but only for what She sees.

«Are you cold?» asks Joseph when the wind starts blowing.

«No, thank you.»

But Joseph is not too happy. He touches Her feet, which are shod in sandals and are hanging down along the side of the donkey and can hardly be seen coming out from under Her long dress, and he must feel them cold, because he shakes his head and takes a blanket, which he has across his shoulders, and wraps Mary’s legs in it and he spreads it also on Her lap, so that Her hands may be kept warm, being covered by the blanket and Her mantle.

28.2 They meet a shepherd, who cuts across the road with his herd, moving from the grazing ground on the right-hand side of the road to the one of the left-hand side. Joseph bends down to say something to him. The shepherd nods in assent. Joseph takes the donkey and drags it behind the herd into the grazing ground. The shepherd pulls a coarse bowl out of his knapsack, he milks a big sheep with swollen udders and hands the bowl to Joseph who offers it to Mary.

«May God bless you both,» exclaims Mary. «You for your love, and you for your kindness. I will pray for you.»

«Are you coming from far?»

«From Nazareth,» replies Joseph.

«And where are you going?»

«To Bethlehem.»

«A long journey for a woman in Her state. Is She your wife?»

«Yes, She is.»

«Have you got a place where to go?»

«No, we haven’t.»

«That’s bad! Bethlehem is overcrowded with people who have come from all over to register there, or are on their way to register elsewhere. I don’t know whether you will find lodgings. Are you familiar with the place?»

«Not really.»

«Well… I will explain it to you… for Her… (and he points to Mary). Find the hotel, it will be full. But I will tell you just the same, to guide you. It’s in the square, in the largest one. This main road will take you to it. You can’t miss it. There is a fountain in front of it, it is a long and low building with a very big door. It will be full. But if you do not find room in the hotel, or in any of the houses, go round to the back of the hotel, towards the country. There are some stables in the mountain, which are used sometimes by merchants to keep their animals there, on their way to Jerusalem, when they don’t find room in the hotel. They are stables, you know, in the mountain: they are damp and cold and there are no doors. But they are always a shelter, because your wife… She can’t be left on the road. Perhaps you will find room there… and some hay to sleep on and for the donkey. And may God guide you.»

«And may God give you joy,» answers Mary. Joseph instead replies: «Peace be with you.»

28.3 They take to the road again. A wider valley can be seen from the crest they have climbed over. In the valley, up and down the soft slopes surrounding it, there are many houses. It is Bethlehem.

«Here we are in David’s land, Mary. Now You will be able to rest. You look so tired…»

«No. I was thinking… I think…» Mary gets hold of Joseph’s hand and says to him with a blissful smile: «I really think that the time has come.»

«O Lord of mercy! What shall we do?»

«Don’t be afraid, Joseph. Be steady. See how calm I am?»

«But You must be suffering a lot.»

«Oh! No. I am full of joy. Such a joy, so great, so beautiful, so uncontainable, that My heart is thumping and thumping and it is whispering to Me: ‘He is coming! He is coming!’ It says so at each beat. It is My Child knocking at My heart and saying: ‘Mother, I am here and I am coming to give You the kiss of God’. Oh! What a joy, My dear Joseph!»

But Joseph is not joyful. He is thinking of the urgent need to find a shelter and he quickens his pace. He goes from door to door asking for a room. Nothing. They are all full. They reach the hotel. Even the rustic porches surrounding the large inner yard are full of campers.

Joseph leaves Mary on the donkey inside the yard and he goes out looking in other houses. He comes back thoroughly disheartened. He has not found anything. The fast winter twilight is beginning to spread its shadows. Joseph implores the hotel-keeper. He implores also some of the travellers. He points out that they are all healthy men, that there is a woman about to give birth to a child. He begs them to have mercy. Nothing.

There is a rich Pharisee who looks at them with obvious contempt and when Mary goes near him, he steps aside as if he had been approached by a leper. Joseph looks at him and his face blushes with disdain. Mary lays Her hand on his wrist to calm him and says: «Don’t insist. Let us go. God will provide.»

28.4 They go out and they follow the wall of the hotel. They turn into a little street that runs between the hotel and some poor houses. They then turn behind the hotel. They look for the stables. At last, here are some grottos, a kind of cellar, I would say, rather than stables, because they are so low and damp. The best have already been taken. Joseph is utterly disheartened.

«Ehi! Galilean!» an old man shouts. «Down there, at the end, under those ruins, there is a den. Perhaps there is nobody in it yet.»

They hurry to the «den». It is really a den. Among the ruins of an old building there is a hole, beyond which there is a grotto, an excavation in the mountain, rather than a grotto. It seems to consist of the foundations of the old building, with the roof formed by rubble supported by coarse tree trunks.

There is hardly any light, and to see better Joseph pulls out tinder and flint and he lights a little lamp that he takes out of the knapsack he is carrying across his shoulders. He goes in and is greeted by a bellow. «Come in, Mary. It is empty. There is only an ox.» Joseph smiles. «It’s better than nothing!…»

28.5 Mary dismounts from Her donkey and goes in.

Joseph has hung the little lamp on a nail of one of the supporting trunks. They see the vault covered with cobwebs, the soil

— stamped ramshackle earth, with holes, rubbish, excrement — the soil is strewn with straw. In the rear, an ox turns its head round and looks with its large quiet eyes while some hay is hanging from its lips. There is a rough seat and two big stones in a corner near a loop-hole. The black remains in that corner is a clear sign that a fire is normally lit there.

Mary goes near the ox. She is cold. She puts Her hands on its neck to feel its warmth. The ox bellows but does not stir. It seems to understand. Also when Joseph pushes it aside to take a large quantity of hay from the manger and make a bed for Mary, the ox remains calm and quiet. The manger is a double one: that is, there is one out of which the ox eats, and above it there is a kind of shelf, with some spare hay, which Joseph pulls down. The ox makes room also for the little donkey that, tired and hungry as it is, starts eating at once.

Joseph discovers also a battered bucket, turned upside down. He goes out, because he saw a little stream outside, and he comes back with some water for the little donkey. He then finds a bunch of twigs in a corner and he tries to sweep the floor with it. He next spreads the hay and makes a bed with it near the ox, in the most sheltered and dry corner. But he realizes that the poor hay is damp, and he sighs. He then lights a fire, and with the patience of job, he dries the hay, a handful at a time, holding it near the fire.

Mary is sitting on the stool, She is tired, She watches and smiles. The hay is now ready. Mary sits down more comfortably on the soft hay, with Her back leaning against one of the tree trunks. Joseph completes… the furnishings by hanging his mantle as a curtain on the hole that serves as a door. It is a makeshift protection. He then offers some bread and cheese to the Virgin, and he gives Her some water out of a flask.

«Sleep now,» he says. «I will sit up and watch that the fire does not go out. There is some wood, fortunately, let us hope that it will burn and last. Thus I will be able to save the oil of the lamp.»

Mary lies down obediently. Joseph covers Her with Her own mantle and with the blanket that She had around Her feet earlier.

«But you… you will be cold.»

«No, Mary. I’ll be near the fire. Try and rest now. Things will be better tomorrow.»

Mary closes Her eyes without insisting. Joseph creeps into his little corner, sits on the stool, with some dry twigs near him. They are very few. I do not think they will last long.

They are placed as follows: Mary is on the right hand side, with Her back to the… door, half hidden by the tree trunk and the ox which has lain down on the litter. Joseph is on the left side, towards the door, and since he is facing the fire, his back is turned towards Mary. But he turns round now and again to look at Her, and he sees She is lying quietly, as if She were sleeping. He breaks the little sticks as quietly as possible and throws them one at a time onto the little fire, so that it may not go out and may give some light and yet make the wood last longer. There is only the dim light of the fire: at times bright at times very faint. The lamp in fact has been put out and in the half light only the whiteness of the ox and of Joseph’s hands and face can be seen. All the rest is a confused mass in the dull dim light.

28.6 «There is no dictation,» says Mary. «The vision speaks for itself. It is for you to understand the lesson of charity, humility and purity emanating from it. Rest. Rest watching, as I used to keep watch waiting for Jesus. He will come to bring you His peace.»

• Bethlehem donkey
• Bible - Gospel of Luke
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Nativity of Jesus Christ
• Rosary
• The Virgin Mary

28.4 They go out and they follow the wall of the hotel. They turn into a little street that runs between the hotel and some poor houses. They then turn behind the hotel. They look for the stables. At last, here are some grottos, a kind of cellar, I would say, rather than stables, because they are so low and damp. The best have already been taken. Joseph is utterly disheartened.

«Ehi! Galilean!» an old man shouts. «Down there, at the end, under those ruins, there is a den. Perhaps there is nobody in it yet.»

They hurry to the «den». It is really a den. Among the ruins of an old building there is a hole, beyond which there is a grotto, an excavation in the mountain, rather than a grotto. It seems to consist of the foundations of the old building, with the roof formed by rubble supported by coarse tree trunks.

There is hardly any light, and to see better Joseph pulls out tinder and flint and he lights a little lamp that he takes out of the knapsack he is carrying across his shoulders. He goes in and is greeted by a bellow. «Come in, Mary. It is empty. There is only an ox.» Joseph smiles. «It’s better than nothing!…»

28.5 Mary dismounts from Her donkey and goes in.

Joseph has hung the little lamp on a nail of one of the supporting trunks. They see the vault covered with cobwebs, the soil

— stamped ramshackle earth, with holes, rubbish, excrement — the soil is strewn with straw. In the rear, an ox turns its head round and looks with its large quiet eyes while some hay is hanging from its lips. There is a rough seat and two big stones in a corner near a loop-hole. The black remains in that corner is a clear sign that a fire is normally lit there.

Mary goes near the ox. She is cold. She puts Her hands on its neck to feel its warmth. The ox bellows but does not stir. It seems to understand. Also when Joseph pushes it aside to take a large quantity of hay from the manger and make a bed for Mary, the ox remains calm and quiet. The manger is a double one: that is, there is one out of which the ox eats, and above it there is a kind of shelf, with some spare hay, which Joseph pulls down. The ox makes room also for the little donkey that, tired and hungry as it is, starts eating at once.

Joseph discovers also a battered bucket, turned upside down. He goes out, because he saw a little stream outside, and he comes back with some water for the little donkey. He then finds a bunch of twigs in a corner and he tries to sweep the floor with it. He next spreads the hay and makes a bed with it near the ox, in the most sheltered and dry corner. But he realizes that the poor hay is damp, and he sighs. He then lights a fire, and with the patience of job, he dries the hay, a handful at a time, holding it near the fire.

Mary is sitting on the stool, She is tired, She watches and smiles. The hay is now ready. Mary sits down more comfortably on the soft hay, with Her back leaning against one of the tree trunks. Joseph completes… the furnishings by hanging his mantle as a curtain on the hole that serves as a door. It is a makeshift protection. He then offers some bread and cheese to the Virgin, and he gives Her some water out of a flask.

«Sleep now,» he says. «I will sit up and watch that the fire does not go out. There is some wood, fortunately, let us hope that it will burn and last. Thus I will be able to save the oil of the lamp.»

Mary lies down obediently. Joseph covers Her with Her own mantle and with the blanket that She had around Her feet earlier.

«But you… you will be cold.»

«No, Mary. I’ll be near the fire. Try and rest now. Things will be better tomorrow.»

Mary closes Her eyes without insisting. Joseph creeps into his little corner, sits on the stool, with some dry twigs near him. They are very few. I do not think they will last long.

They are placed as follows: Mary is on the right hand side, with Her back to the… door, half hidden by the tree trunk and the ox which has lain down on the litter. Joseph is on the left side, towards the door, and since he is facing the fire, his back is turned towards Mary. But he turns round now and again to look at Her, and he sees She is lying quietly, as if She were sleeping. He breaks the little sticks as quietly as possible and throws them one at a time onto the little fire, so that it may not go out and may give some light and yet make the wood last longer. There is only the dim light of the fire: at times bright at times very faint. The lamp in fact has been put out and in the half light only the whiteness of the ox and of Joseph’s hands and face can be seen. All the rest is a confused mass in the dull dim light.

• Bethlehem beef
• Places - Bethlehem crib

The ox, woken up by the dazzling light, gets up with a great noise of hooves and bellows, the donkey turns its head round and brays. It is the light that rouses them but I love to think that they wanted to greet their Creator, both for themselves and on behalf of all the animals.

• Bethlehem beef

He [Joseph] bends down to kiss His tiny feet and feels them cold. He then sits on the ground, and holds Him close to his chest and with his brown tunic and his hands he tries to cover Him, and warm Him, defending Him from the bitterly cold wind of the night. He would like to go near the fire, but there is a cold draft coming in from the door. It is better to stay where he is. No, it is better to go between the two animals which serve as a protection against the air and give out warmth. Thus, he goes between the ox and the donkey, with his back to the door, bending over the New-Born to form with his body a shelter, the two sides of which are a grey head with long ears, and a huge white muzzle with a steaming nose and two gentle soft eyes.

• Bethlehem beef
• Jesus as a child

29.5 Mary has opened the trunk and has pulled out the linen and swaddling clothes. She has been near the fire warming them. She now moves towards Joseph and wraps the Baby with the warm linen and then with Her veil to protect His little head. «Where shall we put Him now?» She asks.

Joseph looks around, thinking… «Wait,» he says. «Let us move the animals and their hay over here, we will then pull down that hay up there and arrange it in here. The wood on the side will protect Him from the air, the hay will serve as a pillow and the ox will warm Him a little with its breath. The ox is better than the donkey. It is more patient and quiet.» And he bustles about, while Mary is lulling the Baby, holding Him close to Her heart, and laying Her cheek on His tiny head to warm it.

• Bethlehem beef

I see Jesus entering the enclosure of the Temple with Peter, Andrew, John, James, Philip and Bartholomew. There is a very large crowd both inside and outside the enclosure. Pilgrims are arriving in flocks from every part of the town.

From the top of the hill on which the Temple is built, one can see the narrow twisted streets of the town, swarming with people. It seems as though a mobile, multi-coloured ribbon has been laid between the white houses. The town looks like a rare toy indeed, a toy made of gaily-coloured ribbons between two white threads, all converging onto the point where the domes of the House of the Lord are shining.

Inside it is… a real market. The concentration of a holy place has been destroyed. Some run, some call, some bargain for lambs, shouting and cursing because of the extortionate prices, some drive the poor bleating animals into their enclosures (rough partitions made of ropes and pegs, at the entrance of which stand the merchants or owners, awaiting buyers). Blows with cudgels, bleatings, curses, shouts, insults to the boys who are not quick in gathering together or selecting the animals, abuses to the purchasers who haggle over prices or who go away, more serious insults to those who wisely brought their own lambs.

Near the benches of the money-changers there is more bawling. It is obvious that either always, or at Passover time, the Temple operated as a… stock exchange or black market. There was no fixed rate of exchange. There must have been a legal rate, but the money-changers imposed a different one, making whatever profit they fancied for exchanging the money. And I can assure you they were not joking in their usury transactions!… The poorer the people were and the farther they came from, the more they were fleeced: old people more than young people, those coming from beyond Palestine more than the old folk.

Some poor old men looked over and over again at the money they had saved in a whole year, I wonder with how much hard work, they took it out and put it back into their purses dozens and dozens of times, going from one money-changer to another and at times ending up by going back to the first one, who took avenge for their original desertion by increasing the premium for the exchange. And the big coins passed from the hands of the sighing owners into the clutches of the usurers and were changed into smaller coins. Then a further tragedy would take place with vendors over the choice and payment of their lambs, and the poor old men, particularly if they were half blind, were fobbed off with the most wretched little lambs.

53.2

I see an old couple, man and wife, come back pushing a poor little lamb which must have been found faulty by the sacrificers. They cried and begged the vendor, who, far from being moved, replied with nasty words and rude manners.

«Considering what you want to spend, Galileans, the lamb I gave you is even too good. Go away! Or if you want a better one, you must pay five more coins.»

«In the name of God! We are poor and old! Are you going to prevent us from celebrating this Passover which may be our last one? Are you not satisfied with what you wanted for a poor little lamb?»

«Go away, you filthy lot. Joseph the Elder is now coming here. I enjoy his favour. God be with you, Joseph! Come and make your choice!»

The man whose name is Joseph the Elder, that is Joseph of Arimathea, enters the enclosure and picks a magnificent lamb. He passes by, stately and proud, magnificently dressed, without even looking at the poor old people weeping at the gate, that is the enclosure entrance. He almost bumps into them when he goes out with the fat, bleating lamb.

53.3

But Jesus also is now nearby. He also has made His purchase, and Peter, who probably bargained for Him, is pulling a fairly good lamb.

Peter would like to go at once where they offer the sacrifices. But Jesus turns to the right, towards the dismayed, weeping, undecided old couple, who are knocked about by the crowds and insulted by the vendor.

Jesus, Who is so tall that the heads of the poor old souls reach only up to His heart, lays one hand on the shoulder of the woman and asks her: «Why are you crying, woman?»

The little old woman turns round and she sees the young, tall, stately man, wearing a beautiful new white tunic and a snow-white mantle. She must think He is a doctor because of His garments and His appearance and is greatly surprised, because doctors and priests pay no attention to the poor, neither do they protect them from the stinginess of merchants. She explains to Jesus the reason for their tears.

Jesus addresses the lamb vendor: «Change this lamb for these believers. It is not worthy of the altar, neither is it fair that you should take advantage of two poor old people, only because they are weak and unprotected.»

«And who are You?»

«A just man.»

«By Your way of speaking and Your companions’, I know You are a Galilean. Can there be a just man in Galilee?»

«Do what I told you, and be a just man yourself.»

«Listen! Listen to the Galilean Who is defending His equals! And He wants to teach us of the Temple!» The man laughs and jeers, imitating the Galilean accent, which is more musical and softer than the Judaean, at least I think so.

Many people go near them and other merchants and money-changers take their companion’s side against Jesus.

Amongst the people present there are two or three ironical rabbis. One of them asks: «Are You a doctor?», in such a way that even Job would lose his temper.

«Yes, I am.»

«What do You teach?»

«This I teach: to make the House of God a house of prayer and not a usury or a market place. That is what I teach.»

53.4

Jesus is formidable. He looks like the archangel posted on the threshold of Eden. He has no flashing sword in His hand but the beams from His eyes strike the impious mockers like lightning. Jesus has nothing in His hands. All He has is His wrath. And full of wrath, He walks fast and solemn between the benches, He scatters the coins which had been sorted out so meticulously according to their values, He overturns the benches and tables, and everything falls on the ground with great noise, in the bustle of rebounding metals and beaten wood, angry cries, shrieks of terror and shouts of approval. He then snatches from the hands of the stable-boys some ropes with which they were holding oxen, sheep and lambs, and He makes a very hard lash, in which the slip-knots are real scourges: He lifts it, swings it and strikes mercilessly with it. Yes, I can assure you: mercilessly.

The unforeseen storm hits heads and backs. The believers move to one side admiring the scene; the guilty ones, chased as far as the external wall, take to their heels, leaving their money on the ground and abandoning in a great confusion of legs, horns and wings, their animals, some of which run and fly away. The bellows, bleatings, and fluttering of turtle doves and pigeons, added to the burst of laughter and shouting of the believers at the escaping usurers, overcome even the plaintive chorus of lambs, slaughtered in another yard.

53.5

Priests, rabbis and Pharisees rush to the spot. Jesus is still in the middle of the yard, on His way back from the chase. The lash is still in His hands.

«Who are You? How dare You do that, upsetting the prescribed ceremonies? From which school are You? We do not know You, neither do we know where You come from.»

«I am He Who is Mighty. I can do anything. Destroy this true Temple and I will raise it to give praise to God. I am not upsetting the holiness of the House of God or of the ceremonies, but you are perturbing it, allowing His House to become the centre of usurers and merchants. My school is the school of God. The same school that the whole of Israel had when the Eternal God spoke to Moses. You do not know Me? You will know Me. You do not know where I come from? You will learn.»

53.6

And turning towards the people, without noticing the priests any longer, tall in His white tunic, with His mantle open and blowing behind His back, His arms stretched out like an orator at the most important part of his speech, He says: «Listen, Israel! Deuteronomy[1] states: “You are to appoint judges and scribes at all the gates… and they must administer an impartial judgement to the people. You must be impartial; you must take no bribes, for a bribe blinds wise men’s eyes and jeopardises the cause of the just. Strict justice must be your ideal, so that you may live in rightful possession of the land that Yahweh your God is giving you”.

Listen, Israel. Deuteronomy states: “The priests and scribes and the whole of the tribe of Levi shall have no share or inheritance with Israel, because they must live on the foods offered to Yahweh and on His dues; they shall have no inheritance among their brothers, because Yahweh will be their inheritance”.

Listen, Israel. Deuteronomy states: “You must not lend on interest to your brother, whether the lack be of money or food or anything else. You may demand interest on a loan of a foreigner; you will lend without interest to your brother whatever he needs”.

The Lord said that.

But now you see that in Israel judgements are administered without justice for the poor. They are not inclined to justice, but they are partial with the rich, and to be poor, to be of the common people means to be oppressed. How can the people say: “Our judges are just” when they see that only the mighty ones are respected and satisfied, whereas the poor have no one who will listen to them? How can the people respect the Lord, when they see that the Lord is not respected by those who should respect Him more than everyone else? Does he who infringes the Lord’s commandment respect Him? Why then do the priests in Israel possess property and accept bribes from tax-collectors and sinners, who make them offerings to obtain their favours, while they accept gifts to fill their coffers?

God is the inheritance of His priests. He, the Father of Israel, is more than a Father to them and provides them with food, as it is just. But not more than what is just. He did not promise money and possessions to His servants of the sanctuary. In eternal life, they will possess Heaven for their justice, as Moses, Elijah, Jacob and Abraham will, but in this world they must have but a linen garment and a diadem of incorruptible gold: purity and charity, and their bodies must be subject to their souls, which are to be subject to the true God, and their bodies are not to be masters over their souls and against God.

I have been asked on what authority I do this. And on what authority do they violate God’s command and allow in the shade of the sacred walls usury on their brothers of Israel, who have come to obey the divine command? I have been asked from what school I come and I replied: “From God’s school” Yes, Israel, I have come from and I will take you back to that holy and immutable school.

53.7

He who wants to know the Light, the Truth, the Way, he who wants to hear once again the voice of God speaking to his people, let him come to Me. You followed Moses through the deserts, Israel. Follow Me, because I shall lead you through a far worse desert, to the true blessed Land. At God’s command, I will draw you to it, across an open sea. I will cure you of all evils lifting up My Sign.

The time of Grace has come. The Prophets expected it and died waiting for it. The Prophets prophesied it and died in that hope. The just have dreamt of it and died comforted by that dream. It is now here.

Come. “The Lord is about to judge His people and have mercy on His servants”, as He promised through Moses.»

The people crowding around Jesus stand open-mouthed listening to Him. Then they comment on the new Rabbi’s words and ask His companions questions.

Jesus goes to another yard, separated from this one only by a porch. His friends follow Him, and the vision ends.

• Bible - Gospel of John
• Purification of the Temple by Jesus Christ
• Temple merchants
• The wrath of Jesus Christ
• Wear and tear

53.1

I see Jesus entering the enclosure of the Temple with Peter, Andrew, John, James, Philip and Bartholomew. There is a very large crowd both inside and outside the enclosure. Pilgrims are arriving in flocks from every part of the town.

From the top of the hill on which the Temple is built, one can see the narrow twisted streets of the town, swarming with people. It seems as though a mobile, multi-coloured ribbon has been laid between the white houses. The town looks like a rare toy indeed, a toy made of gaily-coloured ribbons between two white threads, all converging onto the point where the domes of the House of the Lord are shining.

Inside it is… a real market. The concentration of a holy place has been destroyed. Some run, some call, some bargain for lambs, shouting and cursing because of the extortionate prices, some drive the poor bleating animals into their enclosures (rough partitions made of ropes and pegs, at the entrance of which stand the merchants or owners, awaiting buyers). Blows with cudgels, bleatings, curses, shouts, insults to the boys who are not quick in gathering together or selecting the animals, abuses to the purchasers who haggle over prices or who go away, more serious insults to those who wisely brought their own lambs.

Near the benches of the money-changers there is more bawling. It is obvious that either always, or at Passover time, the Temple operated as a… stock exchange or black market. There was no fixed rate of exchange. There must have been a legal rate, but the money-changers imposed a different one, making whatever profit they fancied for exchanging the money. And I can assure you they were not joking in their usury transactions!… The poorer the people were and the farther they came from, the more they were fleeced: old people more than young people, those coming from beyond Palestine more than the old folk.

Some poor old men looked over and over again at the money they had saved in a whole year, I wonder with how much hard work, they took it out and put it back into their purses dozens and dozens of times, going from one money-changer to another and at times ending up by going back to the first one, who took avenge for their original desertion by increasing the premium for the exchange. And the big coins passed from the hands of the sighing owners into the clutches of the usurers and were changed into smaller coins. Then a further tragedy would take place with vendors over the choice and payment of their lambs, and the poor old men, particularly if they were half blind, were fobbed off with the most wretched little lambs.

53.2

I see an old couple, man and wife, come back pushing a poor little lamb which must have been found faulty by the sacrificers. They cried and begged the vendor, who, far from being moved, replied with nasty words and rude manners.

«Considering what you want to spend, Galileans, the lamb I gave you is even too good. Go away! Or if you want a better one, you must pay five more coins.»

«In the name of God! We are poor and old! Are you going to prevent us from celebrating this Passover which may be our last one? Are you not satisfied with what you wanted for a poor little lamb?»

«Go away, you filthy lot. Joseph the Elder is now coming here. I enjoy his favour. God be with you, Joseph! Come and make your choice!»

The man whose name is Joseph the Elder, that is Joseph of Arimathea, enters the enclosure and picks a magnificent lamb. He passes by, stately and proud, magnificently dressed, without even looking at the poor old people weeping at the gate, that is the enclosure entrance. He almost bumps into them when he goes out with the fat, bleating lamb.

53.3

But Jesus also is now nearby. He also has made His purchase, and Peter, who probably bargained for Him, is pulling a fairly good lamb.

Peter would like to go at once where they offer the sacrifices. But Jesus turns to the right, towards the dismayed, weeping, undecided old couple, who are knocked about by the crowds and insulted by the vendor.

Jesus, Who is so tall that the heads of the poor old souls reach only up to His heart, lays one hand on the shoulder of the woman and asks her: «Why are you crying, woman?»

The little old woman turns round and she sees the young, tall, stately man, wearing a beautiful new white tunic and a snow-white mantle. She must think He is a doctor because of His garments and His appearance and is greatly surprised, because doctors and priests pay no attention to the poor, neither do they protect them from the stinginess of merchants. She explains to Jesus the reason for their tears.

Jesus addresses the lamb vendor: «Change this lamb for these believers. It is not worthy of the altar, neither is it fair that you should take advantage of two poor old people, only because they are weak and unprotected.»

«And who are You?»

«A just man.»

«By Your way of speaking and Your companions’, I know You are a Galilean. Can there be a just man in Galilee?»

«Do what I told you, and be a just man yourself.»

«Listen! Listen to the Galilean Who is defending His equals! And He wants to teach us of the Temple!» The man laughs and jeers, imitating the Galilean accent, which is more musical and softer than the Judaean, at least I think so.

Many people go near them and other merchants and money-changers take their companion’s side against Jesus.

Amongst the people present there are two or three ironical rabbis. One of them asks: «Are You a doctor?», in such a way that even Job would lose his temper.

«Yes, I am.»

«What do You teach?»

«This I teach: to make the House of God a house of prayer and not a usury or a market place. That is what I teach.»

• Anonymous characters

60.5 Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James and John go and sit down in the kitchen garden.

«Master!…»

«Yes, Peter?»

«I feel humiliated.»

Jesus makes a gesture, which meant: «Never mind.» He then goes on: «She is not the first, and will not be the last who do not feel immediate gratitude. But I do not seek gratitude. All I want is to give souls the chance to save themselves. I do My duty. Let them do theirs.»

«Ah! There have been other cases like this one? Where?»

«Curious Simon! But I will please you, although I do not like useless curiosity. At Nazareth. Do you remember Sarah’s mother? She was very ill when we arrived in Nazareth and we were told that the little girl cried. Since she is good and gentle, and I did not want her to become an orphan and a stepdaughter in the future, I went to see the woman… I wanted to heal her… But I had not yet set foot in the house, when her husband and a brother drove Me away, saying: “Away! Go away! We do not want to get into trouble with the synagogue”. For them, for too many, I am already a rebel… I healed her just the same… for the sake of her children. And I said to Sarah in the kitchen garden, caressing her: “I will heal your mother. Go home. Do not cry any more”. And the woman was healed the same moment and the little girl told her, and she told also her father and her uncle… and she was punished for speaking to Me. I know, because the child ran after Me when I was leaving the village… But it does not matter.»

«I would have made her become ill again.»

«Peter!» Jesus is severe. «Is that what I teach you and the others? What have you heard Me say from the very first time you heard Me? Of what have I always spoken as being the first condition to be My true disciples?»

«It is true, Master. I am a real beast. Forgive me. But… I cannot bear the fact that they do not love You!»

«Oh! Peter! You will see much greater indifference! You will have many surprises, Peter! People that the so called “holy” world scorns as being money-changers, who instead will set an example in the world, an example which will not be followed by those who despise them. Heathens who will be My most faithful ones. Prostitutes who will become pure by strong will power and penance. Sinners who amend their way of living…»

«Listen: that a sinner amends his way… it may well be. But a prostitute and a money-changer!…»

«You do not believe it?»

«I do not.»

«You are mistaken, Simon.»

• The Sarah child of Nazareth

Jesus tells His disciples: «Let the poor come forward. There is a rich offer for them made by one who begs to obtain forgiveness from God.»

Three tattered old men come forward, two blind men and a cripple; they are followed by a widow with seven emaciated children.

Jesus stares at them, one by one, He smiles at the widow and particularly at the children. He says to John: «Put those over there in the kitchen garden. I want to speak to them.» But He becomes stern, with blazing eyes, when a little old man appears. But He says nothing for the time being.

He calls Peter, whom He asks for the purse received shortly before and for another one containing smaller coins, which are offerings collected from good-hearted people. He empties the coins onto the bench near the well, He counts them, and divides them. He makes six parts. A very big one, all silver coins, and five smaller ones in size, with many bronze coins and a few big ones. (...) 61.5 The third old man comes forward, He seems to be the most ragged. But Jesus has only the big pile of money left. He calls in a loud voice: «Woman, come here with your little ones.»

The young emaciated woman comes forward with her head lowered down. She seems a sad hen with her sad brood of chickens.

«How long have you been a widow, woman?»

«Three years at the moon of Tishry.»

«How old are you?»

«Twenty-seven.»

«Are they all your children?»

«Yes, Master… and I have nothing else. I finished everything… How can I work if no one wants me with all these little ones?»

«God does not abandon even the worm He created. He will not abandon you, woman. Where do you live?»

«On the lake. Three stadia outside Bethsaida. He told me to come here… My husband died on the lake; he was a fisherman.» She points to Andrew, who blushes and would like to disappear.

«You did well, Andrew, telling the woman to come to Me.»

Andrew takes heart and whispers: «The man was a friend of mine, he was good, he died in a storm and lost his boat too.»

«Take this, woman. It will help you for a long time, then another sun will rise on your days. Be good, bring your children up in the Law and you will not be without God’s help. I bless you: you and your little ones.» And He pats them, one by one, with great pitiful love.

The woman goes away pressing her treasure to her heart.

61.6

«And what about me?» asks the old man who is left last.

Jesus looks at him, but is silent.

«Nothing for me? You are not fair! You gave her six times as much as the others, and nothing to me. Of course… she was a woman!»

Jesus looks at him, but is silent.

«Look everybody; and tell me if there is justice! I have come from far away, because I was told that money was given here, and now I see that some get too much and I get nothing. A poor, old, sick man! And He wants us to believe in Him!…»

«My old man, are you not ashamed of telling such lies? Death is behind your back and you lie and endeavour to rob also who is hungry. Why do you want to rob your brothers of the offering that I received to give it with justice?»

«But I…»

«Be quiet! You should have understood by My silence and My action that I had recognised you and you should have followed My example and been silent. Why do you want Me to shame you?»

«I am poor.»

«No, you are a miser and a thief. You live for money and usury.»

«I have never lent on usury. God is my witness.»

«And is this not the most fierce usury, to rob those who are in dire need? Go. Repent. That God may forgive you.»

«I swear…»

«Be quiet! I tell you! It is said: “You shall not swear falsehood”. If I did not respect your old age, I would search you and in your breast I would find a purse full of gold: your real heart. Go away!»

The impudent old man, seeing that his secret has been discovered, goes away without any need for Jesus’ thundering voice.

The crowd threaten and scorn him, and they insult him as a thief.

«Be quiet! If he did wrong, do not do the same. He lacks sincerity: he is dishonest. If you insult him, you lack charity. A brother who makes a mistake is not to be insulted. Everybody has his sins. No one is perfect but God. I was compelled to shame him, because nobody must ever be a thief, and much less steal from poor people. But only the Father knows how much I suffered having to do it. You must also be sorry, seeing that a man in Israel infringes the Law endeavouring to defraud the poor and a widow. Do not be greedy. May your souls, not money, be your treasure. Do not be perjurers. Let your language be as sincere and honest as your actions. Life is not eternal and the hour of death will come. Live in such a way that at the hour of your death peace may be in your souls. The peace of those who lived an honest life. Go home…»

• Anonymous characters
• Jesus' omniscience
• Orphans
• The poor man
• Widow - Widower - Widow
• You won't steal

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.

67.2 Two men are quarrelling in earnest because the donkey of one of them has helped itself from the beautiful basket of lettuce of the other donkey and has eaten quite a lot of it! Perhaps it is only a pretext to give vent to old ill-feelings. In fact from under their short tunics, which reach down to their calves, they pull out two short large knives, as broad as a hand: they look like short pointed daggers and they glint in the sun. Screams of women and shouts of men are heard everywhere. But no one tries to separate the men who are ready for a rustic duel.

Jesus, Who was walking, thoughtful, raises His head, He sees the fight and rushes between the two: «Stop, in the name of God!» He orders.

«No, I want to fix this cursed dog once and for all!»

«And so do I! You are fond of fringes? I’ll make a fringe for you with your bowels!»

The two move fast around Jesus, pushing Him, insulting Him to get rid of Him, endeavouring to strike each other, but without success, because Jesus, moving His mantle carefully, wards off the blows and interferes with their aim. He gets His mantle torn.

People shout: «Come away, Nazarene. You’ll be the loser». But He does not move and endeavours to calm them, reminding them of God. In vain! The two rivals are mad with rage!

The power of miracle can be seen radiating from Jesus. For the last time He shouts: «I order you to stop it!»

«No! Get out of the way. Go your way, dog of a Nazarene!» Jesus then stretches out His hands, with His powerful bright look. He does not say one word. But the blades fall in pieces to the ground, as if they were made of glass and had clashed against a rock.

The two men look at the short, useless handles, left in their hands. Astonishment deadens wrath. And the astonished crowd shout.

67.3 «And now?» asks Jesus, severely. «Where is your strength?» Also the soldiers on duty at the gate, who rushed out at the latest shouts, stare surprised and one bends down to pick up the fragments of the blades and test them on his nails, not believing they were made of steel.

«And now?» repeats Jesus. «Where is your strength? On what did you base your right? On those bits of metal now lying in the dust? On those splinters of metal which had no other strength but to induce you to a sin of wrath against a brother, thus depriving you of all the blessings of God and consequently of all strength? Oh! how miserable are those who rely on human means to win, and who do not realise that holiness and not violence will make us winners both on the earth and beyond it! Because God is with the just.

Listen, people of Israel, and you, soldiers of Rome. The Word of God speaks to all the sons of man, and the Son of man will not reject the Gentiles.

The second commandment of the Lord is a commandment of love for our neighbours. God is good and wants goodwill in His children. He who is not kindly disposed towards his neighbour cannot consider himself a son of God neither can he have God in himself. Man is not an animal without reason, that attacks and its prey. Man has reason and a soul. With his reason he must behave as a man. With his soul he must behave as a saint. He who behaves differently, lowers himself below animals; he stoops down to embrace demons because a soul becomes wicked with the sin of wrath.

Love. I say nothing else. Love your neighbour as the Lord God of Israel prescribes. Do not always be of Cain’s blood. And why are you so? For the sake of a few coins, you who might have become murderers. For a few palms of land. For a better position. For a woman. What are such things? Are they eternal? No. They last less than a lifetime, which lasts an instant of eternity. And what do you lose if you follow them? The eternal peace promised to the just, and which the Messiah will bring you together with His Kingdom. Come on to the way of Truth. Follow the Voice of God. Love one another. Be honest. Be moderate. Be humble and fair. Go and meditate.»

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