Jesus' entourage

Jesus descends from the Gorges d'Arbel. Men and women are waiting for him, and Jesus performs miracles to reward their faith. Then they introduce him to the apostles and say that they will take care of the needs of the souls, while he goes to find others who are even more miserable than they are. Frightened, the apostles follow him, but Jesus encourages them to obey and assures them that they have incorporated his Word without their realizing it. Dejected, they watch the Master leave, but Thomas and James of Alphaeus encourage them to practice obedience, and Matthew encourages them to say a prayer to Wisdom rather than lament.

As soon as the Twelve have finished, the people join him and nag them with questions. In particular, they want to follow the Lord's way, even though they are like grandchildren. Simon the Zealot takes the floor and urges them to examine themselves, keeping in mind the cornerstone of their faith. This is immutable, since it comes from God. Then we must examine all the other stones to see if they are good, bad or useless. If they are bad and come from sensuality, hatred or Satan, they must be destroyed; if they come from God, they must be kept, and our spiritual edifice rebuilt with them. In short, we must demolish "in order to rebuild and to ascend by testing the quality of your old stones at the sound of God's voice."

John then goes on to encourage souls not to be afraid of the path of holiness, even if they are children. There are heroes of holiness like John the Baptist, but the Lamb of God knows that souls are not yet purified, so he himself shows us the way. And his way is love.

John's long speech impressed all present.

Hermas and Stephen listened to him, and Stephen blessed him. But John is very humble and appoints Peter as their leader (Simon de Jonas is stunned). When Stephen asks to follow Christ, Andrew's brother asks him to examine himself, to discern, and then to come to the Lord. In the meantime, he can stay with them to see how they live.

Jesus arrives at Jeanne de Kouza's house. She comes running when she hears that the Master is there. There are her Roman friends: Lydia, Valeria and Plautina. The latter seems to be the most respected; Valeria is the one whose child Jesus saved in Caesarea. In any case, they all want to listen to him, to make up their own minds about this philosopher. Jeanne fears that Jesus won't get on with his guests, but Christ reassures her, and when they meet up again with the Romans, he starts from the subject of flowers - which these three women love very much - and begins to talk about immortality and the eternal life of the soul.

After Jesus takes care of little Fausta himself, the conversation continues on the philosophers currently living in Rome, who don't follow their teachings. Jesus then declares that they are not pagans, they are atheists, for they no longer even have gods in their hearts. However, other pagan philosophers had a great elevation of life, and always sought the Good at all costs.

When the Roman ladies ask Jesus if he is God, Christ replies that he is the Son of the true God, and the Savior criticizes Olympus, created by man's imagination, at length. He also speaks of the altar dedicated to the unknown god, which the wise and true philosophers have intuited. Jesus goes on to talk about Creation and the soul in particular, and encourages Lydia, Valeria and Plautina to ask questions. They do so - the subject remains fairly focused on the theme of immortality, the soul and the Master's divinity - and then, when they fear reprisals from their gods, Jesus reassures them that they don't exist.

Finally, he leaves, and Jeanne accompanies him home. She confides in him that Kouza wants her to return to Jerusalem, and the Messiah encourages her to obey, as this will make it easier for her to follow him.