Sons of Light in the theme “Topics from A to Z”

GRM 181.3-7 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«As we are still in the lovely season when the corn bursts into ears, I wish to tell you a parable taken from the corn. Listen.
The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while the man and his servants were asleep, his enemy came and sowed darnel seeds among the wheat and went away. At first no one noticed anything. Winter came with rain and frost, the end of the month of Tebeth came and the corn sprouted. The tiny little green leaves which had just come up, looked all alike in their innocent early days. The months of Shebat and Adar came and the plants grew and the spikes seeded. They then saw that it was not all wheat, and that there was also darnel, twisted with its thin strong bearbines round the corn stalks.
The servants of the master went to his house and said: “Lord, what seed did you sow? Was it not selected seed, free from every other seed?”.
“It was certainly so. I picked all the grain and they were all of the same quality. I would have noticed any other seed”.
“If so, why has so much darnel grown among your corn?”.
The landlord became pensive and said: “Some enemy has done that to harm me”.
The servants then asked: “Do you want us to go into the field and free the corn from the darnel, weeding it out patiently? Tell us and we will do it”.
But the master said: “No. Because you might weed out also the corn and almost certainly you would damage the ears which are still tender. Let them both grow till the harvest. Then I will say to the reapers: ‘Cut everything together, but before tying the sheaves, since the bearbines of the darnel are withered and friable, whereas the closed ears are stronger and harder, pick the darnel from the wheat and tie it into separate bundles. You will burn them and they will fertilize the soil. Take instead the good corn into the granaries and it will be used to bake good bread, to the great shame of my enemy who will have only gained to become despicable to God because of his envious malice’ “.
Consider now how often and how plentifully the Enemy sows in your hearts. And you must understand that it is necessary to watch patiently and constantly to ensure that little darnel is mixed with the chosen wheat. The fate of the darnel is to be burnt. Do you wish to be burnt or to become citizens of the Kingdom? You say that you want to become citizens of the Kingdom. Well, endeavour to be so. The good God gives you the Word. The enemy is vigilant to make it harmful, because the flour of wheat if mixed with the flour of darnel makes a bitter bread, which is harmful to the stomach. If there is darnel in your souls, pick it with goodwill and throw it away, so that you may not be unworthy of God.
Go, My children. Peace be with you.»
181.4
The crowds slowly disperse. The eight apostles, Elias, his brother and mother, old Isaac, whose soul rejoices seeing his Saviour, stay in the kitchen garden.
«Gather around Me and listen. I will explain the full meaning of the parable to you, as it has two more meanings, besides what I told the crowd.
In the universal sense the purport of the parable is as follows: the field is the world. The good seed is the children of the Kingdom of God sown by God in the world, while they wait to reach their end and be cut by the Mower and be taken to the Master of the world Who will store them in His granaries. The subjects of the Evil one are the darnel, which has also been spread in the field of God for the purpose of causing grief to the Master of the world and damage to the corn of God. The enemy of God has sown them deliberately, through witchcraft, because the demon really perverts the nature of man making him a creature of his own and then sows it to lead astray other people whom he has not been able to enslave otherwise. The harvest, that is the tying of the sheaves and carrying them to the granaries, is the end of the world and that is accomplished by the angels. They are given instructions to gather together the creatures which have been cut, to separate the corn from the darnel, and as in the parable the darnel is burnt, so the damned will be burnt in the eternal fire, at the Last Judgement.
The Son of man will have all scandalmongers and performers of iniquity removed from His Kingdom. Because the Kingdom then will be on the earth and in Heaven and many sons of the Enemy will be mixed among the citizens of the Kingdom on Earth. And, as prophesied also by Prophets, they will reach the perfection of scandal and abomination in every ministry on the earth and will be of great annoyance to the children of the spirit. The corrupt will have already been driven out of the Kingdom of God in Heaven, because no corruption will enter Heaven. And now the angels of the Lord, brandishing their sickles among the group of the last harvest, will mow down and separate the corn from the darnel and will throw the latter into the burning furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. The just, instead, the chosen seed, will be taken to the eternal Jerusalem, where they will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of My Father and yours.
181.5
That is the universal sense. But there is another sense, which is the answer to the question which you have been asking yourselves many times and particularly since yesterday evening. Your question is: “Can there be traitors in the mass of disciples?” and your hearts tremble with horror and fear. Yes, there may be some. There are certainly some.
The Sower sows the good seed. In this case, instead of sowing, we could say that He “picks”. Because the master, whether it is I or the Baptist, choses his disciples. How were they, therefore, led astray? No, I did not use the right word saying that the disciples are the “seed”. You may misunderstand. I will call them “field”. As many disciples as fields, chosen by the master to form the area of the Kingdom of God, the wealth of God. The master tires himself cultivating them so that they may yield one hundred per cent. He takes care of everything with patience, love, wisdom, hard work and perseverance. He also sees their wicked inclinations, their barrenness and avidity, their stubbornness and weakness. But he hopes all the time, corroborating his hope through prayer and penance, because he wishes to lead them to perfection.
But the fields are open. They are not gardens enclosed in walls of protection, of which the only owner is the master, who is the only one who can go in. They are open. Placed as they are in the centre of the world, among the world, anyone can go near them and into them. Everybody and everything. Oh! darnel is not the only bad seed sown! Darnel could be the symbol of the bitter frivolity of the worldly spirit. But all the other seeds, scattered by the Enemy, come up in them. There are nettles, couch-grass, dodder, bearbines, and finally hemlock and poisonous herbs. Why? What are they?
Nettles: stinging untameable spirits which hurt through their excess of poison and cause so much trouble. Couch-grass: parasites who wear out the master as they can only creep and suck, taking advantage of his work and injuring the willing ones, who would make much more profit if the master were not upset and distracted by the cares required by the couch-grass. The sluggish bearbines rise from the ground only by making use of the efforts of other people. Dodders: they are a torture on the already painful road of the master and a torment to the faithful disciples who follow him. They twist, pierce, tear to pieces, scratch, cause mistrust and pain. The poisonous ones: the criminal disciples, who go as far as betraying and killing as hemlock and other poisonous plants do. Have you noticed how beautiful they are with their little flowers which later become white, red, blue-violet berries? Who would say that the white or pinkish star-shaped corolla, with its little gold heart, or the many-coloured corals, so much like other little fruits which are the delight of birds and children, can cause death, once they are ripe? No one. And the innocent ones fall into the trap. They believe that everybody is as good as they are… they pick and die.
They believe that everybody is as good as they are! Oh! The truth that makes the master sublime and condemns his traitor! How? Does goodness not disarm wickedness? Does it not make ill-will harmless? No, it does not, because the man who has fallen prey to the Enemy is indifferent to what is superior. And what is superior changes apperance, as far as he is concerned. Kindness becomes weakness on which it is lawful to tread and it stimulates his ill-will as the scent of blood stimulates a beast to slaughter.
Also the master is always innocent… and he lets his traitor poison him, because he cannot possibly believe that a human being can murder an innocent person.
181.6
The enemies come into the fields of the Master, that is to His disciples. They are many and Satan is the first one. The others are his servants, that is, men, passions, the world and the flesh. The disciple who is more easily struck by them is the one who is not entirely close to the Master, but is between the Master and the world. He is not capable and does not want to part completely with the world, the flesh, passions and demons, to belong entirely to Him Who wants to take him to God. And the world, flesh, passions and the demon scatter their seed in him: gold, power, women, pride, the fear of an unfavourable opinion of the world, the spirit of utilitarianism. “The great ones are the strongest. I will serve them so that they will be friendly to me”. And they become criminals and damned for such miserable things!…
Why does the Master, Who sees the imperfection of a disciple, not cast him away at once, even if He is not prepared to submit to the thought: “He will be My murderer”? That is what you are asking yourselves. Because it is useless to do so. If He did so he would not avoid having him as an enemy, a double and more dangerous enemy, because of his anger and his sorrow at being found out or at being found out or at being driven away. Yes, because of his sorrow. Because sometimes a bad disciple does not realise that he is such. The demon’s action is so subtle that he is not aware of it. He becomes wicked without even suspecting that he is subject to such action. And because of his anger, He is enraged at being known for what he is, when he is aware of Satan’s work and of his followers: the men who tempt weak people in their weak points, to remove from the world a saint who offends them, wicked as they are, when compared with his goodness. The saint then prays and trusts in God. “Let what You allow be done” he says. He adds only the clause: “providing it serves Your purpose”. The saint knows that the time will come when the wicked darnel will be rejected from the harvest. By God Himself Who does not allow more than what is useful to the triumph of His loving will.»
181.7
«If You maintain that Satan and his followers are always to be blamed… it seems to me that the responsibility of the disciple diminishes» says Matthew.
«Do not believe that. If there is Good there is also Evil and man is gifted with discernment and freedom.»
«You say that God does not allow more than what is useful to the triumph of His loving will. Therefore such an error is useful too, if He allows it, and it serves the triumph of the divine will» says the Iscariot.
«And you infer, as Matthew does, that that justifies the disciple’s crime. God created the lion without ferocity and the snake without poison, now one is ferocious and the other poisonous. That is why God separated them from man. Ponder over that and draw conclusions. »

Annotation

In this beautiful period when the ears of wheat are forming, I'd like to propose a parable borrowed from the grain of wheat. Listen to it. The parable of the wheat and the tares is briefly recounted in Matthew 13:24-30 (see below). At EMV 575.7, Jesus reminds John and James of this parable.

At the end of the month of Tebet, the grain germinated, and the tender green of the little weeds that were just starting to sprout was seen. At the end of the month of Tebet: early January; Shebat corresponds to January/February, Adar to February/March. See the calendar for the months and the explanations given here for the year.

We then saw that the green was not just grain, but that there was also tares wrapped tightly with their fine, tenacious tendrils around the stems of the wheat. The botanical name for ryegrass is Lolium, close to the Italian Loglio used by Maria Valtorta. However, the Vulgate uses the word Zizania (from which comes the expression semer la zizanie). In Latin, this term can be generic and designate a weed in accordance with its Syriac meaning (Zizon), from which it derives. Agronomists call these unwelcome and invasive plants "weeds". See the commentary on chapter 181 on maria-valtorta.org(Pro e contro Maria Valtorta, La disputa tra Mir et Gregori, page 189 and following).

There was also weed, tightly wound with its fine, tenacious tendrils on the stalks of the wheat. Among the "weeds" Jesus mentions later, several plants bear tendrils, such as the bindweed or the Palestine dodder. Understandably, Jesus asks us not to pull them up, lest we pull up the good grain at the same time.

The enemy is watching to make it harmful, for grain flour mixed with darnel flour makes bitter bread, harmful to the intestines. (...) Now, thrown in by the enemy, all the other seeds sprout: here are nettles, couch grass, dodder, bindweed, and here are hemlock and poisonous herbs. Dodder has laxative properties and bindweed is a mild purgative. The flour of common ryegrass, mixed in small quantities with wheat flour, prevents the action of yeast. As for the intestinal disorders mentioned by Jesus, they must be caused by dodder or bindweed, or a type of ryegrass distinct from the common grass, which is sometimes used as a fodder plant.

These will attain, as the prophets announce, the perfection of scandal and abomination in all their earthly activity. For example, Deuteronomy 9:27; 11:31, 36; 12:11.

Deut 9:27: Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; look not to the stubbornness of this people, to their wickedness and to their sin.

We have not found any convincing verses in the other references given.

Here, then, is the universal meaning: Jesus had already commented on the meaning of the Parable in his catechesis of October 27, 1943.

You may ask: "But can there be traitors among the disciples? "See the previous chapter, in EMV 180.8. The betrayal of one of John the Baptist's disciples, which led to the prophet's arrest, caused quite a stir.

Now, thrown in by the enemy, all the other seeds germinate: here are nettles, couch grass, dodder, bindweed, hemlock and poisonous herbs. Palestine dodder (cuscuta palaestina) is a parasite that surrounds plants with numerous suckers. See remarkable botanical knowledge.

Have you ever seen how beautiful they are, with their tiny flowers that become so many little white, red, blue-purple balls? Red balls: Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara). Its berries are said to cause abdominal pain, vomiting and headaches. Found in southern Eurasia.

Blue-purple balls: This is the case with myrtle-leaved corroyera (corriara myrtifolia). Its blue-purple fruits are appetizing, but cause alcohol poisoning in herds that eat them. They can be fatal under certain conditions. However, the plant is only common in the western Mediterranean. This may also be the case for Bryonia dioica. A climbing plant with tendrils, it can cause dermatitis of varying degrees of irritation on contact with the skin. Ingestion of plant parts (berries, root) causes vomiting and diarrhea, and can have serious consequences (delirium, cramps, etc.). The absorption of just a few dozen berries, attractive because of their color, is enough to cause the death of a child.

Good people believe that others are as good as they are! Ah, what a truth that elevates the master and condemns the betrayer! When rereading the typescript made by Father Migliorini, Maria Valtorta notes at this point: "To work to redeem with goodness, to work without hopes or illusions, out of pure desire to do one's duty to the extreme, to work so that others don't realize that this one is a bad one, so that they don't hate him ... What a divine lesson the Divine Master gives to spiritual guides and to all Christians!"

"God does not allow us to oppose the triumph of his loving will any more than is useful". On a leaf inserted in the typed copy, Maria Valtorta wrote:

"God has given man the intellect to understand, the reason to guide himself as a reasonable creature, the conscience to advise, the law to know how to regulate himself, the freedom to deserve what he wants to deserve: God and glory, or Hell and damnation.

Moreover, He has given him grace, or predestination to grace, so that it may be a stimulus, or a means, of raising the things listed below to a level capable of giving him a holy taste for the supernatural and for God.

Now, in the man who is intelligent, reasonable, conscious, free, and above all instructed in the Faith, knowing his last end and the divine Law, there should be only such actions as the Law prescribes and the knowledge of the end incites us to practice, even as reason and conscience indicate them as good to all, even to those who do not know revealed religion, in order toto obtain the eternal reward that the human intellect, all the more so when enlightened by Grace, is infinitely superior to all conceptions a believer can imagine.

But it sometimes happens that man, acting against reason, turns his freedom into a yoke of the cruellest of slaveries: that of the devil and sin, preferring Evil to Good.

Even if God allows man to do what he chooses of his own free will, in order to judge and confirm him in grace, or to judge that he deserves punishment, nothing lessens man's guilt. For while it is true that man, at God's prompting or Satan's instigation, can do good or evil, it is no less true that man should follow God alone and his loving invitations, for it is from him that he has received all those natural, moral and supernatural gifts capable of making him a child of God, heir to the Kingdom."

Gospel of Matthew 13, 23-30; 36-43

Mt 13, 23-30; Mt 13, 36-43: He who received the seed into the good soil is he who hears the Word and understands it: he bears fruit a hundred, or sixty, or thirty to one." He offered them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who has sown good seed in his field. But while the people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away. When the stalk grew and produced an ear of wheat, the weeds also appeared. The master's servants came to him and said: "Lord, is that not good grain you have sown in your field? Where did the tares come from?" He said to them, "An enemy has done this." The servants say to him, "Do you want us to go and remove it?" He replies, "No, by removing the tares, you risk uprooting the wheat at the same time. Let them grow together until harvest time; and, at harvest time, I'll say to the reapers: First remove the tares, bind them in bundles to burn; as for the wheat, gather it up to bring it into my granary."""

Then, leaving the crowds, he came home. His disciples came up to him and said, "Explain to us clearly the parable of the tares in the field." He answered them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the Kingdom; the tares are the sons of the Evil One. The enemy who sowed it is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. As the tares are taken away and thrown into the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will remove from his kingdom all those who cause stumbling and do evil, and throw them into the furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom. He who has ears, let him hear!

Keywords

GRM 206.6 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

How refulgent faith is, and what a kind friend it is! It gives a flame as bright as a star, a flame that smiles because it is sure in its certainty, a flame that also brightens the instrument supporting it. Also the flesh of man nourished with faith seems to become brighter and more spiritual, even in this world, free from premature withering. Because he who believes holds onto God’s words and commandments in order to possess God, his ultimate aim, and therefore he shuns corruption, he is not perturbed or afraid, he feels no remorse, he is not compelled to make an effort to remember lies or to conceal evil deeds and remains young and handsome by means of the beautiful incorruptibility of saints: flesh and blood, mind and heart free from lust to contain the oil of faith, to give light without smoke. A constant will to feed that light forever. Everyday life, with its disappointments, ascertainments, contacts, temptations, disagreements, tends to diminish faith. No! It must not happen. Go every day to the source of the sweet, sapiential oil of God. A lamp with little oil can be put out by the least puff of wind or by the heavy dew of the night. The night… The hour of darkness, of sin, of temptation comes for everybody. It is night for the soul. But if the soul is filled to the brim with faith, its flame cannot be put out by the wind of the world or by the fog of sensuality.