Orphans

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

The dead do not suffer any longer when they have been just people. (...) And if the dead need our prayers, it is not necessary to be near their bones to pray for them.

Bones? What are they? A proof of the power of God Who made man with dust. But nothing else. Also animals have bones. But the skeletons of all animals are not so perfect as a man’s skeleton. Only man, the king of creation, has an upright position, as a king over his subjects, and his face looks forwards and upwards without having to twist his neck; man looks upwards, towards the Abode of the Father. But they are still bones. Dust that will return to dust. The eternal Bounty has decided to assemble them again on the eternal Day to give even a greater joy to the blessed souls. Just imagine: not only will the souls be reunited and will love one another as and even more than they did on the earth, but they will rejoice also seeing one another with the same features they had on the earth: dear curly-haired children, like yours, Elias, fathers and mothers with loving hearts and faces like yours Levi and Joseph. Indeed, in your case Joseph, it will be the day when at last you will see the faces for which you feel nostalgia. There are no more orphans, no widows among the just, up there…

Prayers for the dead can be said anywhere. It is the prayer of a soul for the soul of a relative to the Perfect Spirit, Who is God, Who is everywhere. Oh! holy freedom of what is spiritual! There are no distances, no exile, no prisons, no tombs… There is nothing that can divide or restrict in painful impotence what is outside and above the chains of the flesh. You will go, with your better part, towards your beloved ones. And they will come to you with their better part. And the whole effusion of loving souls will rotate around the Eternal Fulcrum, around God: the Most Perfect Spirit, the Creator of everything that was, is and will be, Love that loves you and teaches you how to love…

• Bones
• Communion of saints
• Death and loss of a loved one - Bereavement
• Deceased
• Limbo - Sheol
• Orphans
• Prayer and suffrage for the dead
• Purgatory
• Resurrection of the flesh
• Saints and blessed
• Souls in Purgatory
• Widow - Widower - Widow

• Orphans
• The Virgin Mary

• Damnation - Perdition - Hell and the damned
• Death
• Flight
• Gold
• Good and evil
• Hate
• Malice - Maliciousness
• Material wealth
• Orphans
• Remorse
• Sons of Darkness
• Tears - Crying
• The rich man
• The struggle between light and darkness
• The wicked man

I say to you: “Whoever divorces his wife, except for the case of fornication, exposes her to adultery”. Because what will the divorced woman do in ninety per cent of situations? She will get married again. With what consequences? Oh! How much there is to be said about that! Do you not know that you can cause involuntary incests by such system? How many tears are shed because of lust. Yes: lust. There is no other name for it. Be frank. Everything can be overcome when the spirit is righteous. But everything is an excuse to satisfy sensuality when the spirit is lustful. Woman’s frigidity, dullness, inability for housework, shrewish tongue, love for luxury, everything can be overcome, also diseases and irascibility, if one loves holily. But as after some time one does not love as on the first day, what is more than possible is considered impossible and a poor woman is thrown onto the road and to perdition.

He who rejects her commits adultery. He who marries her after divorce, commits adultery.

Death only dissolves a marriage. Remember that. And if your choice is an unhappy one bear the consequences as a cross, being both of you unhappy but holy, without making also the children unhappy, as they are innocent and suffer more because of such unfortunate situations. The love for your children should cause you to ponder one hundred times, also in the case of death of your partner. Oh! I wish you could be satisfied with what you already have had and to which God said: “Enough!” I wish you, widows and widowers, realised that death is not an attenuation but an elevation to the perfections of parents! To be a mother instead of a dead mother. To be a father instead of a deceased father. To be two souls in one and receive the love for the children from the cold lips of the dying partner and say: “Go in peace, without worrying for those who were born of you. I will continue to love them, on my own and on your behalf, I will love them twice and will be their father and mother and they will not suffer the unhappiness of orphans, neither will they feel the inborn jealousy that the children of a remarried consort experience with regards to him or her who takes the sacred place of mother or father called by God to a new abode”.

• Carrying the Cross
• Death
• Divorce
• Divorced and remarried
• Incest
• Lust
• Orphans
• Parents and children
• Repudiation
• Sensuality - Pleasure of the senses - Enjoyment
• Wedding
• Widow - Widower - Widow

He [Jesus] goes straight to caress a little shepherd, who is standing towards the centre of the woolly bleating mass of sheep. He asks the boy: «Are they yours?» Jesus knows very well that they are not the boy’s, but He wants him to speak.

«No, Lord. I am with those men. And the herds belong to many owners. We are all together for fear of the bandits.»

«What is your name?»

«Zacharias, the son of Isaac. But my father died and I work as a servant because we are poor and my mother has three more sons younger than I am.»

«Has your father been long dead?»

«Three years, Lord… and since then I have never smiled because my mother always weeps and I have no one who caresses me any more… I am the first born and my father’s death has made a man of me, while I was still a child… But I must not weep but earn some money… But it is so difficult!» Tears stream down his face which is too serious for his age.

The shepherds have drawn near and so have the apostles. A group of men in the midst of moving sheep.

«You are not fatherless, Zacharias. You have a holy Father in Heaven, Who always loves you, if you are good, and your father has not ceased loving you because he is in Abraham’s bosom. You must believe that. And because of such faith you must endeavour to become better and better.» Jesus speaks kindly and caresses the boy.

• Death and loss of a loved one - Bereavement
• Deceased
• Eternity - Eternal life
• God the Father
• Jesus' omniscience
• Orphans

Love one another and love this boy. Each of you must feel as if he were somehow the father of the orphan. The presence of a child amongst you should influence every action of yours through the holy restraint of respect for a child. And let your company make up for what death deprived him of. We must love our neighbour. This boy is the neighbour entrusted to you by God in a special manner. Teach him to be good, a faithful believer, honest and free from vices. He is worth much more than one of these sheep. Now, if you take care of the sheep because they belong to their owner, who would punish you if you should let them perish, how much more care you must take of this soul which God entrusts to you for Himself and for his dead father. His situation as an orphan is a sad one indeed. Do not make it more painful by taking advantage of him and vexing him because he is only a youngster. Remember that God sees the deeds and tears of every man and takes everything into account, in order to reward or punish.

And you, My boy, remember that you are never alone. God sees you and so does the spirit of your father. When something upsets you and induces you to do wrong, say: “No, I do not want to be an orphan forever and ever”. You would be, if you damned your soul by sinning.

• Children - Innocents
• Children of God - Sons of God
• Death
• Love of neighbor
• Man - God's creature
• Orphans

My boy, remember that you are never alone. God sees you and so does the spirit of your father. When something upsets you and induces you to do wrong, say: “No, I do not want to be an orphan forever and ever”. You would be, if you damned your soul by sinning.

• Damnation - Perdition - Hell and the damned
• Disorder
• Fighting temptation
• Loneliness - Isolation
• Mal
• Orphans
• Sin
• Temptation
• Words of wisdom

Jesus is walking fast with His disciples towards Lazarus’ town, along a shady road which links the Mount of Olives to Bethany. One could say that the green ramifications of the mountain stretch as far as the countryside of Bethany. Jesus is recognised even before entering the town and voluntary messengers run in all directions to inform people of His arrival. Thus Lazarus and Maximinus arrive running from one side, Isaac with Timoneus and Joseph from another, and the third group to arrive is Martha with Marcella, who lifts her veil to bend down and kiss Jesus’ tunic. Immediately after Mary of Alphaeus and Mary Salome reach the spot, they greet the Master and then embrace their sons. Little Jabez, still held by the hand by Jesus, is tossed about by so much rushing and watches everything dumbfounded. John of Endor, feeling like a stranger, withdraws to the end of the group and stands aside. Suddenly, in the lane leading to Simon’s house, Jesus’ Mother comes forward.

Jesus drops Jabez’ hand and gently pushes His friends to one side to hasten towards Her. The well-known words resound in the air, like a solo of love above the whispering of the crowd: «Son!»; «Mother.» They kiss each other and in Mary’s kiss there is the anguish of a mother who has been afraid for a long time and now that the terror, which had seized her, is dissolving, she feels the tiredness of the effort she made and evaluates the risks He has run…

Jesus, Who understands, caresses Her saying: «Beside My angel I had Yours, Mother, watching over Me. No harm could have befallen Me.»

«May the Lord be praised for that. But I suffered so much!»

«I wanted to come sooner, but in order to obey You, I had to come a different way. But it was a good thing, because Your order, Mother, bore good fruit, as usual.»

«It was Your obedience, Son!»

«It was Your wise order, Mother… » They smile at each other like two lovers.

Is it possible that this Woman is the Mother of this Man? Where are the sixteen years of difference in age? The freshness and grace of Mary’s face and of Her virginal body make Her a sister of Her Son, Who is in the fullness of a handsome manliness.

«Are You not asking Me why it bore good fruit?» asks Jesus smiling all the time.

«I know that My Jesus conceals nothing from Me.»

«My dear Mother!» He kisses Her again…

People have kept away a few yards pretending not to be watching the scene. But I bet that there is not one of all the eyes that seem to be looking elsewhere that does not cast sidelong glances at the loving scene.

198.2

The one who is most keen in watching is Jabez, whom Jesus left when He ran to embrace His Mother, and who has been left all alone, because owing to the quick succession of questions and answers, everybody’s attention was diverted from the poor boy… He looks, then bends his head, endeavours to restrain his tears… but he cannot and bursts out weeping, moaning: «Mummy! Mummy!»

Everybody turns around, Jesus and Mary are the first, and everybody endeavours to help or find out who the boy is. Mary of Alphaeus rushes towards him with Peter – they were together – and they both ask: «Why are you crying?»

But before Jabez can catch his breath and speak while shedding so many tears, Mary has run towards him and taken him in Her arms saying: «Yes, my little child, your Mother! Do not cry anymore… and excuse Me if I did not see you before. My friends, here is My little son…» It is obvious that Jesus, in the few seconds approaching the boy, must have said to Her: «He is a little orphan brought with Me.» Mary realised the rest.

The boy is still weeping, but not so disconsolately, and as Mary is holding him in Her arms and kissing him, he ends up by smiling while his face is still wet with tears.

«Let me dry those tears of yours. You must not cry any more! Give Me a kiss…» Jabez was expecting nothing but that and after being caressed by bearded men, he is overjoyed in kissing Mary’s smooth cheek.

198.3

3Jesus has been looking for John of Endor and when He sees him, He goes to get him in his remote corner. And while all the apostles are greeting Mary, Jesus comes towards Her, holding John of Endor by the hand and He says: «This is the other disciple, Mother. Your command gained these two sons for You.»

«It was Your obedience, Son» repeats Mary and She greets the man saying: «Peace to you.»

The man, the coarse restless man of Endor, who has changed so much since that morning when Judas’ whim took Jesus to Endor, completely divests himself of his past while bowing to Mary. I think it is so, because his face, after bowing, looks really serene and truly «at peace».

They all set out towards Simon’s house: Mary with Jabez in Her arms, Jesus holding John of Endor by the hand, and then, around them and behind them, Lazarus and Martha, the apostles with Maximinus, Isaac, Joseph, and Timoneus.

• Conversations between Jesus and Mary
• Humility of the Virgin Mary
• Jean d'Endor (Félix)
• Obedience to Jesus Christ
• Orphans
• Spiritual motherhood of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary - Throne of Wisdom

They enter the hall which Jesus also entered once. A young man, who is writing in a corner, springs to his feet on seeing Joseph and he bows so profoundly as almost to touch the floor.

«God be with you, Zacharias. Please call Asrael and Jacob at once.»

The young man goes out and comes back almost at once with two men who are rabbis, or members of the synagogue, or scribes, I do not know. Two sullen personages whose haughtiness subsides only in Joseph’s presence. Eight other less imposing men follow them. They sit down leaving the postulants, Joseph of Arimathea included, standing.

«What do you want, Joseph?» asks the senior examiner.

«I wish to present to your wisdom this son of Abraham who has reached the age prescribed to come under the Law and comply with it by himself.»

«Is he a relative of yours?» and they look at one another amazed.

«We are all relatives in God. But the boy is an orphan, and this man, whose honesty I guarantee, has adopted him as he does not wish to be without descendants.»

«Who is the man? Let him reply himself.»

«Simon of Jonas, from Bethsaida in Galilee, married with no children, a fisherman for the world, a son of the Law for the Most High.»

«And you, a Galilean, are taking this paternity upon yourself? Why?»

«It is written in the Law that we must take care of orphans and widows. That is what I am doing.»

«Can he possibly know the Law so well as to deserve to… But, boy, tell me. Who are you?»

«Jabez Marjiam of John, from the country near Emmaus, I was born twelve years ago.»

«So you are a Judaean. Is it lawful for a Galilean to take care of him? Let us look up the laws.»

«But what am I? A leper or am I cursed?» Peter begins to boil with anger.

«Be quiet, Simon, I will speak for him. I told you that I am standing surety for this man. I know him as if he were of my own household. Joseph the Elder would never propose anything against the Law or the laws. Please examine this child with justice and dispatch. The yard is full of children waiting to be examined. Please make haste, for everybody’s sake.»

«But who can prove that the child is twelve years old and was redeemed from the Temple?»

«You can prove it looking up the documents. It is a piece of boring research, but can be done. Boy, did you tell me that you were the first-born?»

«Yes, sir. You will be able to see that, because I was consecrated to the Lord and redeemed with the prescribed offerings.»

«Let us look for these details then…» says Joseph.

«It is not necessary» reply coldly the two captious examiners.

• Bible - Book of Deuteronomy
• Bible - Book of Exodus
• Bible - Book of Isaiah
• Orphans
• Widow - Widower - Widow