Recovering Jesus in the Temple

39.2 I see Mary bending over a tub, or rather a terracotta container, in which She stirs something that steams in the cool clear air which fills the kitchen garden in Nazareth.

It must be the depth of winter, because, with the exception of the olive-trees, all the plants and trees are bare and look like skeletons. High above, the sky is very clear and there is a beautiful sunshine. But it does not mitigate the bitterly cold wind that shakes the bare boughs and the little green-grey branches of the olive-trees.

Our Lady is wearing a heavy dark-brown dress, which is so dark that it is almost black, and She has tied in front of it a rough piece of cloth, like an apron, to protect it. She takes out of the vessel the stick with which She was stirring its contents and I can see some beautiful ruby-red drops dripping from it. Mary looks at them, She wets Her finger with them, checks the colour against Her apron and seems satisfied.

She goes into the house and then comes out with a lot of skeins of snow-white wool. She dips them patiently and carefully into the tub, one by one.

39.3 While She is busy doing that, Her sister-in-law, Mary of Alphaeus, comes in through Joseph’s workshop. They greet each other, and start conversing.

«Is it coming all right?» asks Mary of Alphaeus.

«I hope so.»

«That Gentile lady assured me that it is exactly the colour, and that is exactly how they do it in Rome. She gave it to me only because of You, because of the embroidery work You did for her. She said that not even in Rome is there anyone who can embroider so well. You must have become blind doing it…»

Mary smiles and shakes Her head as if to say: «It was a mere trifle!»

Her sister-in-law looks at the last skeins of wool, before handing them over to Mary. «How beautifully You have spun them! They are so thin and smooth that they look like hair. You do everything so well. And You are so quick! Will these last ones be of a lighter colour?»

«Yes, they are for the tunic. The mantle is darker.»

The two women work together at the tub. They then pull out the skeins of a beautiful purple colour and they run quickly to dip them into the ice-cold water that fills the little vessel under the thin spring of water that tumbles babbling softly. They rinse them over and over again, then they lay the skeins on canes which they fasten to the branches of the trees.

«They will dry very well and rapidly in this wind,» says Her sister-in-law.

«Let us go to Joseph. There is a fire in there. You must be frozen,» says Our Blessed Lady. «It was very kind of you to help Me. I did it very quickly and without working so much. I am very grateful to you.»

«Oh! Mary! What would I not do for You! To be near You is a great joy. And then… all this work is for Jesus. And He is such a dear, Your Son!… I will feel that He is also my Son, if I help You with His feast when He comes of age.»

The two women go into the workshop, which is full of the smell of planed wood, as is usual in carpenters’ workshops.

• Feast of the coming of age of Jesus Christ
• Majority Day (Bar-Mitzvah) - Majority exam
• Marie d'Alphée (Mary of Cleophas)
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
• The Virgin Mary

I see Jesus with His Mother going into the dining room (let us call it so), in Nazareth.

Jesus is a handsome young boy, twelve years old, tall, well built, strong but not fat. He looks older than His years, because of His complexion. He is already tall, in fact He reaches up to the shoulders of His Mother. His face is the rosy round face of a child and later, in His youth and then in His manhood, it will get thinner and thinner and it will become colourless, the colour of some very delicate alabasters with a hue of yellowish pink.

Also His eyes are still the eyes of a child. They are large, wide open when looking, with a sparkle of joy lost in the seriousness of His glance. Later they will not be so wide open… His eyelashes will cover half of them to conceal the excessive wickedness which is in the world, from the Pure and Holy One. Only when working miracles they will be open and bright, even brighter than now… to cast out demons and death, to heal diseases and sins. And they will no longer have that sparkle of happiness mingled with seriousness… death and sin will be more and more present and close, and with them the knowledge, also the human knowledge of the uselessness of His sacrifice, because of the unwillingness and aversion of man. Only in the rarest moments of joy, when He is with faithful believers and particularly with pure people, mostly children, will His holy mild kind eyes shine again with happiness.

But now He is at home with His Mother, in front of Him there is Saint Joseph who is smiling lovingly, and there are His little cousins who admire Him, and His aunt Mary of Alphaeus who is patting Him… He is happy. My Jesus needs love to be happy. And in this moment He has it.

He is dressed in a loose woollen tunic which is a light ruby red colour. It is soft, perfectly woven in its compact thinness. Round the neck, in the front, at the ends of the long wide sleeves and at the bottom of the tunic which hangs down to the ground, so that only His feet can be seen, there is a Greek fret which is not embroidered, but woven in a darker colour into the ruby of the tunic. He is wearing new sandals which appear to be very well made, they are not just the usual soles tied to the feet by means of straps of leather. His tunic must be the work of His Mother because Her sister-in-law admires and praises it.

His lovely blond hair is already somewhat darker than when He was a little boy, with auburn reflections in the curls ending under His ears. They are no longer the soft graceful curls of His childhood. It is not yet the wavy long hair of His manhood, reaching down to His shoulders, ending there in a soft, big curl. But it already resembles more the latter in its colour and style.

39.5 «Here is our Son,» says Mary lifting Her right hand which is holding Jesus’ left one. She seems to be introducing Him to everybody and confirming the paternity of the Just man who is smiling. And She adds: «Bless Him, Joseph, before leaving for Jerusalem. There was no ritual blessing for His first step in life, because it was not necessary for Him to go to school. But now that He is going to the Temple to be proclaimed of age, please bless Him. And bless Me with Him. Your blessing…» (Mary sobs softly) «will fortify Him and give Me strength, to detach Myself a little more from Him…»

«Mary, Jesus will always be Yours. The formality will not affect our mutual relationship. Neither will I contend with You for this Son, so dear to us. No one deserves, as You do, to guide Him in life, o my Holy Spouse.»

Mary bends down and takes Joseph’s hand and kisses it. She is the respectful, loving spouse of Her consort!

Joseph receives the sign of respect and love with dignity, he then lifts the hand which She has kissed and lays it on the head of his Spouse and says to Her: «Yes. I bless You, o Blessed One, and I bless Jesus with You. Come to me, my only joys, my honour and essence of my life.» Joseph is solemn. With his arms stretched out and the palms of his hands turned down above the two heads which are bent down, both equally blond and holy, he pronounces his blessing: «May the Lord look upon You and bless You. May He have mercy on You and give You peace. May the Lord give You His blessing.» And then he says: «And now let us go. The hour is favourable for the journey.»

39.6 Mary takes a wide dark brown mantle and She drapes it on the body of Her Son. How She caresses Him in doing so!

They go out, they close up the house. They set off. Other pilgrims are going in the same direction. Outside the village the women separate from the men. The children go where they like. Jesus stays with His Mother.

The pilgrims go along through the country which is so beautiful in the happiest springtime, and they sing psalms most of the time. The meadows are fresh and the crops are fresh, and the leaves on the trees have just begun to bloom. You can hear men singing in the fields along the roads and birds singing their songs of love among the branches of the trees. Clear streams reflect like mirrors the flowers on the banks, while little lambs are jumping about near their mothers… Peace and happiness under the loveliest April sky.

The vision ends in this way.

• Feast of the coming of age of Jesus Christ
• Holy Family
• Jesus as a child
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Majority Day (Bar-Mitzvah) - Majority exam
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
• Rosary
• The Virgin Mary

41.2 … When I awake with its memory in my heart, after I have recovered some of my strength and my mind is at peace, because they are all asleep, I find myself in a place which I have never seen before. There are yards and fountains and porches and houses, or rather pavilions, because they look more like pavilions than houses. There is a large crowd of people dressed in the ancient style of the Jews, and there is a lot of bawling. When I look around I realise I am inside the large building which Jesus was looking at, because I see the embattled wall surrounding it, the tower watching over it and the imposing building that rises in the centre, and around which there are beautiful and large porches, where many people are intent on activities.

I understand that I am in the enclosure of the Temple in Jerusalem. I see Pharisees in long flowing dresses, priests dressed in linen and wearing precious plates at the top of their chests and on their foreheads and with other sparkling points here and there on their varied robes, which are very wide and white, tied to their waists by precious belts. There are also others with fewer decorations, but they must still belong to the sacerdotal caste and are surrounded by younger disciples. I realise that they are the doctors of the Law.

41.3 Among all these people I am lost, because I do not know why or what I am doing there. I go near a group of doctors where they have just started a theological dispute. Many people do the same.

Amongst the «doctors» there is a group headed by one whose name is Gamaliel and by another old and almost blind man who is supporting Gamaliel in the dispute. This man, whose name I hear is Hillel (I am writing it with an «h» because I hear an aspiration at the beginning of the name) seems to be a teacher or relative of Gamaliel, because the latter treats him with familiarity and respect at the same time. Gamaliel’s group is more broad-minded, whereas another group, and it is more numerous, is led by one whose name is Shammai, and is noticeable for its conservative, resentful intolerance the Gospel has clarified so well.

Gamaliel, surrounded by a compact group of disciples, is speaking of the coming of the Messiah, and founding his observations on Daniel’s prophecy, he states that the Messiah must have already been born, because the seventy prophesied weeks, from the time the decree of the reconstruction of the Temple was issued, expired some ten years before. Shammai opposes him stating that, if it is true that the Temple has been rebuilt, it is also true that the slavery of Israel has increased and the peace, which He Whom the prophets called «Prince of Peace» was to bring, is quite far from being in the world and in particular is far from Jerusalem. The town is in fact oppressed by an enemy who is so bold as to exert his domination inside the enclosure of the Temple, dominated by the Antonia Tower, full of Roman legionaries, ready to put down with their swords any riot that may break out for the independence of the country.

The dispute, full of captious objections, is dragged on endlessly. All the doctors show off their learning, not so much to beat their opponents as to display themselves to the admiration of the listeners. Their aims are quite obvious.

41.4 From the close group of the believers the clear voice of a boy is heard: «Gamaliel is right.»

There is a stir in the crowd and in the group of doctors. They look for the interrupter. But it is not necessary to search for him, because he does not hide. He makes his way through the crowd and goes near the group of the «rabbis». I recognise my Jesus adolescent. He is sure of Himself and open-hearted, His eyes are sparkling with intelligence.

«Who are You?», they ask Him.

«I am a son of Israel, who has come to fulfil what the Law prescribes .»

His bold and frank reply is appreciated and it gains Him smiles of approval and favour. They take an interest in the young Israelite.

«What is Your name?»

«Jesus of Nazareth.»

The feeling of benevolence fades away in Shammai’s group. But Gamaliel, more benignly, continues his conversation with Hillel. It is indeed Gamaliel who with respect suggests to the old man: «Ask the boy something.»

«On what do You base Your certainty?» asks Hillel.

(I will now put the names in front of the replies for the sake of brevity and clarity.)

Jesus: «On the prophecy which cannot be wrong about the time and the signs which took place at the time it came true. It is true that Caesar dominates us, but the world and Palestine were in such peace when the seventy weeks expired, that it was possible for Caesar to order the census in his dominions. Had there been wars in the Empire and riots in Palestine, he would not have been able to do so. Just as that time was completed, so the other period of sixty-two weeks plus one from the completion of the Temple is also being completed, so that the Messiah may be anointed and the remainder of the prophecy may come true for the people who did not want Him. Can you doubt that? Do you not remember the star that was seen by the Wise Men from the East, which stopped over the sky in Bethlehem of Judah and that the prophecies and the visions, from Jacob onwards, indicate that place as the one destined as the birthplace of the Messiah, son of the son of Jacob’s son, through David who was from Bethlehem? Do you not remember Balaam? ‘A Star will be born of Jacob’. The Wise Men from the East, whose purity and faith opened their eyes and ears, saw the Star and understood its Name: ‘Messiah’, and they came to worship the Light that had descended into the world.»

41.5 Shammai, glaring at Him: «Do you mean that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem-Ephrathah at the time of the Star?»

Jesus: «I do.»

Shammai: «Then he no longer exists. Don’t you know, Child, that Herod had all the born of woman, from one day up to the age of two years, slaughtered in Bethlehem and surrondings? You, Who are so wise in the Scriptures, must also know this: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah… it is Rachel weeping for her children’. The valleys and the hills in Bethlehem, which gathered the tears of the dying Rachel, were left full of tears, and the mothers have wept again on their slaughtered children. Amongst them, there certainly was the Mother of the Messiah.»

Jesus: «You are wrong, old man. The weeping of Rachel turned into a hosanna, because there, where she gave birth to ‘the son of her sorrow’, the new Rachel has given the world the Benjamin of the Heavenly Father, the Son of His right hand, Him Who is destined to gather the people of God under His sceptre and free it from the most dreadful slavery.»

Shammai: «How can that be, if He was killed?»

Jesus: «Have you not read about Elijah? He was carried off by the chariot of fire. And could the Lord God not have saved his Emmanuel so that He might be the Messiah of his people? He, Who parted the sea in front of Moses, that Israel might walk on dry ground towards its land, could He not have sent His angels to save His Son, His Christ, from the ferocity of man? I solemnly tell you: the Christ is alive and is amongst you, and when His hour comes, He will show Himself in His power.» Jesus, in saying these words, which I have underlined, has a sharp sound in His voice which fills the air. His eyes are brighter than ever, and with the gesture of command and promise He stretches out His right arm and hand and lowers them as if He were swearing. He is a boy, but is as solemn as a man.

41.6 Hillel: «Child, who taught you these words?»

Jesus: «The Spirit of God. I have no human teacher. This is the Word of the Lord Who speaks to you through My lips.»

Hillel: «Come near us that I may see You, Child, and my hope may be revived by Your faith and my soul enlightened by the brightness of Yours.»

And they make Jesus sit on a high stool between Gamaliel and Hillel and they give Him some rolls to read and explain. It is a proper examination. The people throng and listen.

Jesus reads in His clear voice: «Be consoled, my people. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended… A voice cries in the wilderness: ‘Prepare a way for the Lord… then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed…»’

Shammai: «See that, Nazarene. It refers here to an ended slavery, but never before have we been slaves as we are now. And there is the mention of a precursor. Where is he? You are talking nonsense.»

Jesus: «I tell you that the admonition of the Precursor should be addressed to you more than anyone else. To you and those like you. Otherwise you will not see the glory of the Lord, neither will you understand the word of God because meanness, pride and falsehood will prevent you from seeing and hearing.»

Shammai: «How dare You speak to a master like that?»

Jesus: «I speak thus. And thus I shall speak until My death, because above Me there are the interests of the Lord and the love for Truth of which I am the Son. And I add, rabbi, that the slavery of which the Prophet speaks, and of which I am speaking, is not the one you think, neither is the royalty the one you consider. On the contrary, by the merits of the Messiah, man will be made free from the slavery of Evil, which separates him from God, and the sign of Christ will be on the spirits, freed from every yoke and made subjects of the eternal kingdom. All the nations will bend their heads, o household of David, before the Shoot born of you and which will grow into a tree that covers the whole world and rises up to Heaven. And in Heaven and on the earth every mouth will praise His Name and bend its knee before the Anointed of God, the Prince of Peace, the Leader, before Him Who by giving Himself will fill with joy and nourishment every disheartened and famishing soul, before the Holy One Who will establish an alliance between Heaven and earth. Not like the Covenant made with the Elders of Israel when God led them out of Egypt, treating them still as servants, but infusing a heavenly paternity into the souls of men with the Grace instilled once again by the merits of the Redeemer, through Whom all good people will know the Lord and the Sanctuary of God will no longer be demolished and destroyed.»

Shammai: «Do not blaspheme, Child! Remember Daniel. He states that after the death of Christ, the Temple and the Town will be destroyed by a people and a leader who will come from afar. And You declare that the sanctuary of God will no longer be demolished! Respect the Prophets!»

Jesus: «I solemnly tell you that there is Someone Who is above the Prophets, and you do not know Him and you will not know Him because you do not want to. And I tell you that what I said is true. The true Sanctuary will not be subject to death. But like its Sanctifier it will rise to eternal life and at the end of the world it will live in Heaven.»

41.7 Hillel: «Listen to me, Child. Haggai says: ‘… The One Expected by the nations will come… great then shall be the glory of this house, and of this last one more than of the previous one’. Does he perhaps refer to the Sanctuary of which You are speaking?»

Jesus: «Yes, master. That is what he means. Your honesty leads you towards the Light and I tell you: when the sacrifice of Christ is accomplished, you shall have peace because you are an Israelite without wickedness.»

Gamaliel: «Tell me, Jesus. How can the peace of which the Prophets speak be hoped for, if destruction is going to come to these people by war? Speak and enlighten me as well.»

Jesus: «Do you not remember, master, what those said who were present on the night of Christ’s birth? That the angels sang: ‘Peace to men of goodwill’ but these people are not of goodwill and will not have peace. They will not acknowledge their King, the Just Man, the Saviour, because they expect Him to be a king with human power, whereas He is the King of the spirit. They will not love Him, because they will not like what Christ preaches. Christ will not defeat their enemies with their chariots and their horses, He will instead defeat the enemies of the soul, who endeavour to imprison in hell the heart of man which was created for the Lord. And this is not the victory Israel is expecting from Him. Your King will come, Jerusalem, riding a ‘donkey and a colt’, that is, the just people of Israel and the Gentiles. But I tell you, that the colt will be more faithful to Him and will follow Him preceding the donkey and will grow in the ways of Truth and Life. Because of its evil will, Israel will lose its peace and suffer for centuries and will cause its King to suffer and will make Him the King of sorrow of Whom Isaiah speaks.»

41.8 Shammai: «Your mouth tastes of milk and blasphemy at the same time, Nazarene. Tell me: where is the Precursor? When will we have him?»

Jesus: «He is. Does not Malachi say: ‘Here I am going to send My messenger to prepare the way before Me; and the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter His Temple, and the angel of the Covenant Whom you are longing for’? Therefore the Precursor immediately precedes Christ. He already is, as Christ is. If years should elapse between him who prepares the ways for the Lord and Christ, all the ways would become obstructed and twisted again. God knows and arranges beforehand that the Precursor should precede the Master by one hour only. When you see this Precursor, you will be able to say: ‘The mission of Christ is beginning’. And I say to you: Christ will open many eyes and many ears when He comes this way. But He will not open yours or those of people like you, because you will be putting to death Him Who is bringing you Life. But when the Redeemer sits on His throne and on His altar, higher up than this Temple, higher than the Tabernacle enclosed in the Holy of the Holies, higher up than the Glory supported by the Cherubim, maledictions for the deicides and life for the Gentiles will flow from His thousands and thousands of wounds, because He, o master who are unaware of it, is not, I repeat, is not the king of a human kingdom, but of a spiritual Kingdom and His subjects will be only those who for His sake will learn to regenerate in the spirit and, like Jonah, after being born, will learn to be born again, on other shores: ‘The shores of God’, by means of a spiritual regeneration which will take place through Christ, Who will give humanity true Life.»

41.9 Shammai and his followers: «This Nazarene is Satan!»

Hillel and his followers: «No. This child is a Prophet of God. Stay with me, Child. My old age will transfuse what I know into Your knowledge and You will be Master of the people of God.»

Jesus: «I solemnly tell you that if there were many like you, salvation would come to Israel. But My hour has not come. Voices from Heaven speak to Me and in solitude I must gather them until My hour comes. Then with My lips and My blood I will speak to Jerusalem, and the destiny of Prophets stoned and killed by her, will also be My destiny. But above My life there is the Lord God, to Whom I submit Myself as a faithful servant, to make of Myself a stool for His glory, waiting that He will make the world a stool at the feet of Christ. Wait for Me in My hour. These stones shall hear My voice again and vibrate hearing My last word. Blessed are those who in that voice will have heard God and believed in Him because of it. To them Christ will give that kingdom which your selfishness imagines to be a human one, whereas it is a heavenly one and therefore I say: ‘Here is Your servant, Lord, Who has come do to Your will. Let it be consummated, because I am eager to fulfil it’.»

And here, with the vision of Jesus with His face burning with spiritual ardour and raised to Heaven, His arms stretched out, standing upright in the midst of the astonished doctors, the vision ends.

• Bible - Gospel of Luke
• Gamaliel
• Hillel
• Jesus as a child
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
• Schiammaï - Chammaï (great doctor of Israel)

41.11 Jesus says:

[…]

«Let us go back, far back. Let us go back to the Temple where I, a twelve year old boy, am disputing. Or rather, let us go back to the roads which take one to Jerusalem and from Jerusalem to the Temple.

See Mary’s distress when She realised, after the groups of men and women had gathered together, that I was not with Joseph.

She does not reproach Her spouse bitterly. Every woman would have done that. You do so for much less, forgetting that man is still the head of the family. But the pain that appears on Mary’s face pierces Joseph’s heart more than any bitter reproach. Mary does not give vent to dramatic outbursts. You do so for much less because you love to be noticed and pitied. But Her repressed sorrow is so obvious: She starts trembling, Her face turns pale, Her eyes are wide open and thus She arouses pity more than any outburst of tears and cries.

She is no longer tired or hungry. And yet the journey was a long one and She has not taken any food for so many hours! But She leaves everything: the bed She was preparing and the food which was ready to be handed out. And She goes back. It is night, it is dark. It does not matter. Every step takes Her back to Jerusalem. She stops the caravans and pilgrims and questions them. Joseph follows Her and helps Her. A long day’s walk back to Jerusalem and then the feverish search in town.

Where, where can Her Jesus be? And by God’s provision for many hours She will not know where to look for Me. To look for a child in the Temple does not make sense. What could a child be doing in the Temple? At the most, if he had got lost in town and his little steps had brought him back there, he would have cried for his mother and thus would have attracted the attention of people and of the priests, who would have taken the necessary steps to find the parents by means of announcements left at the gates. But there was no announcement. No one in town knew anything of this Child. Beautiful? Blond? Strong? There are so many like that! It is too little to enable anyone to say: ‘I saw Him. He was there or there’!

41.12 Then, after three days, the symbol of three other days of future anguish, Mary, exhausted, enters the Temple, walks along the yards and the halls. Nothing. She runs, the poor Mother, whenever She hears the voice of a child. Even the bleating of the lambs give Her the impression that She hears Her Creature weeping and looking for Her. But Jesus is not weeping. He is teaching. All of a sudden, from beyond the barrier of a large group of people, She hears His voice saying: ‘These stones will vibrate…’ She endeavours to make Her way through the crowd, and succeeds after much effort. There is Her Son, standing in the midst of the doctors with His arms stretched out.

Mary is the Prudent Virgin. But this time anxiety overcomes prudence. It is a hurricane that demolishes everything. She runs to Her Son, embraces Him, lifting Him off the stool and putting Him down on the ground and She exclaims: ‘Oh! Why have You done this to us? For three days we have been looking for You. Your Mummy is dying with pain, Son. Your father is exhausted with fatigue. Why, Jesus?’

You do not ask ‘why ‘ of Him Who knows. ‘Why’ He behaved in a certain way. You do not ask those with a vocation ‘why’ they leave everything to follow the voice of God. I was Wisdom and I knew. I was ‘called’ to a mission and I was fulfilling it. Above the earthly father and mother there is God, the Divine Father. His interests are above ours, His affections are superior to everything else. And I tell My Mother.

I finish teaching the doctors with the lesson to Mary, the Queen of doctors. And She has never forgotten it. The sun began to shine again in Her heart now that She had Me, humble and obedient, beside Her, but My words are deeply rooted in Her mind. There will be much sunshine and many clouds will gather in the sky during the next twenty-one years I will still be on the earth. And great joys and many tears will alternate in Her heart during the next twenty-one years. But never again will She ask: ‘My Son, why have You done this to us?’

Oh, insolent men, learn your lesson.

41.13 I directed and enlightened the vision, because you, little John, are not able to do anything further. […]»

• Dictations of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in the EMV
• Holy Family
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
• Rosary
• Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary
• Why did you...?
• Words of the Virgin Mary

• Biblical prophecies
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
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• Gamaliel
• Lazare
• Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala or Mary of Bethany)
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple

• Gamaliel
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
• Rosary

• God the Father
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• Jesus Christ - Son of God
• Jesus Christ - Word of God
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
• Redeemer
• Rosary
• Sauveur
• The Virgin Mary

• Recovering Jesus in the Temple
• Remorse