Family and friends

Jesus begins to walk again and His attention is drawn by two eyes staring at Him, the eyes of a tall strong young man who has stopped to let the train of followers pass, as he seems to be going in a different direction. Jesus says to him: «Follow Me.»

The young man starts, changes colour, blinks as if he were dazzled by light, then opens his mouth to speak but cannot find an immediate reply. At last he says: «I will follow You. But my father died at Korazim and I must bury him. Let me do that and then I will come.»

«Follow Me. Leave the dead to bury their dead. You have already been attracted by Life. On the other hand, you aspired that. Do not weep over the gap Life opened around you to make you a disciple. The maiming of affection is the root of the wings which are born of a man who has become a servant of the Truth. Leave corruption to its own fate. Rise towards the Kingdon of the incorrupt. You will also find the incorruptible pearl of your father there. God calls and passes by. Tomorrow you would no longer find your heart of today or God’s invitation. Come. Go and announce the Kingdom of God.»

The man is leaning against a low wall with his arms hanging by his sides: he is holding two bags, full of perfumes and bandages, his head is lowered in thought, wavering between two loves: for God and for his father.

Jesus waits and looks at him, he then gets hold of a little child clasps him to His heart saying: «Say with Me: “I bless You, o Father, and I invoke Your light for those who weep in the haze of life. I bless You, o Father, and I invoke Your strength for those who are like a child in need of support. I bless You, o Father, and I invoke Your love that it may cause men to forget everything which is not Yourself, as they can find all good in You, both here and in Heaven, although they cannot believe it”.» And the child, an innocent boy about four years old, repeats in his thin voice the holy words with his hands held in prayer by the right hand of Jesus, Who holds them by their plump, wrists as if they were two flower stems.

The man makes up his mind. He hands the two bundles to a companion and comes towards Jesus, Who puts down the child after blessing him, and embraces the young man, proceeding thus with him, to comfort him and support him in his effort.

(...) They reach the shore. Jesus goes on board Peter’s boat and whispers a few words to him. I see Jesus smile while Peter makes a gesture expressing amazement. But He does not say anything. Also the man who did not go to bury his father in order to follow Jesus, gets into the boat.

• Death and loss of a loved one - Bereavement
• Deceased
• Discipleship - Following Jesus Christ
• Elie de Corozaïn (Elie de Chorazeïn)
• Family
• Family martyrdom
• Jesus Christ and children
• Let the dead bury their dead
• Moral martyrdom
• Parents and children

Do not weep over the gap Life opened around you to make you a disciple. The maiming of affection is the root of the wings which are born of a man who has become a servant of the Truth. Leave corruption to its own fate. Rise towards the Kingdon of the incorrupt. You will also find the incorruptible pearl of your father there.

• Conditions
• Corruption
• Eternity - Eternal life
• How to perfect and sanctify yourself
• Kingdom of God - Kingdom of Heaven
• Pain and suffering
• Servant of God
• The fruitfulness of suffering
• Truth
• Words of wisdom

Another man questions Him: «I would like to come with You, too. But before following You I would like to take leave of my relatives, Will You allow me?»

Jesus stares at him and replies: «There are too many roots in your human being. Uproot them and if you cannot, cut them off. One must come to God’s service with spiritual freedom. He who gives himself, must have no ties.»

«Flesh and blood are always flesh and blood. I will slowly reach the freedom You refer to…»

«No, you would never reach it. God is as exacting as He is infinitely generous in rewarding. If you wish to be a disciple you must embrace your cross and follow Me. Otherwise one remains a simple believer. The way of the servant of God is not strewn with petals of roses. And it is absolute in its demands. No one who has put his hand to the plough to furrow the fields of hearts and spread there the seed of God’s doctrine, can look back to see what he left, what he lost and what he could have had if he had followed another common way. He who does that is not fit for the Kingdom of God. Work upon yourself. Make a man of yourself and then come. Not now.»

• Bible - Gospel of Luke
• Carrying the Cross
• Chair
• Discipleship - Following Jesus Christ
• Family
• Family martyrdom
• Humanity of men
• If your hand is an occasion for falling, cut it off; if your eye is an occasion for falling, pluck it out.
• Parents and children
• Renunciation - Renunciation
• Virility
• Whoever puts his hand to the plough and looks back...

You are granted much more, because as My disciples, you must be acquainted with the mystery; and you are therefore given to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. That is why I say to you: “Ask Me if you do not understand the spirit of the parable”. You give everything and everything is given to you, that you, in your turn, may give everything. You are giving everything to God: love, time, interests, freedom, lives. And God gives you everything to reward you and to enable you to give everything in the name of God to those who come after you. Thus, to him who has given will be given abundantly. But he who gave only partly or did not give at all, will be deprived also of what he has.

• Bible - Gospel of Luke
• Bible - Gospel of Mark
• Bible - Gospel of Matthew
• Conditions
• Discipleship - Following Jesus Christ
• Freedom
• Kingdom of God - Kingdom of Heaven
• Life
• Time
• To him who has shall be given; to him who has not shall be taken away, even that which he has.

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

Do you know the Law well enough and its ten commandments? And you, too, boy? In that case you know enough. If you faithfully practise what God commanded, you will be holy.

• Commandments
• Holiness
• Loyalty
• Saints and blessed
• Word of God - Law of God
• Words of wisdom

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

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.

• Family
• Parents and children
• Words of wisdom

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

A loud noise of crying people can be heard from a sumptuous house. It is the voices of women and children. The shrill voice of a woman shouts: «My son! My son!»

Jesus turns around and looks at His apostles. Judas steps forward. «No, not you» orders Jesus. «You, Matthew. Go and find out.»

Matthew goes and comes back: «A brawl, Master. A man is dying. A Jew. The man who wounded him, a Roman, has run away. His wife, mother and children have rushed to help him… But he is dying.»

«Let us go.»

«Master… Master… It happened in the house of a woman… who is not his wife.»

«Let us go.»

183.3 Through the wide open door they enter a large hall which opens onto a lovely garden. The house seems to be divided by this kind of covered peristyle, which is full of pots with green plants, statues and inlaid articles. It is a mixture of a hall and greenhouse. In a room, the door of which opens onto the hall, there are some women weeping. Jesus goes in confidently. But He does not pronounce His usual greeting.

Among the men present there is a merchant who obviously knows Jesus, because as soon as he sees Him, he says: «The Rabbi of Nazareth!» and greets Him respectfully.

«Joseph, what is the matter?»

«Master, a stab wound in his heart… He is dying.»

«Why?»

A grey-haired unkempt woman stands up – she was kneeling near the dying man holding his limp hand – and with distracted face and voice she shouts: «Because of her, because of her… She has turned him into a devil… Mother, wife, children no longer existed for him! Hell will have you, satan!»

Jesus looks up and His eyes follow the trembling accusing hand and in a corner, against the dark red wall, He sees Mary of Magdala, more immodest than ever, wearing, I would say, nothing on half of her body, because she is half naked from the waist upwards, draped in a kind of hexagonal net decorated with little round objects which look like tiny pearls. But as she is in a half-light, I cannot see her well.

Jesus lowers His eyes once again. Mary, lashed by His indifference, stands up, whereas before she seemed somewhat depressed, and strikes a defiant pose.

«Woman» says Jesus to the mother. «Do not curse. Tell Me. Why was your son in this house?»

«I told You. Because she infatuated him. She did.»

«Silence. So, he was in sin, too, because he is an adulterer and an unworthy father of these innocent children. He therefore deserves his punishment. In this life and in the next one there is no mercy for those who do not repent. But I feel sorry for your grief and for these innocent children.

183.4 Is your house far?»

«About one hundred yards.»

«Lift the man and take him there.»

«It is not possible, Master» says Joseph, the merchant. «He is breathing his last breath.»

«Do as I tell you.»

They place a board under the body of the dying man and the procession slowly moves out. They cross the street and go into a shady garden. The women carry on crying loudly.

As soon as they enter the garden, Jesus addresses the mother. «Can you forgive? If you forgive, God will forgive. We must be kind-hearted, to obtain grace. He has sinned and will sin again. It would be better for him to die, because, if he lives, he will fall into sin again and he will also have to answer for his ingratitude to God Who has saved him. But you and these innocent ones (and He points at the wife and children) would give yourselves up to despair. I have come to save, not to lose. Man, I tell you: stand up and be cured.»

The man begins to recover. He opens his eyes, sees his mother, wife and children and lowers his head shamefully.

«Son, son» says the mother. «You were dead, if He had not saved you. Come to your senses. Don’t be infatuated for a…»

Jesus interrupts the old woman. «Be quiet, woman. Have mercy as mercy was granted to you. Your house has been sanctified by a miracle, which is always the evidence of God’s presence. That is why I could not work it where there was sin. You, at least, must endeavour to keep it such, even if he will not. Take care of him now. It is fair that he should suffer a little. Be good, woman. And you. And you little ones. Goodbye.» Jesus has laid His hand on the heads of the two women and of the children.

183.5 He then goes out passing in front of the Magdalene who followed the procession as far as the entrance of the house where she remained leaning against a tree. Jesus slackens His pace as if He were waiting for His disciples, but I think He does so to give Mary a chance of making a gesture. But she does not.

The disciples reach Jesus and Peter cannot help muttering between his teeth an epithet appropriate to Mary, who, wishing to strike an attitude, bursts into a laugh of a weak triumph. But Jesus heard Peter’s word and addresses him severely: «Peter. I do not insult. Do not insult. Pray for sinners. Nothing else.»

Mary stops her trilling laughter, lowers her head and runs away, like a gazelle, towards her house.

• Adultery
• Anonymous characters
• Gospel of Mercy
• Healing and physical miracles
• Joseph of Magdala
• Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala or Mary of Bethany)
• Miracles of Jesus Christ