Notes for this theme
Reading comfort
GRM 188.4 · Volume 3
You are not wicked… Your only trouble is that you have a large open wound, which nobody is curing… Your goodness runs out of it as blood from a wound. But if someone would cure your wound and heal it, My dear brother, goodness would increase in you, because it would no longer vanish as it forms…
GRM 188.6
Translation in progress
GRM 188.6 · Volume 3
Do not be anxious to tear the veils which separate the living from the dead. Do not disturb the deceased. Listen to them, if they are wise, while they are on the earth, venerate them by obeying them also after their death. But do not upset their second life. He who does not obey the voice of the Lord, loses the Lord. And the Lord has forbidden occultism, necromancy, satanism in all its forms.
GRM 194.3 · Volume 3
«You said that You will open the gates of Heaven. Are they not closed because of the great Sin? My mother used to say that no one could enter until forgiveness had come and the just were waiting for it in Limbo.»
«It is so. But preaching the word of God I will go to the Father and… having obtained forgiveness for you, I will say to Him: “Father, I have fulfilled Your will. Now I want My reward for My sacrifice. Let the just, who are waiting, come to Your Kingdom”. And the Father will say to Me: “Let it be done as You wish”. I will then come down and I will call all the just, and at the sound of My voice Limbo will open its gates and the holy Patriarchs, the bright Prophets, the blessed women of Israel will come out rejoicing. And do you know how many children? There will be children of all ages, as many as the flowers in a flowery meadow! And they will follow Me singing and will ascend to the beautiful Paradise.»
«And will my mother be there?»
«Most certainly.»
«You did not say to me that she will be with You at the gate of Heaven when I am dead, too…»
«There is no need for her and for your father to be at that gate. Like bright angels they will fly continuously from Heaven down to the earth, from Jesus to their little Jabez, and when you are about to die, they will do what those two little birds over there, in that hedge, are doing. Can you see them?» And Jesus takes the boy in His arms to let him see better. «See how they are sitting on their little eggs. They are waiting for them to hatch, then they will spread their wings over the brood to protect them from all evils, and then, when they are grown and ready to fly, they will support them with their strong wings and will take them up, up, up… towards the sun. Your parents will do the same with you.»
«Will it be just like that?»
«Exactly like that.»
«But will You tell them to remember to come?»
«That is not necessary, because they love you, but I will tell them.»
«Oh! How I love You!» The child, who is still in Jesus’ arms, presses against His neck and kisses Him with such joyful effusion that is really moving.
Jesus kisses him, too, and puts him down.
GRM 197.5 · Volume 3
This is the most solemn hour of the day. There is another one in the morning but this one is even more solemn. The morning is the beginning of the day. It is right that man should bless the Lord to be blessed during the day, in all his deeds. But in the evening it is more solemn. Light fades, work ends, night falls. The fading light reminds us of the fall into sin and in fact sinful deeds are generally accomplished during the night. Why? Because man, no longer engrossed in his work, can be more easily entrapped by the Evil One who avails himself of his allurements and nightmares. It is therefore right, after thanking God for protecting us during the day, that we should implore Him to deliver us from night phantasms and temptations. Night, sleep… the symbols of death. Blessed be those who after living with the blessing of the Lord go to sleep in a bright dawn and not in darkness. The priest who offers incense does so on behalf of us all. He prays for all the people, in communion with God, and God entrusts him with the blessing for the whole people of His children. See how great the ministry of a priest is?»
GRM 199.4 · Volume 3
They shout: «Jesus, our Saviour, have mercy on us!» and they stretch out their deformed or ulcerated hands. «Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!»
«What do you want Me to do for you?» asks Jesus looking towards their misery.
«We want You to save us from sin and from this disease.»
«Your will and repentance will save you from sin…»
«But if You wish, You can cancel our sins. At least those, if You do not want to cure our bodies.»
«If I say to You: “Choose either one or the other”, which one would you prefer?»
«God’s forgiveness, Lord. To be less desolate.»
Jesus has a gesture of approval. He smiles brightly, raises His arms and shouts: «Let it be granted. I want it.»
Granted! The grace might be granted for their sins, or for their disease, or for both, and the five unhappy people remain uncertain. But the apostles have no uncertainty and they can but shout their hosannas when they see the leprosy disappear as fast as a flake of snow that falls on a fire. The five then understand that the full grace has been granted to them. Their shouting resounds like a cry of victory. They embrace one another and throw kisses at Jesus, as they cannot prostrate themselves at His feet. They then turn to their companions saying: «And you still refuse to believe? What miserable wretches are you?»
«Good! Be good! Your poor brothers need time to think. Say nothing to them. Faith is not imposed, it is preached with peace, kindness, patience and perseverance. That is what you will do after your purification, exactly as Simon did with you. After all, the miracle preaches by itself. You who have been cured, will go to the priest as soon as possible. You, who are still ill, wait for us this evening. We will bring you some food. Peace be with you.»
Jesus went to see some lepers.
GRM 203.1 · Volume 3
See: I proceed among continuous frictions and disappointments. Disappointments for you. You must convince yourselves that I am never disappointed, because I have not been granted the gift of ignoring… That is another reason why I advise you to agree to be guided by Me. If I allow this or that thing, do not hinder it. If I do not interfere to put an end to something, do not endeavour to do it yourselves. Each thing is to be done at the right moment. Trust Me, in everything.
Jesus talks about the trials the apostolic group is going through, and urges the apostles to trust in God.
GRM 203.8 · Volume 3
“May Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven”. Desire its coming with all your strength. If it came, it would be the joy of the earth. The Kingdom of God in hearts, in families, among citizens and nations. Suffer, work, sacrifice yourselves for this Kingdom. Let the earth be a mirror reflecting the life of Heaven in each individual.
GRM 204.4 · Volume 3
« (...) Is it not so?»
«Yes, it is, Master. You have seen and studied them very well» confirms Plautina praising Jesus.
«But we know that He never left Palestine!?» exclaims Quintilian.
«I never left Palestine to go to Rome or Athens. But I am acquainted with Greek and Roman architecture and I was present when the genius of man decorated the Parthenon because I am wherever there is life or a manifestation of life. Wherever a wise man meditates, a sculptor sculptures, a poet writes, a mother sings over a cradle, a man toils in fields, a doctor fights diseases, a living being breathes, an animal lives, a tree vegetates, I am there together with Him from Whom I come. In the rumble of the earthquake or in the peal of thunder, in the light of stars or in flood-tide and ebb-tide, in the flight of eagles or in the buzzing of mosquitoes, I am there with the Most High Creator.»
«So… You… You know everything. Both thoughts and deeds of men?» asks Quintilian again.
«Yes, I do.»
The Romans look at one another amazed.
Jesus describes at length the temples built by the Romans and Greeks.
GRM 204.6 · Volume 3
«So we have a soul and it is alive and present in us?»
«Yes, it is so.»
«And it suffers? Do You really think that it remembers God? We do not remember the womb that bore us. We could not tell what its inside was like. If I have understood You correctly, the soul is spiritually born of God. Can it possibly remember Him if our body does not remember the long time it was in a womb?»
«The soul is not material, Plautina. An embryo is. In fact the soul is infused when the foetus is already formed. The soul is, like God, eternal and spiritual. It is eternal from the moment it is created, whereas God is the Most Perfect Eternal Being and thus has no beginning in time and will have no end. The soul[1], the lucid, intelligent, spiritual work of God, does remember. And it suffers, because it longs for God, the True God, from Whom it comes, and it hungers for God. That is why it spurs the torpid body to endeavour to approach God.»
- The soul is not raw material, Plautina. The embryo is. It's so true that the soul is only given when the fetus is already formed.
INFUSION OF THE SOUL: The embryo, yes, instead of:the fœtus, si, is a correction by Maria Valtorta to the original manuscript, where she inserts: "So true is it that the soul is given when the fœtus is already formed". This phrase is present in the 1985 French translation by Felix Sauvage, but has been removed on the grounds that it would contradict other statements in the chapter, but this statement, which is in line with that of St Thomas Aquinas (see below), is confirmed by other statements such as in EMV 118: Man is first of all only an animal embryo, no different from that of a sheep.
The soul is, in the likeness of God, eternal and spiritual. This position was upheld by Saint Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, in the tradition of Aristotle. He estimated the insufflation time at 40 days (about 6 weeks). Today, as science advances, John Paul II, without deciding on the exact moment of insufflation, reminds us that from the very origin of the embryo, there is a personal definition to be respected (we all come from it). Anthropological study leads us to recognize that, by virtue of the substantial unity of the body with the spirit, the human genome has not only a biological significance; it is the bearer of an anthropological dignity which has its source in the spiritual soul which penetrates and vivifies it"(Address to the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life, February 24 1998 {it}). For his part, St Thomas Aquinas affirmed "The soul pre-exists in the embryo; it is there first nutritive, then sensitive, and finally intellective"(Summa Theologica, Part I, Question 118, from whence comes the soul of Man, Article 2, Answer).
The soul, lucid, intelligent, spiritual, the work of God, remembers this. This has already been discussed above, in EMV 204.5, as well as in EMV 94.7, EMV 121.7, EMV 154.7 (with a note), EMV 157.5, EMV 169.5, EMV 344.7 (in the mouth of a child), EMV 428.4 (with a note), EMV 534.6 (in the mouth of an old man), EMV 554.10, EMV 556.8.
The memory that souls have of God is dealt with more specifically in : EMV 10.9 | EMV 286.7 | EMV 290.9. Furthermore, Mary "was never deprived of the remembrance of God", as we read in EMV 4.6; this is illustrated in EMV 10.8/10 and in the last lines ofEMV 11.4. Mary's soul is also mentioned in EMV 136.6 and EMV 348.9/10.