Skip to content

Notes for this theme

The reality of life, death and suffering

Page 8 of 33

Reading comfort

Aa

GRM 77.2-3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

[Judas is talking about the shepherds at the Nativity.]

77.2 «By the way. For some days I have been anxious to ask You a question. These people are Your friends and the friends of God, are they not? The angels blessed them with the peace of Heaven, did they not? They have been faithful against all temptations, have they not? Would You explain to me, then, why are they unhappy? And what about Anne? She was killed because she loved You…»

«Are you therefore deducing that to be loved by Me and to love Me brings bad luck?»

«No… but…»

«But you are. (...) Come here, Judas, listen.

You have an opinion which is common to many people of our times and will be common to man in future. I said: an opinion. I should say: an error. But since you do not do so out of malice, but out of ignorance of the truth, it is not an error, it is only an incorrect opinion, like a child’s. And you are like children, My poor men. And I am here, as a Master, to make adults of you, capable of distinguishing truth from lies, good from bad and what is better from what is good. Listen to Me, therefore.

What is life? It is a period of pause, I would say the limbo of Limbo, that the God Father grants you as trial to establish whether you are good or bad children, after which He will allocate, according to your deeds, a future life without pauses or trials. Now tell Me: would it be fair if a man, simply because he has been granted the rare gift of being in the position of serving God in a special way, also had an everlasting wealth throughout his life? Do you not think that he has already been granted a great deal and may therefore consider himself happy, even if human things are against him? Would it not be unfair if he, who already has the light of divine revelation in his heart and the smile of a clear conscience, should also have worldly honours and wealth? And would it not also be unwise?»

77.3 «Master, I would also say that he would be a desecrator. Why put human joys where You already are? When one has You — and they had You, they are the only rich people in Israel because they have had You for thirty years — one should have nothing else. We do not put human things on the Propitiatory… and the consecrated vase is used only for sacred uses. And these people are consecrated since the day they saw Your smile… and nothing but You is to enter their hearts, which possess You. I wish I was like them!» says Simon.

Detail

Judas recalls the shepherds of the Nativity and the death of Anne of Bethlehem. He says that love for Jesus is bad luck, and Christ responds.

GRM 80.9

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

And here I experienced the weariness of the hero and of the ascetic who in an hour of forewarning realise the uselessness of their efforts… I cried… Sadness… a lure for Satan. It is not a sin to be sad in painful circumstances. It is a sin to go beyond sadness and fall into inertness and despair. 

Detail

Jesus speaks about his temptation in the desert.

GRM 83

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Jesus is in the countryside. He is talking to a peasant who confides the good he gets from listening to Jesus (it's exactly the same for us who read the Work). Jesus talks about God's blessing, and about suffering, about how it is atonement and grace. Then John leaves, and Judas asks to go to Jerusalem to meet a friend. Jesus is disheartened by Judas, and weeps quietly in a bushy grove. He prays. Finally, he is joined by Simon the Zealot, who guesses his pain. They talk about Judas... And Simon also expresses his desire for him to meet Lazarus.

GRM 83.2

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Is pain not always evil?»

«No, My friend, It is evil from a human point of view, but from a supernatural one it is good. It increases the merits of just people, who accept it without despairing or rebelling and they offer it, as they offer themselves with resignation, as a sacrifice to expiate their own imperfections and the faults of the world, and it is a redemption for those who are not good.»

«It is so difficult to suffer!» says the farmer, who has been joined by his relatives, about ten people in all, adults and children.

«I know that man finds it difficult. And knowing that he would find it so difficult, the Father had not given His children any sorrow. It came due to sin. But how long does sorrow last on the earth? In the life of a man? A short time. It is always short, even if it lasts a whole lifetime. Now I say: is it not better to suffer for a short time rather than forever? Is it not better to suffer here than in Purgatory? Consider that time there is multiplied one thousand fold. Oh! I solemnly tell you: you ought not to curse pain, but bless it, and you should call it “grace” and “mercy”.