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Notes for this theme

Creation

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Aa

GRM 3.2.4

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

High above there is a beautiful clear sky, which is becoming a deeper and deeper blue until it looks like an enormous black-bluish soft velvet velarium. On this cloth, a little at a time, invisible craftsmen and decorators fix gems and night lights, some isolated, some in odd geometrical patterns, amongst which the Great Bear and the Little Bear stand out, in the shape of a cart, with its shaft resting on the ground after the oxen have been freed from the yoke. The Pole Star is smiling in all its brightness. (...)

The night is more and more crowded with stars and the camp with lights. Then little by little many lights go out. They are the lamps of those who were the first to have supper and who now go to sleep. Also the buzzing slowly decreases. No more children’s voices are heard. Only some babies still unweaned raise their lamb-like little voices seeking their mothers’ milk. The night blows her breath over places and people and obliterates pains and memories, hopes and ill-feelings. Or perhaps these last two survive in dreams, although alleviated by sleep.

Annotation

The North Star shines brightly. A fine indication of authenticity: this position of the Big Dipper is characteristic of the evenings of October and November. At any other time of year, this position would be incompatible with early evening.

The night is always more star-studded. On this particular evening, astronomy software (RedShift5) shows that the moon does not appear in the sky until after midnight. Maria Valtorta refers to the starry sky, but rightly does not mention the presence of the moon. But she never forgets to do so at the slightest opportunity.

GRM 5.1.3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

5.1 I see Anne coming out of the garden. She is leaning on the arm of somebody who is surely a relative, as they look alike. She is obviously several months pregnant and she looks tired, perhaps due to the same heat that is now exhausting me.

Although the garden is shady, it is very hot and close. The air can be cut like a soft warm dough, it is so heavy. The sun’s rays descend from a merciless blue sky and there is some dust making the atmosphere slightly hazy. The weather must have been dry for a long time, because where there is no irrigation, the land is literally reduced to a very fine, almost white dust. Out in the open this shade of white is slightly pink, whereas it is a dark red-brown under the trees, where the soil is damp. Likewise the ground is moist along the small flower-beds, where rows of vegetables are growing, and around the rose bushes, the jasmines and other flowers, and particularly in the front of and along the beautiful pergola, which divides the orchard in two, up to the beginning of the fields, now stripped of their crops. The grass of the meadow, which marks the boundary of the property, is parched and thin. Only at its border, where there is a hedge of wild hawthorn, already completely studded with the rubies of its little fruits, is the grass greener and thicker. There are some sheep thereabouts with a young shepherd seeking pasture and shade.

Joachim is working around the rows of vines and olive-trees. There are two men with him, helping him. Although an elderly man he is quick and works eagerly. They are opening little channels at the end of a field to give water to the dry plants, and this water makes its way gurgling between the grass and the dry land. The flow forms circles that for one moment resemble a yellowish crystal and seconds later are only rings of wet soil, around the overloaded vine branches and the olive-trees.

Along the shady pergola, under which golden bees are buzzing, greedy for the sugar of the golden grapes, Anne moves slowly towards Joachim, who hastens towards her as soon as he sees her.

«You came so far?»

«The house is as hot as an oven.»

«And you suffer from it.»

«The only suffering of this last hour is that of a pregnant woman. The natural suffering of everybody: man and beast. Don’t get too hot, Joachim.»

«The water we have been hoping for, for such a long time, and that for three days seemed so close, has not yet come and the land is parched. We are lucky to have a spring so near and so rich in water. I have opened the channels. It is a small sigh of relief for the plants which have withering leaves and are covered with dust: just enough to keep them alive. If it would only rain…»

Joachim, with the eagerness of all farmers, looks at the sky, while Anne, tired, cools herself with a fan that seems to be made of the dry leaf of a palm interwoven with many-coloured threads keeping it firm. (...)

They make haste because clouds driven by a strong wind, rush across and gather in the sky, while the plain darkens and shudders at the warning of a storm. When they reach the threshold of the dwelling, a first livid flash of lightning crosses the sky and the rumble of the first peal of thunder sounds like the roll of a huge drum that mingles with the arpeggio of the first drops on the parched leaves.

They all go in and Anne withdraws, while Joachim, standing at the door, talks with the workers, who have in the meantime joined him: the conversation is about the longed-for water which is a blessing for the parched land. But their joy turns into fear because a very violent storm is approaching with lightning and clouds threatening hail. «If the cloud bursts, it will crush the grapes and the olives like a millstone. Poor me!»

Annotation

Roses, jasmine and other flowers. Consistent with other descriptions of the house. The jasmines, southern plants, bloom from June to seven or October, like the roses.

Only at the border, where there's a wild hawthorn hedge already studded with the rubies of its berries. The reddish-brown to coral-red hawthorn fruits (cenelles) ripen in early autumn and last well into winter.

Fortunately, we have the abundant flow of the spring. On several occasions, Joseph will divert this trickle of water to feed a pool (see, for example, EMV 14.3; EMV 25.6; EMV 26.2; EMV 37.1; etc.).

If the cloud bursts, the grapes and olives will be crushed as if under a millstone. In Provence, olives are harvested around October.

GRM 5.1

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«The water we have been hoping for, for such a long time, and that for three days seemed so close, has not yet come and the land is parched. We are lucky to have a spring so near and so rich in water. I have opened the channels. It is a small sigh of relief for the plants which have withering leaves and are covered with dust: just enough to keep them alive. If it would only rain…» Joachim, with the eagerness of all farmers, looks at the sky, while Anne, tired, cools herself with a fan that seems to be made of the dry leaf of a palm interwoven with many-coloured threads keeping it firm.

Anne’s companion interrupts: «Over there, beyond the Great Hermon, fast clouds are arising. There is a northern wind. It will refreshen and perhaps bring rain.»

«The breeze has risen for three days and then it sets when the moon rises. It will do the same again.» Joachim is discouraged.

[...] [They return at home when a storm hits the region, then calms down].

The storm drops suddenly, after one last thunderbolt that is so violent that it throws the three men against the side wall; and in front of the house, in the garden, a black smoky cavity remains as its memory! Meanwhile a cry, one resembling the tiny plea of a little turtle-dove that for the very first time no longer peeps but cooes, is heard from beyond Anne’s door. And at the same time a huge rainbow stretches its semicircle across the sky. It rises, or seems to rise, from the top of Hermon, which kissed by the sun, looks like a most delicate pinkish alabaster: it rises up in the clear September sky and through an atmosphere cleaned of all impurities, it crosses over the hills of Galilee and the plain to the south, and then over another mountain, and seems to rest the other end on the distant horizon, where it drops from view behind a chain of high mountains.

Annotation

The Great Hermon or Mount Hermon (2,814 meters above sea level), visible from Nazareth, is 95 km away, heading northeast.

At the same moment, an immense rainbow unfolds in a semicircle across the entire sky. It emerges, or at least appears to emerge, from the summit of Hermon, which, under the sun's caress, appears to be an alabaster color of the most delicate pinkish-white. From Nazareth (alt +400/450m), if we turn our backs to the setting sun (Azimuth 278° that evening) to observe a rainbow, we have Mount Hermon (+2800m) to the left, Lake Tiberias (-200m), the plain and hills of Galilee (0 to +100m) opposite, and Mounts Ebal (+938m) and Garizim (+868m) to the right.

Under the right circumstances, a rainbow can be doubled, and in exceptional cases even tripled.

Physics dictates that a rainbow can only be observed in the morning or evening. It covers a field from 80° to 84.8° if it's single, and from 102° to 107.4° if it's double.

A simple protractor placed on a map of Palestine, zero point on Nazareth and perpendicular to azimuth 278°, verifies the extraordinary plausibility of this description: it would be false at any other time of year, given the orientation of the sun at sunset.

GRM 5.4

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

5.4 The storm drops suddenly, after one last thunderbolt that is so violent that it throws the three men against the side wall; and in front of the house, in the garden, a black smoky cavity remains as its memory! Meanwhile a cry, one resembling the tiny plea of a little turtle-dove that for the very first time no longer peeps but cooes, is heard from beyond Anne’s door. And at the same time a huge rainbow stretches its semicircle across the sky. It rises, or seems to rise, from the top of Hermon, which kissed by the sun, looks like a most delicate pinkish alabaster: it rises up in the clear September sky and through an atmosphere cleaned of all impurities, it crosses over the hills of Galilee and the plain to the south, and then over another mountain, and seems to rest the other end on the distant horizon, where it drops from view behind a chain of high mountains.

«We have never seen anything like this!»

«Look, look!»

«It seems to enclose in a circle the whole of the land of Israel. And look! there is already a star in the sky while the sun has not yet set. What a star! It is shining like a huge diamond!…»

«And the moon, over there, is a full moon, three days early. But look how she is shining!»

Detail

Nazareth is hit by a storm of unprecedented violence, then it stops.

Annotation

Here's a star before the sun has even disappeared. And what a star! It shines like a huge diamond! Most certainly the planet Jupiter, very bright (magnitude -2.25) and located on September 8, 21 above the southern horizon, at sunset (source RedShift5). In this configuration, Jupiter is the first "star" visible in the evening, as it still is today.

It's a full moon with three days still to go. According to the RedShift5 astronomy software, the full moon occurs on September 11-21. Three days before, therefore, it's Saturday September 8, in total agreement with the date retained by unanimous Tradition (Benedict XIV (Cardinal Prospero Lambertini) - De Festis Beata Virgine Mariae, volume 3, chapter 9, § 16). Marie d'Agreda sets the birth date at midnight on September 8. Baronius, Sepp, Tillemont, etc. all fix the date of Mary's birth on Saturday, September 8, 733, the year of the foundation of Rom.

GRM 5.6

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Anne smiles at one of her thoughts: «She is the Star» she says. «Her sign is in Heaven. Mary, arch of peace! Mary, my Star! Mary, pure moon! Mary, our pearl!»

«Are you calling Her Mary?»

«Yes. Mary, star and pearl and light and peace…»

«But it means also bitterness… Are you not afraid of bringing Her misfortune?»

«God is with Her. She belongs to Him before She existed. He will lead Her along His ways and all bitterness will turn into heavenly honey. Now be of Your mummy… for a little longer, before being all of God…»

Detail

The choice of Marie's first name. This is Anne, her mother, speaking.

GRM 5.10

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

5.10 God desired to put a king in the universe that He had created out of nothing. A king, who by the nature of matter, should be the first amongst all the creatures created with matter and endowed with matter. A king, who by nature of the spirit should be little less than divine, united to Grace as he was in his first innocent day. But the Supreme Mind, to Whom all the most remote events in centuries are known, incessantly sees what was, is and will be; and while It contemplates the past, and observes the present, It penetrates deeply with Its foresight into the most distant future and knows in every detail how the last man will die. Without confusion or discontinuity the Supreme Mind has always known that the king created to be demigod at Its side in Heaven, heir of the Father, reaching His Kingdom, as an adult after living in the house of his mother — the earth, with which he was made — during his childhood, as child of the Eternal Father for his day on earth. The Supreme Mind has always known that man would have committed against himself the crime of killing Grace in himself and the theft of robbing himself of Heaven.

Then why did He create him? Certainly many ask themselves why. Would you have preferred not to exist? Does this day not deserve, in itself, to be lived, although so poor and bare, and rendered harsh by your wickedness, so that you may know and admire the infinite Beauty that the hand of God has sown in the universe?

For whom would He have created the stars and planets that fly like thunderbolts and arrows, furrowing the vault of Heaven, or dash majestically in their rush of meteors, and yet seem slow, presenting you with light and seasons, eternally immutable and yet always mutable. They give you a new page to read in the sky, every evening, every month, every year, as if they wished to say: “Forget your restriction, forsake your printed matter which is full of obscure, putrid, dirty, poisonous, false, swearing, corrupting material and rise, at least with your eyes, to the unlimited freedom of the firmament, make your souls bright looking at so clear a sky. Build up a supply of light to take to your dark prison. Read the word that we write singing our sidereal chorus, which is more harmonious than the one drawn from a cathedral organ. The word that we write while shining, the word that we write while loving, because we always bear in mind He Who gave us the joy of existing. And we love Him for giving us our existence, our brightness, our movement, our freedom, our beauty in the midst of the gentle azure, beyond which we can see an even more sublime blue: Paradise. And we fulfil the second part of His commandment of love, by loving you, our universal neighbours, loving you by giving you guidance and light, warmth and beauty. Read the word we say, the one on which we modulate our singing, our brightness, our smile: God!”

For whom would He have made the blue sea, the mirror of the sky, the way to the land, the smile of waters, the voice of waves? The sea itself is a word that with the rustling of silk, with the smiles of happy girls, with the sighs of old people who remember and weep, with the clamour of violence, with clashes and roars always speaks and says: “God”. The sea is for you, as the sky and the stars are. And with the sea, the lakes and the rivers, the ponds and the streams, the pure springs, all of which serve to nourish you, to quench your thirst, to clean you: and they serve you serving their Creator, without submerging you, as you deserve.

For whom would He have made the countless families of animals, the beautifully coloured birds, that fly singing, and other animals that like servants, run, work, nourish you and succour you, their kings?

For whom would He have created the countless families of plants and flowers that look like butterflies, like gems and motionless birds, and the families of fruits that are like jewels or jewels cases and are a carpet for your feet, the trees that form shelters for your heads, a welcome relaxation and joy to your minds, your limbs, your sight and smell?

For whom would He have made the minerals in the bowels of the earth and the salts dissolved in cold and boiling springs, the iodines and the bromines, unless one should enjoy them, one who was not God, but the son of God? One: man.

The joy of God lacked nothing: God had no need. He is sufficient in Himself. He has only to contemplate Himself to rejoice, to nourish Himself, to live, to rest. The whole creation has not increased by one atom His infinite joy, beauty, life, power. He made everything for the creature that He wanted to place as king in the work made by Him: that creature is man.

It is worth while living to see such a work of God and to be grateful to His power that gives you the opportunity. And you must be grateful to be alive. You should have been grateful even if you had to wait till Doomsday to be redeemed, because you have been prevaricators, proud, lascivious and murderers in your First Parents and you are still so individually. Yet God allows you to enjoy the beauty of the universe, the goodness of the universe: and He treats you as if you were good children, who are taught and granted everything so that their lives might be happier and more pleasant. What you know, you know by the light of God. What you discover, you discover through the guidance of God. In Goodness. Other knowledge and discoveries that bear the mark of evil, come from the Supreme Evil: Satan.

GRM 5.10

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

For whom would He have created the stars and planets that fly like thunderbolts and arrows, furrowing the vault of Heaven, or dash majestically in their rush of meteors, and yet seem slow, presenting you with light and seasons, eternally immutable and yet always mutable. They give you a new page to read in the sky, every evening, every month, every year, as if they wished to say: “Forget your restriction, forsake your printed matter which is full of obscure, putrid, dirty, poisonous, false, swearing, corrupting material and rise, at least with your eyes, to the unlimited freedom of the firmament, make your souls bright looking at so clear a sky. Build up a supply of light to take to your dark prison. Read the word that we write singing our sidereal chorus, which is more harmonious than the one drawn from a cathedral organ. The word that we write while shining, the word that we write while loving, because we always bear in mind He Who gave us the joy of existing. And we love Him for giving us our existence, our brightness, our movement, our freedom, our beauty in the midst of the gentle azure, beyond which we can see an even more sublime blue: Paradise. And we fulfil the second part of His commandment of love, by loving you, our universal neighbours, loving you by giving you guidance and light, warmth and beauty. Read the word we say, the one on which we modulate our singing, our brightness, our smile: God!”

Detail

Jesus says he made creation for man.

GRM 5.10

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

For whom would He have made the blue sea, the mirror of the sky, the way to the land, the smile of waters, the voice of waves? The sea itself is a word that with the rustling of silk, with the smiles of happy girls, with the sighs of old people who remember and weep, with the clamour of violence, with clashes and roars always speaks and says: “God”. The sea is for you, as the sky and the stars are. And with the sea, the lakes and the rivers, the ponds and the streams, the pure springs, all of which serve to nourish you, to quench your thirst, to clean you: and they serve you serving their Creator, without submerging you, as you deserve.

Detail

Jesus says he made creation for man.

GRM 5.10

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

For whom would He have made the countless families of animals, the beautifully coloured birds, that fly singing, and other animals that like servants, run, work, nourish you and succour you, their kings?

Detail

Jesus says he made creation for man.

Keywords