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Saints, venerable and blessed of the Catholic Church

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GRM 207.9 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Are you satisfied, Simon of Jonah, who are speechless and almost breathless?»
«Yes, so much… so much that I seem to be out of this world, in a holier place than if I were beyond the Velarium of the Temple… So much… that now that I have seen You in this place and in the light of that night, I am afraid that I did not behave with respect towards You, as if You were a great woman, but just a woman. Now… now I will not dare to call You: “Mary”, as I did before. Before You were the Mother of My Master. Now I have seen You on the crests of those heavenly waves, I have seen You as a Queen, and I, a poor wretch, prostrate myself, because I am a slave» and he throws himself on the ground kissing Mary’s feet.
Jesus speaks now: «Simon, stand up. Come here, close to Me» Peter goes to the left hand side of Jesus because Mary is on His right. «What are we now?» asks Jesus.
«We? Well, we are Jesus, Mary and Simon.»
«Very well. But how many are we?»
«Three, Master.»
«So we are a trinity. One day, in Heaven, the Divine Trinity had a thought: “It is now time that the Word should go to the world”. And in a throb of love the Word came upon the earth. He parted therefore from the Father and the Holy Spirit. He came to work on the earth. The Two Who had remained in Heaven contemplated the deeds of the Word, remaining more united than ever to blend Thought and Love to assist the Word working on the earth. The day will come when an order will be issued from Heaven: “It is time for You to come back because everything has been accomplished”, and then the Word will go back to Heaven, thus… (Jesus takes a step backwards leaving Mary and Peter where they were) and from the heights of Heaven, He will contemplate the deeds of the two who remained on the earth, who, by holy inspiration, will join together more than ever, to blend power and love to obtain the means of fulfilling the desire of the Word: “The redemption of the world through the perennial teaching of His Church”. And the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will form a chain with Their beams to tie the two left on the earth more and more closely: My Mother, love; you, power. You will certainly have to treat Mary as a queen, but not as if you were a slave. Do you not think so?»
«I think everything You wish. I am overwhelmed! I… the power? Oh! If I am to be the power I must definitely lean on Her! Oh! Mother of my Lord, never abandon me, never, never…»
«Do not be afraid. I will always hold you by the hand, as I used to do with My Child until He could walk by Himself.»
«And after that?»
«And after I will support you with My prayers. Cheer up, Simon. Never doubt God’s power. I did not doubt it, neither did Joseph. You must not doubt it either. God gives us His help hour by hour, if we remain humble and faithful…

Detail

The Virgin has just recounted the Nativity in her own words.

Annotation

Heavenly Trinity - Earthly Trinity: In order to establish a parallel between the heavenly Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the earthly Trinity (Jesus, Mary and Peter), the explanation must resort to the expedient of attributing human thoughts and behavior to God, establishing separations and reunions between divine Persons.

However," Maria Valtorta notes in a typed copy, "there is no question of denying the hypostatic union (= union of the two natures, divine and human) by which the Word, being truly in the flesh of the Son of God and Mary, did not cease to be one with the Father and therefore with Love; he did not cease to be the Holy of Holies, for he was so by his divine nature and he was so in his human nature, by grace and by a most perfect will.

Finally, we should note the concept expressed by Maria Valtorta in the text of EMV 474.2/3: the divinity, always hypostatically united to Jesus the Man, was not at all times sensitive to the Redeemer Man, who had to go so far as to experience this pain.

Keywords

GRM 207.10

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Come out here, now, near the stream, in the shade of the good tree, which, if it were later in summer, would give you its apples in addition to its shade; come. We shall eat before going… Where, Son?»
«To Jala. It is near. And tomorrow we shall go to Bethzur.»
They sit in the shade of the apple-tree and Mary leans against its robust trunk.
Bartholomew watches Her, so young and still heavenly moved by the recollection She made, while She accepts from Her Son the food He has blessed and She smiles at Him with loving eyes, and he whispers: « “In His shade I am seated and His food is sweet to My taste”.»
Judas Thaddeus replies to him: «It is true. She is sick with love. But we cannot say that She was awakened under an apple-tree.»
«Why not, brother? What do we know about the secrets of the King?» replies James of Alphaeus.
And Jesus smiling says: «The new Eve was conceived of the Thought at the foot of the paradisiacal apple-tree in order to put to flight the serpent and detoxicate the poisoned fruit by means of Her smile and Her tears. She became the tree of the redeeming fruit. Come, friends, and eat of it. Because to be nourished by its sweetness is to be nourished by the honey of God.»
«Master, please satisfy an old desire of mine for some clarification. Does the Song which we are reciting[3] foresee Her?» asks Bartholomew in a low voice while Mary is looking after the boy and speaking to the women.
«The Book speaks of her from its beginning and future books will speak of Her until the word of man changes into the everlasting hosanna of God’s eternal City» and Jesus turns towards the women.
«You can hear that He descends from David! What wisdom, what poetry!» says the Zealot speaking to his companions.

Detail

The Virgin Mary recounted the birth of her Son.

Annotation

Songs 2, 3

Ct 2,3 "As an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my friend among young men, I take great pleasure in sitting under its shade. How sweet its fruit is to my palate."

Song of Solomon 8:5

Ct 8,5 : Who is this who comes up from the desert, leaning on her beloved? L'ÉPOUX. I woke you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she conceived you, there she gave birth to you.

Keywords

GRM 207.10 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Mary is looking after the boy and speaking to the women.

Keywords

GRM 207.11 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Listen» the Iscariot who is still in the mood of the previous day and speaks very little, although he endeavours to emulate the freedom he had before, joins in the conversation «listen, I would like to understand why the Incarnation had to take place. Only God can speak in such a way as to defeat Satan. Only God can have the power of redeeming. And I do not doubt it. But I think that the Word might have lowered Himself less than He did by being born like every other man, submitting Himself to the miseries of childhood and so on. Could He not have appeared in human form already adult, in the appearance of an adult? And if He really wanted a mother, could He not have chosen one, an adoptive one as He did for a father? I think I asked Him once, but He did not reply at length, or I do not remember.»
«Ask Him! Since we are on the subject…» says Thomas.
«I won’t. I upset Him and I feel as if I have not been forgiven yet. Ask Him on my behalf.»
«I beg your pardon! We accept everything without so many clarifications and you expect us to ask questions? It is not fair!» retorts James of Zebedee.
«What is not fair?» asks Jesus.
There is silence, then the Zealot speaks on behalf of everybody repeating Judas Iscariot’s questions and the replies of the others.
«I do not bear a grudge. That is the first thing. I make the comments that I must make, I suffer and I forgive. That applies to him who is afraid, which is still the consequence of his perturbation. With regards to My real Incarnation I say: “It is just that it took place”. In future many people will make mistakes concerning My Incarnation, ascribing to Me the erroneous forms that Judas would like Me to have taken. A man seemingly solid in body, but in reality fluent like a lighting effect, so that I would and would not be flesh. And Mary’s maternity would and would not be a real maternity. I am really flesh and Mary is really the Mother of the Word Incarnate. If the hour of My birth was but an ecstasy, that is because She is the new Eve without the burden of sin and without the heritage of punishment. But I did not lower Myself by resting in Her. Was the manna enclosed in the Tabernacle perhaps humiliated? No, on the contrary it was honoured by being in that abode. Others will say that I, since I was not real flesh, did not suffer and did not die during My stay on the earth. Of course, since they cannot deny that I was here, they will deny My real Incarnation or My true Divinity. No, I am really One with the Father forever, and I am united to God as Flesh, because as a matter of fact it is possible that Love reached what is unreachable because of His Perfection, by becoming Flesh to save flesh. A reply to all these errors is given by My whole life which shed blood from birth to death and was submitted to everything that is common to man, except sin. Yes, I was born of Her. For your welfare. You do not know how much Justice has been mitigated since the Woman has become its collaborator. Have I satisfied you, Judas?»
«Yes, Master.»
«Do likewise with Me.»
The Iscariot bends his head, is abashed and perhaps he is really touched by so much kindness.
The rest is protracted in the cool shade of the apple-tree. Some fall asleep, some doze. But Mary gets up and goes back into the Grotto and Jesus follows Her…

Keywords

GRM 208

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Mary Salome and Mary of Alphae are present in EMV 208.1-4, but they are not directly involved in the dialogue between Marziam, Mary and Jesus.

Keywords

GRM 208.1 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«We shall almost certainly find them if we go back on to the Hebron road for a little while. Please go in pairs looking for them on the mountain paths. From here to Solomon’s Pools and thence to Bethzur. We will follow you. This is their pasture area» says the Lord to the Twelve and I understand that He is speaking of the shepherds.
The apostles are getting ready to go, each with his favourite companion and only the inseparable couple of John and Andrew do not get together because they both go to the Iscariot saying: «I will come with you» and Judas replies: «Yes, come, Andrew. It is better thus, John. You and I already know the shepherds. So it is better if you go with someone else.»
«Come with me, then, boy» says Peter leaving James of Zebedee, who without protesting goes with Thomas, while the Zealot joins Judas Thaddeus, James of Alphaeus goes with Matthew and the two inseparable Philip and Bartholomew remain together. The boy remains with Jesus and the Maries.

Annotation

It's better this way, Jean. You and I would be the two who already know the shepherds. Cf. EMV 75.2 and EMV 75.6.

Keywords

GRM 208.1-4 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«We shall almost certainly find them if we go back on to the Hebron road for a little while. Please go in pairs looking for them on the mountain paths. From here to Solomon’s Pools and thence to Bethzur. We will follow you. This is their pasture area» says the Lord to the Twelve and I understand that He is speaking of the shepherds.
The apostles are getting ready to go, each with his favourite companion and only the inseparable couple of John and Andrew do not get together because they both go to the Iscariot saying: «I will come with you» and Judas replies: «Yes, come, Andrew. It is better thus, John. You and I already know the shepherds. So it is better if you go with someone else.»
«Come with me, then, boy» says Peter leaving James of Zebedee, who without protesting goes with Thomas, while the Zealot joins Judas Thaddeus, James of Alphaeus goes with Matthew and the two inseparable Philip and Bartholomew remain together. The boy remains with Jesus and the Maries.
The road is cool and comfortable and runs among completely green mountains covered with forests and meadows. They meet herds going towards pastures in the faint light of dawn.
At the sound of every cattle-bell Jesus stops speaking and looks around, He then asks the shepherds whether Elias, the Bethlehemite shepherd, is in that area. I understand that by now Elias is called «the Bethlehemite». Even if other shepherds are from Bethlehem, he is by right or by mockery «the Bethlehemite». But no one knows where he is. They answer stopping their herds and ceasing to play their rustic flutes.
Almost every young man has one of those primeval cane flutes, which cause Marjiam to be thrown into ecstasies, until a good old man gives him his nephew’s saying: «He will make himself another one», and Marjiam goes away happily with the instrument across his back, even if he does not know how to play it, at least for the time being.
208.2
«I would like so much to meet them!» exclaims Mary.
«We will certainly find them. In this season they are always near Hebron.»
The boy is interested in those shepherds who saw the Child Jesus and he asks Mary many questions and She explains everything patiently and kindly.
«But why did they punish them? They had done nothing but good!» asks the boy after hearing the story of their misfortunes.
«Because very often man makes mistakes, accusing innocent people of evil deeds that in actual fact were done by someone else. But as they have been good and have forgiven, Jesus loves them so much. We must always be able to forgive.»
«But all the children who were slaughtered, how could they have forgiven Herod?»
«They are little Martyrs, Marjiam, and martyrs are saints. They not only forgive their executioners, but they love them, because they open Heaven to them.»
«But are they in Heaven?»
«No, not just now. But they are in Limbo where they are the joy of Patriarchs and of the just.»
«Why?»
«Because when they arrived with their souls purple with blood, they said: “Here we are, we are the heralds of Christ the Saviour. Rejoice, you who are waiting, because He is already on the earth”. And everybody loves them because they are the bearers of these good tidings.»
«My father told me that also Jesus’ Word is good tidings. So when my father goes to Limbo after repeating it on the earth, and I also go there, will we be loved as well?»
«You will not go to Limbo, My dear little one.»
«Why?»
«Because Jesus will have already gone back to Heaven and will have opened it and all good people will go straight to Heaven when they die.»
«I will be good, I promise. And Simon of Jonah? He too, eh? Because I do not want to become an orphan a second time.»
«He will be there as well, you may be sure, but there are no orphans in Heaven. We have God. And God is everything. We are not orphans here either. Because the Father is always with us.»
«But Jesus in that lovely prayer, which You teach me by day and my mother at night, says: “Our Father Who are in Heaven”. We are not in Heaven yet. Therefore, how can we be with Him?»
«Because God is everywhere, son. He watches over the baby that is born and over the old man who is dying. The child who is born this moment, in the most remote part of the world, has God’s love and eye with him and will have them until he dies.»
«Even if he is as bad as Doras?»
«Yes.»
«But can God, Who is so good, love Doras who is so bad and makes my old father weep?»
«He looks at him with disdain and sorrow. But if he should repent. He would say to him what the father of the parable said to his repentant son.
208.3
You should pray that he may repent and…»
«Oh! no, Mother! I will pray that he may die!!!» says the child impetuously. Although his remark is not very… angelical, his impetuosity is so sincere that no one can help laughing.
Mary then resumes the sweet seriousness of a Teacher: «No, My dear. You must not do that to a sinner. God would not listen to you and would look sternly at you as well. We must wish our neighbour the greatest welfare, even if our neighbour is very bad. Life is a good thing because it gives man the possibility of gaining merits in the eyes of God.»
«But if one is bad, one gains sins.»
«We pray that he may become good.»
The boy is pensive… but he does not like this sublime lesson and he concludes: «Doras will not become good even if I pray for him. He is too bad. Even if all the baby martyrs of Bethlehem should pray with me, he would not become good. You do not know… You do not know that one day he struck my old father with an iron rod, because he found him sitting during working hours? He was not able to stand because he was not feeling well… and he beat him and left him half dead, and then kicked him on his face… I saw him because I was hiding behind a hedge… I had gone there because no one had brought me any bread for two days and I was hungry… I had to run away so that he might not hear me, because I was crying seeing my father like that, with blood on his beard, lying on the ground, as if he were dead… I was weeping when I went to beg some bread… but that bread is still lying here… and it tastes of the blood and tears of my father and mine, and of all those who are tortured and who cannot love those who torture them. I would like to strike Doras that he may feel what a blow is, and I would like to leave him without any bread, that he may learn what it is to be hungry, and I would make him work in the sun, in mud, under the threats of the overseer, without food, that he may know what he gives the poor… I cannot love him because… because he kills my holy father, and I… if I had not found you, to whom would I have belonged ?»
The child, in a fit of pain, shouts and cries, trembling, deranged, striking with his closed fists the air, as he cannot strike the slave-driver. The women are amazed and touched and they endeavour to calm him. But he is really in a fit of grief and does not hear anything. He shouts: «I cannot, I cannot love and forgive him. I hate him, I hate him on behalf of everybody, I hate him, I hate him!…» He is in a pitiful and frightful state.
208.4
It is the reaction of a creature who has suffered too much.
And Jesus says so: «That is Doras’ gravest felony: to drive an innocent child to hate…» He then takes the child in His arms and speaks to him: «Listen, Marjiam. Do you want to go one day with your mummy, your daddy, your little brother and the old father?»
«Yes…»
«Then you must not hate anybody. He who hates does not go to Heaven. You cannot pray for Doras just now? Well, do not pray, but do not hate. Do you know what you must do? You must never look back to think of the past…»
«But my father who suffers is not past…»
«That is true. But look, Marjiam, try and pray like this: “Our Father Who are in Heaven, please see to what is my wish…”. You will see that the Father will listen to you in the best possible way. Even if you killed Doras, what would you do? You would lose the love of God, Heaven, the company of your father and mother and you would not relieve of his troubles the old man whom you love. You are too little to be able to do it. But God can. Tell Him. Say to Him: “You know how much I love my old father and how I love all those who are unhappy. Will You please see to this matter, because You can do everything”. What? Do you not want to preach the Gospel? But the Gospel teaches love and forgiveness! How can you say to one: “Do not hate. Forgive” if you cannot love and forgive? Leave things to good God and you will see how well He can arrange matters. Will you do that?»
«Yes, I will, because I love You.»
Jesus kisses the boy and puts him down.
The incident is over as well as their journey.

Annotation

It's better this way, Jean. You and I would be the two who already know the shepherds. Cf. EMV 75.2 and EMV 75.6.

Every time the clarinet is tinkled, Jesus stops speaking. Clarine: a bell placed around the neck of cattle.

In that beautiful prayer you and my mother taught me, she at night and you during the day: cf. EMV 206.14.

If he repented, he would tell him what the father in the parable said to his repentant son. In the parable of the prodigal son(EMV 205.5).

Keywords

GRM 208.5-6 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

There are three large basins excavated in the rocky mountain, a really grand work, and the surface of the most limpid water sparkles as well as the waterfall that from the first basin falls into the second larger one and then into the third one, which is really a little lake. Pipelines convey the water to distant towns. The whole mountain, from the spring to the basins and from the basins to the ground is most beautiful and fertile, thanks to the humidity of the soil in this area, and flowers more composite than wild ones, together with rare scented herbs, make the green sides of the mountain a most pleasant and brilliant sight. One would think that man has planted garden flowers here together with scented herbs, which, in the heat of the sun, diffuse in the air their aromas of cinnamon, camphor, clove, lavander and other pleasantly pungent, fragrant, strong, sweet smells, in a wonderful blend of the finest earthly perfumes. I would say that it is a harmonious conglomeration of smells because it is really a poem of herbs and flowers in hues and fragrance.
All the apostles are sitting in the shade of a tree covered with large white flowers, the name of which I do not know. They are huge pendulous bell-shaped flowers, of a white enamel hue, which dangle at the least breath of wind, diffusing their fragrance at each undulation. I do not know the name of this tree. Its flowers remind me of a shrub that grows in Calabria, which the locals call «bottaro», but the trunk is quite different, as this is a tall tree, with a robust trunk, and not a shrub. Jesus calls them and they hasten towards Him.
«We found Joseph almost at once, he was coming back from a market. They will all be at Bethzur this evening. We gathered together, by shouting to one another, and we remained here in the cool shade» explains Peter.
«What a lovely place! It looks like a garden! We were discussing whether it is natural or not, and some insist it is, some that it isn’t» says Thomas.
«The land of Judaea has such marvels» states the Iscariot, who is inevitably inclined to grow proud by everything, also by flowers and herbs.
«Yes, but… I think that if Johanna’s garden at Tiberias were abandoned and it became wild, also Galilee would have the marvel of wonderful roses among ruins» retorts James of Zebedee.
«You are not wrong. This is the area where Solomon’s gardens were, and they were famous, like his palaces, throughout the world of those days. Perhaps it was here that he dreamt of the Song of Songs, and he ascribed to the Holy City all the beautiful flowers that he had grown here» says Jesus.
«So I was right!» exclaims Thaddeus.
«Yes, you were. Do You know, Master? He was quoting Ecclesiastes, joining the idea of the gardens to the idea of the basins and he concluded by saying[1]: “But he realised that everything is vanity and nothing lasts under the sun, except the Word of My Jesus” » says James, the other brother.
«I thank you. But let us thank also Solomon, whether the orginal flowers are his or not. The basins that nourish herbs and men are certainly his. May he be blessed for them. Now let us go over to that big ruffled rose-bush, which has formed a flowery tunnel from tree to tree. We will stop there. We are almost half way…»
208.6 … And they take to the road again about the ninth hour, when every tree casts a long shadow in this area, which is very well cultivated in every part. One has the impression of walking through a botanic garden because all kinds of trees are represented: forest trees, fruit and ornamental ones. There are people working the land everywhere but they show no interest in the group passing by. On the other hand, it is not the only one. Other groups of Israelites are on their way back from the Passover celebration. The road is quite good although it is cut along the mountains, and the continuously varying landscape relieves travellers of the monotony of the journey. Streams and torrents form liquid silver commas and write words which they then sing their many intersecting meanderings, which flow through forests or hide under caves from which they come out more beautiful. They seem to be playing with plants and stones like happy children.

Keywords

GRM 208.5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

All the apostles are sitting in the shade of a tree covered with large white flowers, the name of which I do not know. They are huge pendulous bell-shaped flowers, of a white enamel hue, which dangle at the least breath of wind, diffusing their fragrance at each undulation. I do not know the name of this tree. Its flowers remind me of a shrub that grows in Calabria, which the locals call «bottaro», but the trunk is quite different, as this is a tall tree, with a robust trunk, and not a shrub. Jesus calls them and they hasten towards Him.
«We found Joseph almost at once, he was coming back from a market. They will all be at Bethzur this evening. We gathered together, by shouting to one another, and we remained here in the cool shade» explains Peter.

Keywords

GRM 208.6 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

… And they take to the road again about the ninth hour, when every tree casts a long shadow in this area, which is very well cultivated in every part. One has the impression of walking through a botanic garden because all kinds of trees are represented: forest trees, fruit and ornamental ones. There are people working the land everywhere but they show no interest in the group passing by. On the other hand, it is not the only one. Other groups of Israelites are on their way back from the Passover celebration. The road is quite good although it is cut along the mountains, and the continuously varying landscape relieves travellers of the monotony of the journey. Streams and torrents form liquid silver commas and write words which they then sing their many intersecting meanderings, which flow through forests or hide under caves from which they come out more beautiful. They seem to be playing with plants and stones like happy children.
Also Marjiam, who is cheerful once again, plays and tries to make music with his instrument to imitate birds. But the sounds he produces are not songs, but dissonant laments, which appear to be most unwelcome to the more difficult members of the group, that is to Bartholomew, because of his age, and to Judas of Kerioth, for many reasons. But no one complains openly and the boy whistles frisking about. Only twice he points at a village nestling in the forests and asks: «Is it mine?» and turns pale. But Simon, who keeps him close to himself, replies: «Your village is very far from here. Come, let us see if we can pick that beautiful flower and take it to Mary» and thus takes his mind off his worries.