Old Testament

«Your Name?»

«Jesus of Joseph of Jacob of the House of David, and of Mary of Joachim of the House of David and of Anne of Aaron. Mary, the Virgin married in the Temple by the High Priest, according to the law of Israel, because She was an orphan.»

• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Orphan heiress law
• Simon ben Boëthos (high priest during the Virgin Mary's childhood)
• The Virgin Mary - Descendant of David
• Virginity of the Virgin Mary
• Who is Jesus? How Christ defines himself

Here, Israel. Winter, the time of expectation, is over. Here is now the joy of the promise which is being accomplished. The Bread and Wine are about to be ready for your hunger. The Sun is among you. Everything breathes more freely and sweetly under this Sun. Also the precept of our Law: the first and most holy of the holy precepts: “Love your God and love your neighbour”.

In the dim light granted to you so far, you were told: “Love those who love you and hate your enemies”: you could not have done any better, because the wrath of God still weighed upon you, owing to Adam’s sin of estrangement. And your enemy was not only he who crossed the borders of your fatherland, but also he who did you wrong privately or you thought he had done. Hatred, therefore, was smouldering in every heart, because which man, intentionally or unintentionally, does not give offence to his brother? And which man reaches an old age without being offended?

I say to you: love also those who offend you. Do that, considering that Adam, and every man through him, is a sinner against God, and there is no one who can say: “I have not offended God”. And yet, God forgives, not once only He forgives, dozens of times, He forgives thousands of times, as proved by the fact that man still exists on the earth. Forgive therefore, as God forgives. And if you cannot do it out of love for the brother who injured you, do it for the love of God, Who gives you bread and life, Who protects you in your worldly needs, and has arranged all events to procure eternal peace for you in His bosom. This is the new law, the law of God’s springtime, of the flowery time of Grace amongst men, of the time that will bear you a matchless Fruit that will open the gates of Heaven for you.

• Love your enemies
• Mercy and forgiveness
• Thou shalt not kill

Do you remember Solomon, Judas? He was wise, the wisest man of those times. Do you remember what he said, after acquiring all knowledge? “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. To fear God and observe His commandments, that is all that matters to man”. Now I tell you that it is necessary to know how to get nourishment, but no poison, from food. And if we know that a food is bad for us, because it causes detrimental reactions in us, as it is stronger than our salutary juices which could counteract its effects, we must take no more of that food, even if it is pleasant to taste. Plain bread and water from the fountain are better than the sophisticated dishes of the king’s table, containing drugs which upset and poison.

• Continence
• Food
• Gourmandise
• Poison
• Salomon (biblical character)

«Judas, I want to be alone at night time. At night, My spirit gets its nourishment from the Father. Prayer, meditation and solitude are more important for Me than material food. He who wishes to live for the spirit, and lead others to live the same life, must disregard the flesh, even more, I would say: kill it, to devote all his attention to the spirit. Everybody must do that, you know, Judas. You, too, if you really want to belong to God, that is to the supernatural.»

«But we are still on the earth, Master. How can we neglect the flesh and take care only of the spirit? Is what You say not the antithesis of God’s commandment: “You shall not kill”? Does the commandment not forbid also suicide? If life is a gift from God, must we love it, or not?»

«I will not reply to you as I would reply to a simple-minded man, whom it is sufficient to get to raise his soul or his mind to supernatural spheres, so that we can take him with us flying in spiritual kingdoms. You are not a simple-minded person. You were formed in an environment that refined you… and it also marred you with its quibbles and doctrines. (...) 69.2 But let Me reply to your question, so that you may not say that you were left in error through a fault of Mine. It is true that to kill oneself is the same as killing other people. Both our own and other people’s lives are the gift of God and only God, Who gives life, has the authority to take it. Who kills himself, confesses his own pride, and pride is hated by God.»

«He confesses his pride? I would say his despair.»

«And what is despair but pride? Just think, Judas. Why does one despair? Either because misfortunes persistently perturb him and he wants to overcome them by himself, but is unable to do so. Or because he is guilty and he thinks that he cannot be forgiven by God. In both cases, is not pride the basic reason? The man who wants to do all by himself, is no longer humble enough to stretch out his hand to the Father and say to Him: “I am not able, but You are. Help me, because I hope and wait for everything from You”. The other man who says: “God cannot forgive me” says so, because measuring God by his own standards, he knows that another person could not forgive him, if that person had been offended, as he offended God. So here again it is pride. A humble man understands and forgives, even if he suffers for the offence received. A proud man does not forgive. He is proud also because he is not capable of lowering his head and saying: “Father, I have sinned, forgive Your poor guilty son”. But do you not know, Judas, that the Father will forgive everything, if one asks to be forgiven with a sincere, contrite, humble, heart willing to rise again to new life?»

«But certain crimes are not to be forgiven. They cannot be forgiven.»

«That is what you say. And it will be true only because man wants it to be true. But, oh! I solemnly tell you that even after the crime of crimes, if the guilty man should rush to the Father’s feet – He is called Father, Judas, just for that, and He is a Father of infinite perfection – and crying, implored Him to be forgiven, offering to expiate, without despairing, the Father would make it possible for him to expiate and thus deserve forgiveness and save his soul.»

69.3 «Well, then, You say that the men quoted by the Scriptures who killed themselves, did wrong.»

«It is not lawful to do violence to anybody, not even to oneself. They did wrong. In their limited knowledge of good, perhaps in certain cases, they had mercy from God. But after the Word has clarified the truth and has given strength to spirits with His Spirit, then he who dies in despair will no longer be forgiven. Neither in the instant of the personal judgement, nor after centuries of Gehenna, on Doomsday, never! Is that hardness by God? No: it is justice. God will say: “You, a creature gifted with reason and supernatural knowledge, created free by Me, you decided to follow the path you chose and you said: ‘God will not forgive me. I am separated from Him forever. I think I must apply the law by myself to my own crime. I am parting from life to evade remorse without considering that you would no longer have felt remorse if you had come to My faithful bosom. And let it be done to you, as you judged. I will not violate the freedom I gave you”.

That is what the Eternal Father will say to suicide. Meditate on it, Judas. Life is a gift, a gift to be loved. But what gift is it? A holy gift. So love it holily. Life lasts as long as the flesh holds out. Then the great Life, the eternal Life begins. A Life of blissful happiness for the just, of malediction for the unjust. Is life a purpose or a means? It is a means. It serves for a purpose which is eternity. Then let us give life what is required to make it last and serve the spirit in its conquest. Continence of the flesh in all its lusts, in all of them. Continence of the mind in all its desires, in all of them. Continence of the heart in all human passions. Infinite instead is to be the ardour for heavenly passions: love of God and the neighbour, obedience to the divine word, heroism in good and virtue.

69.4 I have given you the answer, Judas. Are you convinced? Is the explanation sufficient? Be always sincere, and ask when you do not yet know enough: I am here to be your Master.»

«I have understood and it is sufficient. But… it is very difficult to do what I have understood. You can… because You are holy. But… I am a man, young and full of life…»

«I have come for men, Judas. Not for the angels.»

• Thou shalt not kill

I ask you to evangelise him with your faith, your charity, your purity (...). It is a land defiled by stagnant waters. It must be dried up by the sun of love, purified by the integrity of thoughts, desires and deeds, and cultivated with faith. You can do that.

• Apostolate - Evangelism
• Charity
• Faith
• Honesty
• Love of neighbor
• Master of souls
• Purity

« (...) I want you to love one another, without preferences, helping one another mutually and bearing with one another, No one is perfect, John, Neither the young nor the old. But if you have goodwill, you will reach perfection and what is wanting in you, I will supply. You are like the children of a holy family. In it there are very different characters. One is strong, another is sweet, or brave, or shy, or impulsive or very cautious. If you were all alike, you would be really strong in one character, but very weak in all the others. Whereas you thus form a perfect union, completed by you all. Love unites you, it must unite you, for the sake of God’s cause.»

«And for Your sake, Jesus.»

«First the cause of God and then the love for His Christ.»

• Catholic Church
• Family
• How to perfect and sanctify yourself
• Lessons and Teachings for the Apostles
• Love
• Love of neighbor
• Sanctification
• The Twelve

«See, Judas. I come from a caste which is persecuted because… because what and how the Messiah should be is misunderstood. Yes. If we had waited for Him with the correct vision of His being, we would not have fallen into errors, which are blasphemy against the Truth and a rebellion against the Law of Rome, so that we have been punished both by God and by Rome. We fancied Christ as a conqueror who would free Israel, as a new Maccabaeus, greater than the great Judas… Only that. And why? Because rather than have regard to the interest of God we took care of our own interests: of the fatherland and of the people. Oh! The interests of the fatherland are most certainly sacred. But what are they when compared to the eternal Heavens? In the long hours of persecution, first, and then of isolation, when as a fugitive, I was compelled to hide in the dens of wild beasts, sharing food and a bed with them, to escape Roman power and above all the impeachments of false friends; or when, waiting for death I was already tasting the savour of the sepulchre, in the cave of a leper, how much did I meditate, and how much did I see: I saw the figure of the Messiah… Yours, my humble and good Master, Yours, Master and King of the Spirit, Yours, O Christ, Son of the Father, leading to the Father, and not to the royal palaces of dust, nor to the deities of mud. You… Oh! It is easy for me to follow You… Because, forgive my daring, which avows itself to be correct, because I see You as I thought of You, I recognise You, I recognised You at once. No, it was not a question of meeting You, but of recognising One whom my soul had already met…»

«That is why I called you… and that is why I am taking you with Me, now, in this first journey of Mine in Judaea.

72.6 I want you to complete your recognition… and I want also these, whom age makes less capable of reaching the Truth by means of deep meditation, I want them to know how their Master has come to this hour… You will understand later.»

• Bible - First Book of Maccabees
• Caste of the Zealots
• Jesus Christ
• Persecution

«(...) Could it not be true that the shepherds and the sorcerers spoke the truth, revealed to them by God? Why do you carry on believing they were liars?»

«Because the years of the prophecy were not complete. We thought about it afterwards… after our eyes had been opened by the blood that reddened basins and rivulets.»

«And could the Most High not have advanced the coming of the Saviour, out of an excess of love for His people? On what did the sorcerers found their statement? You told Me they came from the East…»

«On their calculations concerning a new star.»

«Is it not written[2]: “A star from Jacob takes the leadership, a sceptre arises from Israel”? Is Jacob not the great Patriarch and did he not stop in the land of Bethlehem as dear to him as his eyes, because his beloved Rachel died there? And did the mouth of a Prophet not say: “A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots”? Jesse, David’s father, was born here. Is the shoot on the stock, cut at its roots by tyrannical usurpation, is it not the “Virgin” Who will give birth to Her Son, conceived not by deed of man, otherwise She would not be a virgin, but by divine will, whereby He will be the “Emmanuel” because: Son of God, He will be God and bring God among the people of God, as His name proclaims? And will He not be announced, as the prophecy says, to the people walking in darkness, that is to the pagans, “by a great light”? And the star the Magi saw, could it not be the star of Jacob, the great light of the two prophecies of Balaam and Isaiah? And the very massacre ordered by Herod, does it not come within the prophecies? “A voice is heard in Ramah… It is Rachel weeping for her children”. It was written that tears should ooze from Rachel’s bones in her sepulchre at Ephrathah when, through the Saviour, the reward would come to the holy people. Tears which were to turn into celestial laughter, just as the rainbow is formed by the last drops of the storm, but it says: “Here, the sky is clear again”»

«You are a learned man. Are You a rabbi?»

«Yes, I am.»

«And I perceived it. There is light and truth in Your words. But… Oh! too many wounds are still bleeding in this land of Bethlehem because of the true or false Messiah… I would never advise Him to come here. The land would reject Him as it rejects a stepson who caused the death of the true children. In any case… if it was Him… He died with the other slaughtered children.»

• Bible - Book of Genesis
• Bible - Book of Isaiah
• Bible - Book of Jeremiah
• Bible - First Book of Samuel
• Biblical prophecies

74.2 «Let us go.»

«Where, Master?»

«To Bethlehem.»

«Again? I do not think the situation is a favourable one for us…»

«It does not matter. Let us go. I want to show you where the Magi came and where I was.»

«In that case, listen. Excuse me, will You, Master? But let me do the talking. Let us do one thing. In Bethlehem and at the hotel, let me speak and ask questions. You Galileans are not very much liked in Judaea, and much less here than anywhere else. Or better still, let us do this: your clothes show that You and John are Galileans. It’s too easy. And then… your hair! Why do you persist in wearing it so long? Simon and I will change mantles with you. Simon, give yours to John, I’ll give mine to the Master. That’s it! See? You already look a little more like Judaeans. Now take this.» And he takes off the cloth covering his head: a yellow, brown, red, green striped length of material, like his mantle, held in position by a yellow cord, he places it on Jesus’ head, adjusting it along His cheeks to hide His fair hair. John puts on the very dark green one of Simon: «Oh! That’s better now. I have a practical sense.»

«Yes, Judas, you have a practical sense. That is true. Watch, however, that it does not exceed the other sense.»

«Which one, Master?»

«The spiritual sense.»

«No! No! But in certain cases it pays to be more of a politician than an ambassador. And listen… be good a little longer… it is for Your own good… Do not contradict me if I should say something,… something… which is not true.»

«What do you mean? Why tell lies? I am the Truth and I want no lies in Me or around Me.»

«Oh! I will only tell half lies. I will say that we are all coming back from remote places, from Egypt for instance, and that we are seeking news of dear friends. I will say that we are Judaeans coming back from exile. After all, there is some truth in everything, and I will be speaking, and… one lie more, one lie less…»

«But Judas! Why deceive?»

«Never mind, Master! The world lives on deceit. And at times deceit is a necessity. Well: to make You happy, I will only say that we are coming from far and that we are Judaeans. Which is true for three out of four of us. And you, John, please do not speak at all. You would give yourself away.»

«I will be quiet.»

«Then… if everything works out all right… we shall say the rest. But I do not believe it… I am shrewd, I grasp things at once.»

«I see that, Judas. But I would prefer you to be simple.»

«It does not help much. In Your group, I will be the one in charge of difficult missions. Let me carry on.»

Jesus is reluctant. But He gives in.

• Judas de Kérioth (apostle)
• Lie

Oh! Pains were multiplied when the children were lost after giving birth to them! Oh! great was the trouble of being a childless father after sowing and toiling for the offspring! (...) I would like to give you back your children, in their flesh. But I tell you: be good, be resigned, forgive, hope, rejoice in hope and exult in one certainty: you will soon have your children, angels in Heaven, because the Messiah is about to open the gates of Heaven, and if you are just, death will be a new Life and a new Love…

• Parents and children