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Old Testament

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GRM 212.2 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

The Christ takes shelter in faithful hearts, whence He looks, speaks and blesses Mankind and then… and then He gives Himself to those hearts and they… and they touch Heaven with its blessedness, still remaining here, but burning their senses and organs, in their feelings and thoughts and in their souls, to the extent of being delightfully tortured in their whole being… Tears and smiles, groans and songs, exhaustion and dire urgency for life are our companions, more than companions they are our very being, because as bones are in the flesh and veins and nerves are under our skin and they all make one man, thus, likewise, all these burning things originating from the fact that Jesus gave Himself to us, are within us, in our poor humanity. And what are we in those moments which could not last forever, because if they lasted a few moments longer, we would die burnt and broken? We are no longer men. We are no longer the animals gifted with reason living on the earth. We are, we are, oh! Lord! Let me say it once, not out of pride, but to sing Your glories because Your glance burns me and makes me rave… We are then seraphim. And I am surprised that we do not emit flames and fierce heat perceptible by people and matter, as it happens in the apparitions of damned souls. Because if it is true that the fire of Hell is such that even the reflection emitted by a damned soul can set a piece of wood on fire and melt metals, what is Your fire like, o God, in Whom everything is infinite and perfect?

One does not die of fever, one does not burn because of it, one is not consumed by the fever of bodily diseases. You are our fever, Love! And by it we are burnt, we die, we are consumed and the fibres of our hearts, which cannot resist so much, are torn apart by it and for it. But I expressed myself badly, because love is delirium, love is a waterfall that shatters dams and descends knocking down everything that is not love, love is the thronging in the mind of sensations, which are all true and present, but no hand can write them down, as the mind is so fast in translating the feelings of the heart into thoughts. It is not true that one dies. One lives. Life is decupled. One lives a double life: as a man and as a blessed soul: the life of the earth, and that of Heaven. Oh! I am sure of it: one achieves and exceeds the life without faults, without restrictions and limitations, that You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You, God Creator, One and Triune, had given to Adam a prelude to the Life, after ascending to You, to be enjoyed in Heaven, following a placid transition from the Earthly Paradise to the Heavenly one, a transfer made in the loving arms of angels, like the sweet sleep and assumption of Mary into Heaven, to come to You!

One lives the true Life. Then one finds oneself here, and as I am doing now, one is amazed and ashamed of going so far and one says: «Lord, I am not worthy of so much. Forgive me, Lord» and one beats one’s breast, because we are terrified at having been proud and a thicker veil is lowered over the splendour, because if it does not continue to blaze with overwhelming ardour, out of pity for our limitation, it gathers in the centre of our hearts, ready to blaze once again in a mighty way for another moment of blessedness wanted by God. The veil is lowered on the sanctuary where the fire, the light and love of God are burning… and exhausted and yet regenerated we carry on like… people inebriated with a strong sweet wine that does not dim reason but prevents us from having eyes and thoughts for what is not the Lord, You, my Jesus, ring linking our misery to divinity, means of redemption for our sin, creator of blessedness for our souls. You, Son, Who with Your wounded hands put our hands in the spiritual ones of the Father and of the Spirit, that we may be in You, now and forever. Amen.

GRM 212.2 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

One is not consumed by the fever of bodily diseases. You are our fever, Love! And by it we are burnt, we die, we are consumed and the fibres of our hearts, which cannot resist so much, are torn apart by it and for it. But I expressed myself badly, because love is delirium, love is a waterfall that shatters dams and descends knocking down everything that is not love, love is the thronging in the mind of sensations, which are all true and present, but no hand can write them down, as the mind is so fast in translating the feelings of the heart into thoughts. It is not true that one dies. One lives. Life is decupled. One lives a double life: as a man and as a blessed soul: the life of the earth, and that of Heaven. Oh! I am sure of it: one achieves and exceeds the life without faults, without restrictions and limitations, that You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You, God Creator, One and Triune, had given to Adam a prelude to the Life, after ascending to You, to be enjoyed in Heaven, following a placid transition from the Earthly Paradise to the Heavenly one, a transfer made in the loving arms of angels, like the sweet sleep and assumption of Mary into Heaven, to come to You!

GRM 212.5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

I solemnly tell you that Moses in a fit of anger broke the Tables of the Law when he saw the people in idolatry. Later he climbed the mountain, prayed, adored and obtained grace. That happened centuries ago. But idolatry has not yet died in the hearts of men, and will never rest, on the contrary it will rise, like yeast in flour. Almost every man now has his own golden calf. The earth is a forest of idols, because every heart is an altar, but hardly ever there is God upon it. He who is not a slave of one evil passion, is slave of another and he who has not one wicked desire, has another with a different name. He who has no greed for gold, has a greed for positions, he who has no lust for the flesh, is an utter egoist. How many egos are worshipped in hearts like golden calves! The day, therefore, will come when they are struck and they will call the Lord and will hear Him reply: “Go to your gods. I do not know you”. I do not know you! A dreadful word when uttered by God to man. God created the race of Men and He knows each individual. If He therefore says: “I do not know you” it means that by the power of His will He has erased that man from His memory. I do not know you! Is God too severe because of that verdict? No. Man cried to Heaven: “I do not know you”, as faithfully as an echo…

Detail

Idolatry of the golden calf and its consequences.

Annotation

Truly, truly, I say to you that Moses broke the Tables of the Law in anger at the sight of the idolatrous people, then returned to the mountain, prayed, worshipped and obtained mercy. Recalling what we read in Exodus, chapters 32 to 34.

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Book of Exodus, 32-34

Ex 32-34:

(Chapter 32) When the people saw that Moses was slow to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him: "Come, make us a god who will go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Take off the golden rings that are in the ears of your wives, sons and daughters, and bring them to me." Everyone took off the gold rings they had in their ears, and they brought them to Aaron. He received them from their hands, fashioned the gold with a chisel, and made a cast-iron calf out of it. And they said, "Israel, this is your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the image, and cried out, "Tomorrow there will be a feast in honor of Yahweh." The next day, having risen early in the morning, they offered burnt offerings and presented peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and then they rose to enjoy themselves.

Yahweh said to Moses: "Go, come down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have behaved very badly. They soon turned aside from the way I had commanded them; they made themselves a molten calf, and worshipped it, and offered sacrifices to it, and said, Israel, this is your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Yahweh said to Moses, "I see that this people is a stiff-necked people. 10Now leave them to me: let my anger burn against them and consume them! But I will make of you a great nation."

Moses implored Yahweh, his God, and said, "Why, Yahweh, should your anger be kindled against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt by great power and a strong hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'He brought them out for their own hurt, to destroy them in the mountains and to destroy them from the earth? Return from the fierceness of your anger, and repent of the evil you want to do to your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants, to whom you said, swearing by yourself, 'I will multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall possess it forever.'"

And Yahweh repented of the evil he had spoken of doing to his people. Moses returned and came down from the mountain, having in his hand the two tablets of the testimony, tablets written on their two sides; they were written on both sides. The tablets were God's work, and the writing was God's writing, engraved on the tablets. Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, and he said to Moses, "There is a battle cry in the camp!" Moses replied, "It's neither a noise of shouts of victory, nor a noise of shouts of defeat; I hear the voice of people singing." When he was near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger was kindled; he threw down the tablets with his hands and broke them at the foot of the Mountain. And taking the calf they had made, he burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, poured the powder on the water, and gave it to the children of Israel to drink.

Moses said to Aaron, "What has this people done to you that you have brought upon them such great sin?" Aaron replied: "Let not the anger of my lord be kindled! You yourself know that this people is inclined to evil. 23They said to me, 'Make us a god who will go before us; for as for this Moses, this man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. I said to them, "Let those who have gold strip themselves of it! They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out of it came this calf."

Moses saw that the people had no restraint, because Aaron had taken away all restraint from them, exposing them to become a laughingstock among their enemies. And Moses stood at the gate of the camp, and said, "Mine are those who are for Yahweh!" And all the children of Levi gathered to him. He said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Let each of you put his sword to his side; go through the camp again and again from gate to gate, and let each of you kill his brother, each of you his friend, each of you his kinsman!" The children of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand of the people perished that day. Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, since every one of you has been against his son and his father, so that he may give you a blessing today."

The next day, Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. And now I will go up to Yahweh: perhaps I will obtain forgiveness for your sin." Moses returned to Yahweh and said, "Ah! this people has committed a great sin! They have made themselves a god of gold. Now forgive their sin; if not, erase me from your book that you have written." Yahweh said to Moses: "It is he who has sinned against me whom I will blot out of my book. Go now, lead the people where I have told you. Behold, my angel will go before you, but on the day of my visitation I will punish them for their sin." Thus Yahweh smote the people, because they had made the calf that Aaron had made.

(Chapter 33) Yahweh said to Moses, "Go, depart from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt; go up to the land I promised with an oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your descendants. I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Chananean, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, so as not to destroy you on the way."

Hearing these harsh words, the people mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if I went up among you for a moment, I would destroy you. And now remove your ornaments from over you, and I will know what I have to do to you." 6The children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, right from Mount Horeb.

Moses took the tent and pitched it for himself outside the camp at some distance; he called it the tent of meeting; and whoever sought Yahweh, went to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. And when Moses went to the tent, all the people rose, each standing at the entrance of the tent, and they followed Moses with their eyes, until he entered the tent. As soon as Moses had entered the tent, the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the entrance of the tent, and Yahweh spoke with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent; and all the people arose, and every man bowed down at the entrance of his tent. And Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses returned to the camp; but his servant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the midst of the tent.

Moses said to Yahweh: "You say to me: Bring up this people; and you do not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you said, 'I know you by name, and you have found favor in my sight. And now, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways, that I may know you, that I may find favor in your sight. Consider that this nation is your people." Yahweh replied, "My face will go with you, and I will give you rest." Moses said, "If your face does not come, do not send us away from here. How will it be known that I and your people have found favor in your eyes, if not that you will walk with us? This is what will distinguish me and your people from all the peoples on the face of the earth." Yahweh said to Moses, "I will still do what you ask, for you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name."

Moses said, "Show me your glory." Yahweh replied, "I will cause all my goodness to pass before you, and I will speak the name of Yahweh before you: for I show grace to whom I show grace, and mercy to whom I show mercy." Yahweh said, "You will not be able to see my face, for man cannot see me and live." Yahweh said, "Here is a place near me; you shall stand on the rock. When my glory passes, I will put you in the hollow of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed. Then I will withdraw my hand, and you will see me from behind; but my face shall not be seen."

(Chapter 34) Yahweh said to Moses: "Hew out two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets you broke. Be ready for tomorrow, and go up to Mount Sinai in the morning, and stand there before me on the top of the mountain. Let no one go up with you, and let no one show himself anywhere on the mountain, and let neither sheep nor oxen graze on the side of this mountain." So Moses cut two tables of stone like the first ones; and rising early, he went up Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him; and he took the two tables of stone in his hand.

Yahweh came down in the cloud, stood there with him and spoke the name of Yahweh. And Yahweh passed before him and cried out, "Yahweh! Yahweh! Merciful and compassionate God, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness, who preserves his grace to a thousand generations, who forgives iniquity, rebellion and sin; but he does not leave them unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the children's children to the third and fourth generation!" Immediately Moses bowed to the ground and worshipped, 9saying, "If I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, deign the Lord to walk among us, for they are a stiff-necked people; forgive our iniquities and our sins, and take us for your inheritance."

Yahweh said, "Behold, I make a covenant: in the presence of all your people I will do wonders that have not taken place in any land or among any nation; and all the people around you will see the work of Yahweh, for terrible are the things I will do with you.

Take heed to what I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Chananean, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Beware of making a covenant with the inhabitants of the land against which you are marching, lest they be a snare in your midst. 13But you shall overthrow their altars, break their pillars and cut down their Asherim. You shall worship no other god; for Yahweh is called the jealous one, he is a jealous God. So do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they invite you in and you eat of their victims; lest you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters, prostituting themselves to their gods, cause your sons also to prostitute themselves to their gods.

You shall not make gods of molten metal.

You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread: for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of abib, for in the month of abib you came out of Egypt.

Every firstborn male of your flocks, whether ox or sheep, is mine. You shall redeem the donkey's firstborn with a lamb; and if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. You shall redeem every firstborn of your sons, and they shall not come before me empty-handed.

Six days thou shalt labor, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest, even in the time of plowing and harvesting.

You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, of the first wheat harvest, and the Feast of Harvest at the end of the year.

Three times a year, all the males will present themselves before the Lord, Yahweh, God Israel. For I will drive out the nations from before you and extend your borders; and no one shall covet your land while you go up to present yourself before Yahweh, your God, three times a year.

You shall not offer the blood of my victim with leavened bread, and the sacrifice of the Passover feast shall not be kept overnight until morning.

You shall bring the first-fruits of the first-fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God.

You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."

Yahweh said to Moses, "You write these words; for according to these words I make a covenant with you and with Israel."

And Moses was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights, neither eating bread nor drinking water. And Yahweh wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.

Moses came down from Mount Sinai; Moses had the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain; and Moses did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant as he spoke with Yahweh. Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face glowed; and they feared to approach him. Moses called them, and Aaron and all the princes of the congregation came to him, and he spoke to them. Then all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commands he had received from Yahweh on Mount Sinai.

When Moses had finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. When Moses entered before Yahweh to speak with him, he took off the veil, until he came out; then he went out and told the children of Israel what he had been commanded. 35The children of Israel saw Moses' face, they saw that the skin of Moses' face was radiant; and Moses put the veil back on his face, until he entered to speak with Yahweh.

GRM 212.5-7 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

… Jesus is speaking in Isaac’s house. The people crowd the room and the yard and throng also the square, and Jesus, in order to be heard by everybody, stands in the middle of the room, so that His voice will carry both through the yard and through the square.

He must be dealing with a subject brought on by a question or an event. He says[1]: «… But have no doubt. As Jeremiah says, they will find out at the test how sorrowful and bitter it is to abandondon the Lord. Neither potash nor lye can remove the stains of certain crimes, My friends. Not even the fire of Hell can corrode that stain. It is indelible.

Also here we must acknowledge the justice of Jeremiah’s words. Our great ones in Israel really look like the wild she-asses mentioned by the Prophet. They are accustomed to the desert of their hearts, because, believe Me, as long as one is with God, even if one is as poor as Job, even if one is alone, even if one is naked, one is never alone, poor or naked, one is never a desert, but they have rejected God in their hearts and thus they are an arid desert. Like wild she-asses they sniff in the air the smell of males, which in our case, because of their lust, are named power, money, as well as true and proper lechery, and they follow that smell, as far as crime. Yes. They follow it and will follow it even more so in future. They do not know that their hearts, not their feet, are exposed to the darts of God Who will avenge their crime. How confused kings, princes, priests and scribes will be, because they really said and still say to what is nothing, or worse, is sin: “You are my father. You have begotten me”!

I solemnly tell you that Moses in a fit of anger broke the Tables of the Law[2] when he saw the people in idolatry. Later he climbed the mountain, prayed, adored and obtained grace. That happened centuries ago. But idolatry has not yet died in the hearts of men, and will never rest, on the contrary it will rise, like yeast in flour. Almost every man now has his own golden calf. The earth is a forest of idols, because every heart is an altar, but hardly ever there is God upon it. He who is not a slave of one evil passion, is slave of another and he who has not one wicked desire, has another with a different name. He who has no greed for gold, has a greed for positions, he who has no lust for the flesh, is an utter egoist. How many egos are worshipped in hearts like golden calves! The day, therefore, will come when they are struck and they will call the Lord and will hear Him reply: “Go to your gods. I do not know you”. I do not know you! A dreadful word when uttered by God to man. God created the race of Men and He knows each individual. If He therefore says: “I do not know you” it means that by the power of His will He has erased that man from His memory. I do not know you! Is God too severe because of that verdict? No. Man cried to Heaven: “I do not know you”, as faithfully as an echo…

212.6

Consider: man is obliged to acknowledge God out of gratitude and out of respect for his own intelligence.

Out of gratitude. God created man and granted him the ineffable gift of life and provided him with the super-ineffable gift of Grace. When man lost Grace through his own fault, he heard a great promise being made to him: “I will give Grace back to you”. It is God, the offended party, Who says so to the offender, as if He, God, were guilty and obliged to make amends. And God keeps His promise. Behold, I am here to give Grace to man. God has not confined Himself to giving only what is supernatural, but He has lowered His Spiritual Essence to provide for the coarse necessities of man’s flesh and blood, and He gives the heat of the sun, the relief of water, corn, vines, all kinds of trees and all races of animals. Thus man received from God all the means of life. He is the Benefactor. Man must be grateful and show his gratitude by endeavouring to know Him.

Out of respect for one’s own reason. A madman and an idiot are not grateful to those who cure them, because they do not understand the true value of the cure. And they hate those who wash them and feed them, who accompany them and put them to bed, who watch that they do not get hurt, because beastly as they are on account of their illness, they mistake cures for tortures. The man who fails in his duties towards God disgraces himself, a being gifted with reason. Only a fool or an idiot cannot tell his father from a stranger, a benefactor from an enemy. But an intelligent man knows his father and his benefactor and takes pleasure in knowing him better and better, also with regards to things of which he is unaware, as they happened before he was born or before he was helped by his father or benefactor. That is what you must do with the Lord to show that you are intelligent and not brutes.

But too many people in Israel are like those fools who do not know their father or their benefactor. Jeremiah asks: “Can a girl forget her ornaments and a bride her sash?” Oh! yes. Israel is made of such foolish girls, of such wanton brides who forget honest ornaments and sashes to put on tinsels of prostitutes; and this is found to happen more and more frequently, the more one climbs the classes that should be the teachers of the people. And God’s reproach, with His wrath and regret, is addressed to them: “Why do you endeavour to prove that your behaviour is good to obtain love, whereas you teach the wickedness of your ways of living, and the blood of poor and innocent people was found on the hems of your garments?”.

212.7

My friends, distance is good and evil. To be very far from the places where I am likely to speak is an evil, because it prevents you from hearing the words of Life. And you regret it. That is true. But it is good inasmuch that it keeps you away from the places where sin ferments, corruption boils and snares hiss to act against Me, hampering Me in My work, and against the hearts of people, by insinuating doubts and falsehood with regards to Me. But I prefer you to be far away rather than corrupted. I will see to your formation. You know that God had provided before we were acquainted with one another, so that we might love one another. I was known before we met. Isaac was your announcer. I will send many Isaacs to speak My words to you. However, you must know that God can speak everywhere and privately to the spirit of man and instruct him in His doctrine.

Do not be afraid that by being alone you may be led into error. No. If you do not want, you will not be unfaithful to the Lord and to His Christ. On the other hand, he who just cannot stay away from the Messiah should know that the Messiah opens His heart and stretches out His arms to him and says: “Come”. Come, whoever wishes to come. Stay here, whoever wishes to stay. But both the former and the latter should preach Christ by means of an honest life. Preach Him against the dishonesty that nestles in too many hearts. Preach Him against the levity of the numerous people who do not know how to persevere faithfully and forget their ornaments and sashes of souls called to the wedding with Christ. You said to Me in your happiness: “Since You came here, we have had neither sick nor dead people. Your blessing has protected us”. Yes, health is a great thing. But make sure that My present coming makes you all wholesome spiritually, always and in everything. To that effect I bless you and I give My peace to you, to your children, to your fields, crops, homes, herds and orchards. Make a holy use of them, do not live for them, but by them, giving what is superfluous to those in need, and you will thus obtain an overflowing measure of the Father’s blessings and a place in Heaven. You may go. I will stay here to pray…»

Annotation

As Jeremiah says, they will see by trial how painful and bitter it is to have forsaken the Lord. Jeremiah 2:19. Chapter 2 deals with Israel's apostasy.

How they will then be confounded, the king and the princes, the priests and the scribes, who in truth have said and say to that which is nothingness or, worse, is sin: "You are a father to me. You have begotten me! In reference to Psalm 2:7.

Truly, truly, I say to you that Moses broke the Tables of the Law in anger at the sight of the idolatrous people, then returned to the mountain, prayed, worshipped and obtained mercy. Centuries ago. See the book of Exodus, chapters 32 to 34.

Jeremiah asks: "Can a virgin forget her finery and a bride her girdle? "Jeremiah 2:32.

"Why do you try to show the honesty of your conduct in order to seek love, you who, on the contrary, teach perversion and your ways and whose garments evoke the blood of the poor and the innocent? "Jeremiah 2:34.

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Book of Jeremiah 2, 19.32.34

Jer 2:19: Your impiety chastises you and your rebellions punish you! Know therefore and see how evil and bitter it is to have forsaken Yahweh, your God, and to have no fear of me, - oracle of the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Jer 2:32: Does a virgin forget her adornment, a bride her girdle? And my people have forgotten me for days without number!

Jer 2:34: Even on the skirts of your garments is the blood of the innocent poor; you did not catch them breaking and entering, but you killed them for all these things.

Book of Psalms 2, 7

Ps 2, 7 : I will publish the decree: Yahweh has said to me: You are my Son, I have begotten you today.

Book of Exodus 32-34

Exodus 32-34: When the people saw that Moses was slow to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Take off the golden rings that are in the ears of your wives, sons and daughters, and bring them to me." Everyone took off the gold rings they had in their ears, and they brought them to Aaron. He received them from their hands, fashioned the gold with a chisel, and made a cast-iron calf out of it. And they said, "Israel, this is your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the image, and cried out, "Tomorrow there will be a feast in honor of Yahweh." The next day, having risen early in the morning, they offered burnt offerings and presented peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and then they rose to enjoy themselves.

Yahweh said to Moses: "Go, come down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have behaved very badly. They soon turned aside from the way I had commanded them; they made themselves a molten calf, and worshipped it, and offered sacrifices to it, and said, Israel, this is your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Yahweh said to Moses, "I see that this people is a stiff-necked people. 10Now leave them to me: let my anger burn against them and consume them! But I will make of you a great nation."

Moses implored Yahweh, his God, and said, "Why, Yahweh, should your anger be kindled against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt by great power and a strong hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'He brought them out for their own hurt, to destroy them in the mountains and to destroy them from the earth? Return from the fierceness of your anger, and repent of the evil you want to do to your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants, to whom you said, swearing by yourself, 'I will multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall possess it forever.'"

And Yahweh repented of the evil he had spoken of doing to his people. Moses returned and came down from the mountain, having in his hand the two tablets of the testimony, tablets written on their two sides; they were written on both sides. The tablets were God's work, and the writing was God's writing, engraved on the tablets. Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, and he said to Moses, "There is a battle cry in the camp!" Moses replied, "It's neither a noise of shouts of victory, nor a noise of shouts of defeat; I hear the voice of people singing." When he was near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger was kindled; he threw down the tablets with his hands and broke them at the foot of the Mountain. And taking the calf they had made, he burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, poured the powder on the water, and gave it to the children of Israel to drink.

Moses said to Aaron, "What has this people done to you that you have brought upon them such great sin?" Aaron replied: "Let not the anger of my lord be kindled! You yourself know that this people is inclined to evil. 23They said to me, 'Make us a god who will go before us; for as for this Moses, this man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. I said to them, "Let those who have gold strip themselves of it! They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out of it came this calf."

Moses saw that the people had no restraint, because Aaron had taken away all restraint from them, exposing them to become a laughingstock among their enemies. And Moses stood at the gate of the camp, and said, "Mine are those who are for Yahweh!" And all the children of Levi gathered to him. He said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Let each of you put his sword to his side; go through the camp again and again from gate to gate, and let each of you kill his brother, each of you his friend, each of you his kinsman!" The children of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand of the people perished that day. Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, since every one of you has been against his son and his father, so that he may give you a blessing today."

The next day, Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. And now I will go up to Yahweh: perhaps I will obtain forgiveness for your sin." Moses returned to Yahweh and said, "Ah! this people has committed a great sin! They have made themselves a god of gold. Now forgive their sin; if not, erase me from your book that you have written." Yahweh said to Moses: "It is he who has sinned against me whom I will blot out of my book. Go now, lead the people where I have told you. Behold, my angel will go before you, but on the day of my visitation I will punish them for their sin." Thus Yahweh smote the people, because they had made the calf that Aaron had made.

(Chapter 33) Yahweh said to Moses, "Go, depart from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt; go up to the land I promised with an oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your descendants. I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Chananean, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, so as not to destroy you on the way."

Hearing these harsh words, the people mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if I went up among you for a moment, I would destroy you. And now remove your ornaments from over you, and I will know what I have to do to you." 6The children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, right from Mount Horeb.

Moses took the tent and pitched it for himself outside the camp at some distance; he called it the tent of meeting; and whoever sought Yahweh, went to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. And when Moses went to the tent, all the people rose, each standing at the entrance of the tent, and they followed Moses with their eyes, until he entered the tent. As soon as Moses had entered the tent, the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the entrance of the tent, and Yahweh spoke with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent; and all the people arose, and every man bowed down at the entrance of his tent. And Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses returned to the camp; but his servant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the midst of the tent.

Moses said to Yahweh: "You say to me: Bring up this people; and you do not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you said, 'I know you by name, and you have found favor in my sight. And now, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways, that I may know you, that I may find favor in your sight. Consider that this nation is your people." Yahweh replied, "My face will go with you, and I will give you rest." Moses said, "If your face does not come, do not send us away from here. How will it be known that I and your people have found favor in your eyes, if not that you will walk with us? This is what will distinguish me and your people from all the peoples on the face of the earth." Yahweh said to Moses, "I will still do what you ask, for you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name."

Moses said, "Show me your glory." Yahweh replied, "I will cause all my goodness to pass before you, and I will speak the name of Yahweh before you: for I show grace to whom I show grace, and mercy to whom I show mercy." Yahweh said, "You will not be able to see my face, for man cannot see me and live." Yahweh said, "Here is a place near me; you shall stand on the rock. When my glory passes, I will put you in the hollow of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed. Then I will withdraw my hand, and you will see me from behind; but my face shall not be seen."

(Chapter 34) Yahweh said to Moses: "Hew out two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets you broke. Be ready for tomorrow, and go up to Mount Sinai in the morning, and stand there before me on the top of the mountain. Let no one go up with you, and let no one show himself anywhere on the mountain, and let neither sheep nor oxen graze on the side of this mountain." So Moses cut two tables of stone like the first ones; and rising early, he went up Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him; and he took the two tables of stone in his hand.

Yahweh came down in the cloud, stood there with him and spoke the name of Yahweh. And Yahweh passed before him and cried out, "Yahweh! Yahweh! Merciful and compassionate God, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness, who preserves his grace to a thousand generations, who forgives iniquity, rebellion and sin; but he does not leave them unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the children's children to the third and fourth generation!" Immediately Moses bowed to the ground and worshipped, 9saying, "If I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, deign the Lord to walk among us, for they are a stiff-necked people; forgive our iniquities and our sins, and take us for your inheritance."

Yahweh said, "Behold, I make a covenant: in the presence of all your people I will do wonders that have not taken place in any land or among any nation; and all the people around you will see the work of Yahweh, for terrible are the things I will do with you.

Take heed to what I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Chananean, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Beware of making a covenant with the inhabitants of the land against which you are marching, lest they be a snare in your midst. 13But you shall overthrow their altars, break their pillars and cut down their Asherim. You shall worship no other god; for Yahweh is called the jealous one, he is a jealous God. So do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they invite you in and you eat of their victims; lest you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters, prostituting themselves to their gods, cause your sons also to prostitute themselves to their gods.

You shall not make gods of molten metal.

You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread: for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of abib, for in the month of abib you came out of Egypt.

Every firstborn male of your flocks, whether ox or sheep, is mine. You shall redeem the donkey's firstborn with a lamb; and if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. You shall redeem every firstborn of your sons, and they shall not come before me empty-handed.

Six days thou shalt labor, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest, even in the time of plowing and harvesting.

You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, of the first wheat harvest, and the Feast of Harvest at the end of the year.

Three times a year, all the males will present themselves before the Lord, Yahweh, God Israel. For I will drive out the nations from before you and extend your borders; and no one will covet your land while you go up to present yourself before Yahweh, your God, three times a year.

You shall not offer the blood of my victim with leavened bread, and the sacrifice of the Passover feast shall not be kept overnight until morning.

You shall bring the first-fruits of the first-fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God.

You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."

Yahweh said to Moses, "You write these words; for according to these words I make a covenant with you and with Israel."

And Moses was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights, neither eating bread nor drinking water. And Yahweh wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.

Moses came down from Mount Sinai; Moses had the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain; and Moses did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant as he spoke with Yahweh. Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face glowed; and they feared to approach him. Moses called them, and Aaron and all the princes of the congregation came to him, and he spoke to them. Then all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commands he had received from Yahweh on Mount Sinai.

When Moses had finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. When Moses entered before Yahweh to speak with him, he took off the veil, until he came out; then he went out and told the children of Israel what he had been commanded. 35The children of Israel saw Moses' face, they saw that the skin of Moses' face was radiant; and Moses put the veil back on his face, until he entered to speak with Yahweh.

GRM 212.5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Our great ones in Israel really look like the wild she-asses mentioned by the Prophet. They are accustomed to the desert of their hearts, because, believe Me, as long as one is with God, even if one is as poor as Job, even if one is alone, even if one is naked, one is never alone, poor or naked, one is never a desert, but they have rejected God in their hearts and thus they are an arid desert. Like wild she-asses they sniff in the air the smell of males, which in our case, because of their lust, are named power, money, as well as true and proper lechery, and they follow that smell, as far as crime. Yes. They follow it and will follow it even more so in future. They do not know that their hearts, not their feet, are exposed to the darts of God Who will avenge their crime. How confused kings, princes, priests and scribes will be, because they really said and still say to what is nothing, or worse, is sin: “You are my father. You have begotten me”!

Detail

Jesus sets out the book of Jeremiah.

Annotation

Book of Jeremiah 2, 19.32.34

Jer 2, 19: Your impiety chastises you and your rebellions punish you! Know therefore and see how evil and bitter it is to have forsaken Yahweh, your God, and to have no fear of me, - oracle of the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

GRM 212.5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Idolatry has not yet died in the hearts of men, and will never rest, on the contrary it will rise, like yeast in flour. Almost every man now has his own golden calf. The earth is a forest of idols, because every heart is an altar, but hardly ever there is God upon it. He who is not a slave of one evil passion, is slave of another and he who has not one wicked desire, has another with a different name. He who has no greed for gold, has a greed for positions, he who has no lust for the flesh, is an utter egoist.

GRM 213.1-4 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

The people turn silent and at last it is possible to hear Jesus speak.

He says to the head of the synagogue: «Give Me the tenth roll from that shelf.» And once He has it, He opens it and hands it back to the head of the synagogue saying: «Read the fourth chapter of the story, the second Book of Maccabees.»

The head of the synagogue obeys and begins to read. And Onias’ vicissitudes, Jason’s errors and Menelaus’ betrayals and thefts are presented for the consideration of those present. The chapter is over. The head of the synagogue looks at Jesus Who has been listening carefully.

213.2

Jesus nods that it is enough and then turns to the people: «In the town of My dearest disciple I will not speak the usual words to teach you. We shall be staying here for a few days and I want him to say them to you, because it is from here that I want to begin the direct contact, the continuous contact between apostles and people. That was decided in upper Galilee where it had a first bright success. But the humility of My disciples caused them to withdraw into the background, because they are afraid that they are not capable and that they would be usurping My place. No. They must do it, they will do well and help their Master. The true apostolic preaching is therefore to begin here, joining in one love only the Galilean Phoenician borders to the lands of Judah, the southern ones, bordering on the countries of the sun and sands. Because the Master is no longer sufficient for the needs of the crowds. And also because it is right that the eaglets should leave their nests and make their first flights while the Sun is still with them and His strong wing can support them.

Therefore, during these days, I will be your friend and your comfort. They will be the word and will spread the seed that I gave them. Therefore I will not teach the public, but I will give you a privileged thing: a prophecy. I ask you to remember it for the future when the most dreadful event of Mankind will darken the sun and in the darkness your hearts may be led to judge erroneously. I do not want you to be led into error, because from the first moment you have been good to Me. I do not want the world to be in a position to say: “Kerioth was the enemy of Christ”. I am just and cannot allow criticism, whether spiteful against Me or fond of Me, to be able to accuse you of faults against Me, spurred by its feelings. As it is not possible to expect equal holiness in the children of a large family, so it is not possible to expect it in a large town. But it would be strongly against charity to say: “The whole family or the whole town is anathema” because of one wicked son or one bad citizen.

Listen therefore, then remember, be always faithful, and as I love you so much as to wish to defend you from an unfair accusation, so you must love those who are innocent. Always. Whoever they may be. Whatever their kindred may be with the guilty ones.

213.3

Now listen. The time will come when in Israel there will be informers of the treasury and of the country, who in the hope of making friends with foreigners, will speak ill of the true High Priest, accusing him of alliance with the enemies of Israel and of wicked deeds against the sons of God. And to achieve their objective they are capable of committing crimes, laying the responsibility on the Innocent One. And the time will come, still in Israel, even more than at the times of Onias, when an infamous man, intriguing to become the Pontiff, will go to the mighty ones in Israel and will corrupt them with the gold of false words, which is even more infamous, and will twist the truth of facts, and he will not speak against crimes, on the contrary, pursuing his shameful object, he will do his best to corrupt customs to have a firmer grip on the souls deprived of God’s friendship: everything to reach his aim. And he will succeed. Of course! Because if in the very abode on Mount Moriah there are no gymnasia of the impious Jason, in actual fact they are in the hearts of the inhabitants of the mountain, who for the sake of exemptions are willing to sell what is worth much more than a piece of ground, that is, their very conscience. The fruits of the old error can still be seen, and he who has eyes to see, can see what is happening over there, where there should be charity, purity, justice, goodness and deep holy religion. But if those fruits are already the cause of tremor, the fruits of their seeds will cause not only tremor, but God’s malediction.

And here is the true prophecy. I solemnly tell you that he who slyly achieved a position and reliance, by means of long underhand tricks, will give into the hands of His enemies, in exchange for money the High Priest, the True High Priest. Deceived by protestations of love and pointed out to His executioners with an act of love, He, the True High Priest, will be killed without any regard for justice. What charges will be made against Christ, because I am speaking of Myself, to justify the right to kill Him? Which fate will be reserved for those who do that? A fate of immediate dreadful justice. Not an individual fate, but a collective one for the accomplices of the traitor. A more remote and even more dreadful fate than the destiny of the man whom remorse will drive to crown his demoniac soul by committing a final crime against himself. Because that one will end in a moment. This last punishment will be a long and frightful one. You will find it in the sentence: “… and His indignation was aroused and he ordered Andronicus to be stripped of the purple and to be killed on the very spot where he had laid impious hands on Onias”. Yes, the sacerdotal race will be struck in its sons as well as in the executioners. And you can read the destiny of the evil associated mass of people in the following words: “The voice of this blood cries to Me from the earth. Therefore you shall be accursed…” And they will be said by God to the whole people who did not guard the gift of Heaven. Because if it is true that I have come to redeem, woe to those who will be murderers and will not be redeemed, amongst this people whose first redemption is My Word.

I have told you. Remember that. And when you hear them say that I am an evil-doer, say: “No. He warned us. And this is the sign, which is being fulfilled and He is the Victim killed for the sins of the world”.»

213.4

The people leave the synagogue and gesticulating they all speak of the prophecy and of the esteem that Jesus has of Judas. The people of Kerioth are elated at the honour conferred on them by the Messiah by choosing the town of an apostle, and precisely of the apostle of Kerioth to begin the apostolic teaching as well as at the gift of the prophecy. Although it is a sad one, it is a great honour to have received it with the loving words preceding it…

Jesus and the group of the apostles are the only ones to be left in the synagogue; they then go into the little garden between the synagogue and the house of the head of the synagogue. Judas has sat down and is weeping.

«Why are you weeping? I do not see any reason…» says the other Judas.

«Well. I almost feel like doing the same myself. Did you hear Him? We are to speak now…» says Peter.

«We have already done a little of that up on the mountain. And we will improve all the time. You and John did it successfully at once» says James of Zebedee to encourage them.

«I am the worst… but God will help me. Is that right, Master?» asks Andrew.

Jesus, Who was looking through some parchment rolls He had brought with Him, turns around and says: «What were you saying?»

«That God will help me when I have to speak. I will try and repeat Your words as best I can. My brother is afraid and Judas is weeping.»

«Are you weeping? Why?» asks Jesus.

«Because I have really sinned. Andrew and Thomas can tell You. I have been running You down and You benefit me by calling me “dearest disciple” and asking me to teach here… How much love!…»

«But did you not know that I loved you?»

«Yes. But… Thank You, Master. I will never grumble again; I am really darkness and You are the Light.»

The head of the synagogue comes back and invites them to his house, and while going there he says: «I am thinking of Your words. If I have understood You properly, as in Kerioth You found a favourite disciple, our Judas of Simon, so You prophesy You will find an unworthy one. I am sorry for that. Fortunately our Judas will make up for the other…»

«With my whole being» says Judas, who has collected himself.

Jesus does not speak, but He looks at His interlocutors and makes a gesture opening out His arms as if He wanted to say: «It is so.»

Annotation

The chief reads. And so the trials of Onias, the mistakes of Jason, the betrayals and thefts of Menelaus pass before the audience. The chapter is over. The reader looks at Jesus, who has been listening attentively. Cf. the second book of the Maccabees, 2 M 4.

I want direct contact to begin, continuous contact between the apostles and the people. This was decided in Upper Galilee, and there was a first glimmer of light. Jesus sends them out to preach for the first time in EMV 166.2-3. They give their first sermon in EMV 166.4-12 (especially Simon the Zealot and John). It was near the house of Elise, in Judea, that Jesus declared that he was no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the crowds(EMV 209.5).

As for the fate of the complicit masses, read it in these words: "From the earth, the voice of this blood cries out to me. You will therefore be cursed...". And it is God who will pronounce them to an entire people who have failed to protect the gift of Heaven. For if it is true that I have come to redeem, woe to those who will be murderers and will not be redeemed, among this people whose first redemption was my Word. Cf. Gen 4:10-11 below.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Second Book of the Maccabees, 4

2 M 4 : Simon, the informer of the treasury and of his country, spoke ill of Onias: it was he, he said, who had stirred up Heliodorus and who was the author of all the evil. The city's benefactor, the defender of his fellow citizens and the faithful observer of the laws, he dared to pass him off as an adversary of the state. This hatred went so far that murders were committed by one of Simon's affianced. Then Onias, considering the danger of these divisions and the outbursts of Apollonius, the military governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, who was encouraging Simon's wickedness, went to see the king, not to accuse his fellow citizens, but having in mind the general and particular interest of all his people. For he could see that, without the king's intervention, it would be impossible to pacify the situation, and that Simon would not give up his criminal ventures.

But after the death of Seleucus, Antiochus nicknamed Epiphanes succeeded him, and Jason, brother of Onias, set out to usurp the pontificate. In a meeting with the king, he promised him three hundred and sixty talents of silver and eighty talents from other revenues. In addition, he promised to commit himself in writing to a further 150 talents, if he were allowed to establish, on his own authority and according to his own views, a gymnasium with an epebeum, and to register the inhabitants of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch. The king agreed to everything. As soon as Jason had obtained power, he set about introducing Greek customs among his fellow citizens. He abolished the franchises which the kings, out of humanity, had granted to the Jews thanks to the enterprise of John, father of Eupolemus, who had been sent on an embassy to conclude a treaty of alliance and friendship with the Romans, and, destroying legitimate institutions, he established customs contrary to the law. He took pleasure in founding a gymnasium at the very foot of the Acropolis, and raised the noblest children by putting them under the hat. Hellenism then grew to such an extent, and the excessive perversity of Jason, a godless man and by no means a high priest, led to such an inclination towards foreign customs, that the priests no longer showed any zeal for the service of the altar and, despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, rushed to take part, in the palaestra, in the exercises proscribed by the law, as soon as the call to throw the discus was heard. Paying no heed to the honorific functions of their country, they held in high esteem the distinctions of the Greeks. That's why serious calamities befell them, and in the very people whose way of life they imitated and to whom they wanted to resemble in everything, they found enemies and oppressors. For one does not violate divine laws with impunity; but this is what subsequent events will demonstrate.

While the five-yearly games were being celebrated in Tyre, which the king was attending, the criminal Jason sent spectators from Jerusalem, who were citizens of Antioch, bearing three hundred drachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules; but the same people who were carrying them asked that this money be used, not for sacrifices, which was not appropriate, but to cover other expenses. Thus the three hundred drachmas were indeed intended by the one who sent them for the sacrifice in honor of Hercules; but they were used, according to the desire of those who brought them, for the construction of triremes.

Apollonius, son of Menestheus, having been sent to Egypt, on the occasion of the enthronement of King Ptolemy Philometor, Antiochus learned that this king was ill-disposed towards him and, wishing to be safe from him, he went to Joppa, then to Jerusalem. Received magnificently by Jason and the whole city, he made his entry by torchlight and amidst acclamations; then he led his army to Phoenicia in the same way.

Three years later, Jason sent Menelaus, brother of the aforementioned Simon, to bring the money to the king and pay the registration fees for important business. But Menelaus recommended himself to the king, honored him with the outward appearance of a man in high place, and had the sovereign pontificate awarded to himself, offering three hundred talents of silver more than Jason had done. Having received his letters of investiture from the king, he returned to Jerusalem, having nothing worthy of the priesthood and bringing only the instincts of a cruel tyrant and the fury of a wild beast. Thus Jason, who had deceived his own brother, deceived in turn by another, had to flee to the land of the Ammonites. As for Menelaus, he obtained power; but, as he did not comply with the sum promised to the king, despite the complaints of Sostratus, commander of the Acropolis, who was responsible for collecting taxes, both were summoned to the king.

Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus to replace him as high priest, and Sostratus left Cratès, governor of Cyprus, to replace him. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Tarsus and Mallas revolted, because these two cities had been given as presents to Antiochides, the king's concubine. The king therefore left in haste to quell the sedition, having left as his lieutenant Andronicus, one of the great dignitaries. Menelaus, judging the circumstances favorable, took some gold vessels from the temple and gave them to Andronicus, and managed to sell others to Tyre and the neighboring cities.

When Onias became aware of Menelaus' new crime, he reproached him for it, after retiring to a safe haven at Daphne, near Antioch. Menelaus therefore took Andronicus aside and urged him to put Onias to death. Andronic therefore came to Onias and, using cunning, swore an oath on his right hand; then, although suspicious, he persuaded him to leave his asylum and immediately put him to death, without regard for justice. And so, not only the Jews, but many of the other nations were outraged and grieved at this man's unjust murder.

And when the king had returned from Cilicia, the Jews of Antioch, together with Greeks who were also enemies of violence, came to him about the unjust murder of Onias. Antiochus was deeply saddened and, moved by compassion for Onias, shed tears at the memory of the deceased's moderation and wise conduct. Red with anger, he immediately had Andronicus stripped of his purple, tore off his clothes and, having had him led through the whole city, he degraded this scoundrel in the very place where he had carried out his impious attack on Onias, the Lord thus striking him with just punishment.

Now, a great number of sacrilegious thefts having been committed in the city by Lysimachus, in agreement with Menelaus, and word of them having spread, the people rose up against Lysimachus, when already many golden vessels had been scattered. Seeing the multitude stirred up and their spirits inflamed with anger, Lysimachus armed some three thousand men and began to commit acts of violence, under the command of a certain Tyrant, a man advanced in age and no less in perversity. But when they heard of Lysimachus' attack, some seized stones, others large sticks, and some gathered ashes from the ground, and hurled them tumultuously at Lysimachus' followers. In this way, they wounded many of his men, killed several of them, put all the others to flight and massacred the sacrilegious man himself near the temple treasury.

An investigation against Menelaus then began. When the king came to Tyre, the three men sent by the elders explained the justice of their case. Seeing himself convinced, Menelaus promised Ptolemy, son of Dorymene, a large sum of money to make the king favorable to him. Ptolemy then took the king under the peristyle, as if to cool off, and made him change his mind. The king declared Menelaus innocent of the charges brought against him, though guilty of all crimes, and condemned to death unfortunate men who, had they pleaded their case even before Scythians, would have been returned innocent; and men who had defended the city, the people and sacred objects, suffered this unjust punishment without delay. The Tyrians themselves were outraged, and gave the victims a magnificent funeral. As for Menelaus, thanks to the greed of the powerful, he maintained his dignity, growing in malice and cruel scourge of his fellow citizens.

Book of Genesis 4, 10-11

Gen 4, 10-11 : Yahweh said: "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out from the earth to me. Now you are cursed by the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand."

GRM 214.5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

It is painful to part from one’s son. We mothers would always like to be with our children. But we are giving them for a great cause, and we will not lose them. Not even death can take our sons away from us, if they and we are in grace in the eyes of God. But ours are still on the earth, even if by the will of God they are torn from our bosoms to be given to the world for its good. We can always join them and even the echo of their deeds is like a caress to our hearts, because their deeds are the scent of their souls.