Sunday, June 26, 2022

176. The Sabbath after the Sermon. At the Foot of the Mountain.

 176. The Sabbath after the Sermon. At the Foot of the Mountain. 1st June 1945. 1 Jesus has delayed somewhat up on the mountain during the night, so that at dawn He can be seen standing on the edge of an escarpment. Peter, who sees Him, points Him out to his companions and they go up towards Him. « Master, why did You not come with us? » many of them ask. « I needed to pray. » « But You also need to rest very badly. » « My friends, during the night a voice came from Heaven asking for prayers for the good and the wicked and also for Myself. » « Why? Do You need it? » « As much as anybody. My strength is nourished with prayer and My joy with doing what My Father wants. My Father told Me the names of two people and a sorrow for Myself. The three things He mentioned need prayer so much. » Jesus is very sad and He looks at His apostles with eyes which seem to be begging or asking for something. His eyes rest on one, then on another and at last on Judas Iscariot and Jesus stares at him. The apostle notices it and asks: « Why do You look at me like that? » « I was not looking at you. My eyes were contemplating something else...» « That is? » « The nature of a disciple. All the good and all the evil that a disciple can do and give to his Master. I was thinking of the disciples of the Prophets and of John. And I was thinking of My own. And I was praying for John, for the disciples and for Myself...» « You are sad and tired this morning, Master. Tell those who love You what Your trouble is begs James of Zebedee. « Yes, tell us, and if there is anything we can do to relieve Your grief, we will do it says His cousin Judas. Peter speaks to Bartholomew and Philip, but I do not understand what they say. Jesus replies: « Be good, endeavour to be good and faithful. That is the only relief. There is no other one, Peter. Have you understood? Forget your suspicion. Love Me and love one another, do not allow those who hate Me to seduce you, above all love the will of God. » « Eh! If everything is within its control, also our errors are within it! » exclaims Thomas in a philosophical tone. « Do you think so? But it is not so. But many people have woken up and are looking here. Let us go down and sanctify this holy day with the word of God. » 2 They go down while the people who wake up are more and more numerous. The children, as merry as little sparrows, are already prattling, running and jumping in the meadows, getting wet with dew, so that a few blows begin to fly with consequent tears. Then the children run towards Jesus Who caresses them and begins to smile once again as if He reflected their innocent cheerfulness. A little girl wants to put a little bunch of flowers on His belt, flowers she picked in the meadow « because His tunic is more beautiful like that » she says and Jesus lets her do it, although the apostles grumble. But Jesus says: « You ought to be happy that they love Me! The dew removes the dust from flowers. The love of children removes all sadness from My heart. » Jesus coming from the mountain arrives in the midst of the pilgrims at the same time as John, the scribe, who is coming from his house with many servants carrying baskets of bread, olives, cheese and a little lamb or little kid, whatever it may be, roasted for the Master. Everything is laid at His feet and He sees to the distribution giving everybody some bread, a slice of cheese and a handful of olives. But He gives a piece of the roasted lamb with bread to a mother who is still holding at her breast a plump baby who laughs showing his milk teeth, and He does likewise with two or three more people whom He thinks need special attention. « But it's for You, Master » says the scribe. « I will have some, do not worry. But see... if I know that many partake of your goodness, it will taste better to Me. » The distribution is over and the people nibble at their bread, leaving some for later. Jesus also drinks some milk which the scribe wishes to pour for Him into a  precious cup from a little flask held by a servant and which looks like a little pitcher. 176. The Sabbath after the Sermon. At the Foot of the Mountain. 111 « But You must satisfy me and give me the joy of hearing You » says John, the scribe, who is greeted by Hermas with equal respect and with greater respect by Stephen. « I will not deny you that satisfaction. Come over here » and Jesus leans against the mountain and begins to speak. 3 « God's will has held us in this place because had we gone any further, after the distance we had walked, we would have infringed the precepts and caused scandal. And may that never happen until the New Pact is written. It is right to sanctify feast days and praise the Lord in places of prayer. But the whole creation can be a place of prayer if man can make it thus through his elevation to the Father. Noah's Ark adrift on the water was a place of prayer and likewise the belly of Jonah's whale. Places of prayer were the house of the Pharaoh when Joseph lived in it, and the tent of Holofernes for the chaste Judith. And was not the corrupt place where the prophet Daniel lived as a slave, so sacred to the Lord, because of the holiness of His servant who so sanctified the place as to deserve the high prophecies of Christ and of the Antichrist, which are a key to present and future times? All the more reason this place is holy as with its hues and scents, with its pure air and rich crops, with its dewy pearls it speaks to us of God, the Father and Creator and says: “I believe. And you ought to believe because we bear witness to God.” Let it therefore be our synagogue for this Sabbath and let us read the eternal pages on corollas and ears, with the sun as our lamp. I mentioned Daniel. I said to you: “Let this place be our synagogue.” That reminds us of the joyful “bless the Lord” of the three holy young men in the flames of the furnace: Heavens and waters, dew and frost, ice and snow, fire and colours, light and darkness, lightning and clouds, mountains and hills, all germinated things, birds, fish and animals, praise and bless the Lord with humble holy-hearted men. We can pray and deserve Heaven everywhere. We deserve it when we do the Father's will. 4 At daybreak they pointed out to Me that if everything is controlled by the will of God, also the errors of men are wanted by that will. That is an error and a widespread one. Can a father ever wish his son to be blameworthy? No, he cannot. And yet we see that in some families some sons become blameworthy, although they have a just father who points out to them the good to be done and the evil to be avoided. And no righteous person will accuse a father of urging his sons to do evil things. God is the Father, men are the sons. God points out the good and says: “Behold, I put you in this situation for your own good.” Also when the Evil One and the men who serve him bring misfortunes to men, God says: “Behold, this is how you must behave in this painful hour; by doing so, this misfortune will serve for an eternal good.” He advises you, but does not force you. So if a man, knowing what the will of God is, prefers to do the very opposite, can we say that this very opposite is the will of God? We cannot. Love God's will. Love it more than your own and follow it against the enticements and power of the world, of the flesh, of the demon. Also those things have a will. But I solemnly tell you that he who submits to such wills is most unhappy. You call Me Messiah and Lord. You say you love Me and you praise Me. You follow Me and that seems love. But I solemnly tell you that not everyone amongst you will enter the Kingdom of Heaven with Me. Also amongst My earliest and latest disciples there are some who will not enter the Kingdom, because many will do their own will or the will of the flesh, of the world, of the demon, but not My Father's. Not those who say to Me: “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who do the will of My Father. They will be the only ones to enter the Kingdom of God. 5 The day will come when I, Who am now speaking to you, after being the Shepherd, will be the Judge. Do not let the present appearance deceive you. Now My shepherd's staff gathers together all the scattered souls and kindly invites you to come to the pastures of Truth. Later the staff will be replaced by the sceptre of the Judge King and My power will be quite different. It will not be with kindness but with implacable justice that I will separate the sheep fed with Truth from those which mixed Truth and Error or fed only on error. I will do that a first time and then once again. And woe betide those who between the first and the second appearance before the Judge will not have purged themselves because they will not be able to purge themselves of their poisons. The third category will not purge itself. No pain could purge it. They wanted nothing but Error, so let them be in Error. And yet among them there will be someone moaning: “What, Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name did we not cast out demons and work many miracles?.” And then I will say very clearly to them: “Yes, you dared to   clothe yourselves with My name that you might appear what you are not. You wanted your satanism to be considered as living with Jesus. But you are accused by the fruit of your deeds. Where are the souls you saved? When were your prophecies fulfilled? What was the result of your exorcisms? Who was the accomplice of your deviations? Oh! My Enemy is really powerful! But not more than I am. He helped you only to plunder more souls, and thanks to you, the circle of those swept away by heresy, has widened. Yes, you have worked wonders, which apparently looked even greater than those of the true servants of God, who are not histrionics who astonish crowds, but are so humble and obedient as to amaze angels. My true servants, through their sacrifices do not create phantasms, but wipe them out of hearts; they do not impose themselves on men, but show God to souls of men. They do nothing but the will of the Father and lead others to do it, like a wave that pushes the wave preceding it and draws the one following it, without putting themselves on a throne and saying: 'Look'. My true servants do what I tell them, without thinking of anything else, and their deeds bear the sign of My unmistakable peace, kindness and order. I can therefore say to you: they are My servants, but I do not know you. Go away from me all of you, workers of iniquity.” That is what I will say. And it will be a dreadful word. Take care you do not deserve it and proceed along the safe, although painful way of obedience, towards the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven. Enjoy your Sabbath rest praising God with your whole selves. Peace be with you. » And Jesus blesses the crowds before they scatter seeking shade, one group speaking to another, commenting on the words they have just heard. Jesus is left with His apostles and John, the scribe, who does not speak but is absorbed in deep meditation, watching every gesture of Jesus. And the cycle of the Mount is over.

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