72. Jesus, John, Simon and Judas go to Bethlehem. 7th January 1945 I see, early in the morning, Jesus, Who at the same Gate meets His disciples Simon and Judas. John is already with Jesus. And I hear Him say: « My friends, I ask you to come with Me through Judaea. If it is not too much for you, particularly for you, Simon. » « Why, Master? » « It is hard to walk on the Judaean mountains… and perhaps it will be even more painful for you to meet someone who harmed you. » « As far as the road is concerned, I wish to assure You, once again, that after You cured me, I feel stronger than a young man and no work is heavy for me, also because it is done for You, and now, with You. With regard to meeting people who harmed me, there is no harsh resentment or feeling in Simon's heart, since he became Yours. Hatred has gone together with the scales of the disease. And believe me, I cannot tell You whether You worked a greater miracle in curing my corroded flesh or my soul consumed by hatred. I do not think I am wrong in saying the latter miracle was the greater. A wound of the soul heals 72. Jesus, John, Simon and Judas go to Bethlehem. 219 less easily… and You cured me in one instant. That is a miracle. Because one does not recover all of a sudden, even if one wants to with all one's strength and a man does not get rid of a bad moral habit, if You do not destroy that habit with Your sanctifying will power. » « Your judgement is correct. » « Why do You not do that with everyone? » asks Judas, somewhat resentful. « But He does, Judas. Why do you speak like that to the Master? Do you not feel you have changed since you have been in contact with Him? Previously, I was a disciple of John the Baptist. But I have found myself completely changed since He said to me: “Come”. » John, who in general very seldom interferes, and never does in the presence of the Master, this time cannot keep quiet. Kind and loving, he lays one hand on Judas' arm as if to calm him down and he speaks to him anxiously and persuasively. He then realises he has spoken before Jesus, he blushes and says: « Forgive me, Master, I spoke in Your stead, but I wanted… I did not want Judas to grieve You. » « Yes, John. But he did not grieve Me as My disciple. When he is My disciple, then, if he persists in his way of thinking, he will grieve Me. It grieves Me only to notice how much man has been corrupted by Satan who perverts his thoughts. All men, you know! The thoughts of all of you have been misled by him! But the day will come, when you will have the Strength and the Grace of God, you will have Wisdom with His Spirit… you will then have everything to enable you to judge rightly. » « And will we all judge rightly. » « No, Judas. » « But are You referring to us, disciples, or to all men? » « I refer firstly to you, and to all the others. When the time comes, the Master will nominate His workers and send them all over the world… » « Are You not doing that already? » « For the time being, I use you only to say: “The Messiah is here. Come to Him.” Later I will make you capable of preaching in My name, of working miracles in My name… » « Oh! Also miracles? » « Yes, on bodies and on souls. » « Oh! How they will admire us, then! » Judas is overjoyed at the thought. « But, then, we shall not be with the Master… and I will always be afraid to do with my human capacity what comes only from God » says John, and he looks thoughtfully and somewhat sadly at Jesus. « John, if the Master will allow me, I would like to tell you what I think » says Simon. « Yes, tell John. I want you to advise one another. » « Do You already know it is advice? » Jesus smiles and is quiet. « Well, I tell you, John, that you must not, we must not be afraid. Let us found upon His wisdom of a holy Master and upon His promise. If He says: “I will send you”, it means that He knows that He can send us without any fear that we may do harm to Him or to ourselves, that is to the cause of God, that is so dear to each of us, like a newly-wed bride. If He promises to clothe our intellectual and spiritual misery with the brightness of the power His Father gives Him for us, we must be certain that He will do so and that we will be successful, not by ourselves, but through His mercy. All this will most certainly happen, providing our deeds are free from pride and human ambitions. I think that if we contaminate our mission, which is entirely a spiritual one, with earthly ingredients, then also Christ's promise will no longer stand. Not because of any inability on His part, but because we will strangle such ability with the rope of pride. I do not know whether I have made myself understood. » « You have spoken very clearly. I am wrong. But you know… I think that after all, to wish to be admired as the Messiah's disciples, so close to Him as to deserve to do what He does, is the same as wishing to increase even more the powerful figure of Christ among people. Praise to the Master, Who has such disciples, that is what I mean » answers Judas. « What you say is not entirely wrong. But… see, Judas. I come from a caste which is persecuted because… because it misunderstood what and how the Messiah should be. Yes. If we had waited for Him with the correct vision of His 72. Jesus, John, Simon and Judas go to Bethlehem. 220 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 bed with them, to escape Roman power and above all the impeachments of false friends; or when, waiting for death I was already foretasting 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. 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. There is David's Tower. The Eastern Gate is near. » « Are we going out by it? » « Yes, Judas. We are going to Bethlehem first. Where I was born… You ought to know… to tell the others. Also that is part of the knowledge of the Messiah and of the Scriptures. You will find prophecies written in things not as prophecies but as history. Let us go round Herod's houses… » « The old, wicked, lustful fox. » « Do not judge. There is God, Who judges. Let us go along the path through these vegetable gardens. We will stop under the shade of a tree, near some hospitable house, until it cools down. We will then go on our way. » The vision ends.
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