MARIA VALTORTA’S WRITINGS AND SCRIPTURE – WHY NOW? FOREWORD (Notes from the Compiler) The Sequence of Visions and Dictations (The following notes originate from the research of the compiler, and from that of his dear friend Father Jorge Fuentes – a Mexican Salesian priest.) On December 18, 1943, Maria received the first dictation of what was to develop into her major “Work”, entitled (in both its latest Italian and English editions): The Gospel as it has been Revealed to Me, and (in its previous English edition): The Poem of the Man-God. A series of visions and dictations, concentrating on the lives of Jesus and Mary – from before Mary was born till after Her Assumption into Heaven – continued through to December 8, 1951, and was subsequently arranged into 652 chapters - in both the 10 volume Italian editions, and in the 5 volumes of The Poem.... (The “Work” occupies about two-thirds of all of the visions and dictations Maria recorded.) During my first reading of The Poem. I did not realize that the visions and dictations in (what were to become) these 652 chapters were given to Maria in a different order from their final chronological order. Yet, for me, they seemed to flow quite logically as an uninterrupted sequence! Now let’s see how it happened. Firstly, the writer didn't know the chapter number when she started recording a particular event. The only thing that she noted was the date in which it was written. As the Work was progressing - and she wanted to have the chapters arranged in a coherent order later – she had them typed by Fr. Romualdo Migliorini, Her Spiritual Director, in loose leaves, so as not to have to pull out the leaves of the exercise-books she was using. Those loose leaves were put together in the order indicated by Jesus, and totalled 652 chapters. Thus, at the beginning or the end of particular chapters, Jesus would instruct Maria to put this chapter here, and put that chapter there. [For example, at the end of the chapter entitled: “Jesus Enters into Jerusalem” – the vision given on 30th March 1947 (which was to become Chapter 588) – Jesus says to Maria: « My patient secretary, put here the vision: "The evening of Palm Sunday" (given to Maria on 4th March 1945), and may My peace be with you. » (This subsequent vision later become Chapter 589)] Once the chapters were in order, everyone – even the writer – got to know the real chronological order in which the events she was describing occurred. This was, in fact, the true Author's purpose: to prove that nobody but He could have planned it to be written in that total DISorder… (On June 10, 1944, Mary explained to to a suffering Maria why some of the visions and dictations were given to her in a sequence which differed from their chronological order...) « ...We could have given you everything in one lot... But in your present dejection, how could you have watched certain visions and listened to certain dictations? They would have wounded you to the extent of making you unable to carry out your mission of "mouthpiece". So We gave them first, avoiding to break your heart, because We are kind, and We used visions and words suitable to your sufferings, so that your grief would not grow into torture... » (The Poem… Vol. 1, pp. 229-30; The Gospel… Vol. 1, p. 276) (On February 9, 1944, Jesus had said:) « ...I told you that I will hasten the description of "0ur" sorrows, so that they may be known. But, as you see, some of My Mother's had already been illustrated. I explained the flight before the Presentation, because it was necessary to do so on that day. I know. You understand and you will explain the reason to the Father (Migliorini) verbally. I have planned to alternate your contemplations and My consequent clarifications, with true and proper dictations, to comfort you and your spirit, granting you the beatitude of seeing, and also because in this way the difference in style between your composing and Mine will be obvious... Further... in the contemplations, I will not keep a chronological order corresponding to that of the Gospels. I will select the points which I find more useful on that day for you or for other people, following My own line of teaching and goodness... » (The Poem… Vol. 1, p. 238; The Gospel… Vol. 1, p. 283) Correlation of Maria’s Writings with Scripture (These further notes originate from the compiler’s research, undertaken over a number of years...) Like many Catholics of my growing-up years of the 1940s and 1950s, I remembered little more than the passages of Scripture I’d heard at Sunday Mass. During my second reading of The Poem, it occurred to me that these books were full of Scripture. A little later, I was overjoyed to discover that Father Delisi - an Abbot in a Monastery in Conyers GA, U.S.A. - had cross-referenced over 1,600 passages from The Poem – to the Gospels. In the years following, and delving into many more references in the soft-covered 10-volume Second Italian edition of the “Work”, this list is now expanded to about 7,000 passages which directly and indirectly refer to passages in both the Old and the New Testaments. (See “Where is it? - A Guide to The Gospel as Revealed to Me”; and “A Pilgrim’s Guide to The Poem of the Man-God”.) 2 Now, can you imagine a computer table with 2 vertical columns of 7,000 lines –The Poem‘s volume/page numbers on the left, and the Scripture’s book and chapter/verse numbers on the right. I thus had my first table: Poem to Scripture. I then transferred the right-hand column to the left, sorted these 7,000 lines out alphabetically from A to Z – the Acts of the Apostles to Zephaniah – and we now had Scripture to Poem !! In all of this, I found no contradiction between the Scripture verses, and what Maria Valtorta had written! Moreover, I discovered that Maria Valtorta, having been taken back in time, had actually witnessed 98.5% of all the passages in the four Gospels that refer to the lives of Jesus and Mary!! Declaration by Pope Pius XII The following is Pope Pius Xll’s often-quoted declaration given before three witnesses on 26th February 1948 - in relation to the manuscripts later published as The Poem of the Man-God: “Publish this work just as it is. There is no need to give an opinion on its origin, whether it be extraordinary or not. Whoever reads it will understand. (These days) we hear of so many visions and revelations. I am not saying that all of them would be true, but there are some of them that are authentic”. Commentary by Bishop Roman Danylak (In a testimony dated June 24, 2001, Bishop Roman Danylak – then of Toronto and formerly of Rome - describes his experience with Maria Valtorta’s major work, The Poem of the Man-God:) As a priest and bishop of the Catholic Church I have learned to breathe with the “two lungs of Christianity”, east and west... I was baptized in the Byzantine Ukranian Catholic Church... and my theological, philosophical and canonical formation came from the schools of the west. Reading the texts of The Poem of the Man-God... again and again I experienced the literary richness of this Life of Christ by a master craftsman: the factual accuracy of her descriptions of the geography and the scenes of Israel and the events of the Gospel. She narrates a story that includes a cast of hundreds of apostles, disciples, friends and enemies of Christ. She weaves a masterful tapestry of the life and drama of our Divine Savior, and His Blessed Mother, against the background of the history and topography of Israel and Palestine of the first century of the christian era, as a faithful and accurate chronicler of the divine drama of salvation history... Whoever wishes to know Christ and His Blessed Mother, the sublime pedagogy of the Divine Teacher as He proclaims the Gospel of Salvation and forms this motley band of fishermen, a tax collector, and a converted zealot healed of leprosy... such a person will find an admirable guide and mentor in this monumental work of Maria Valtorta. St. John wrote in his gospel: “There is much else besides that Jesus did. If all of this were put in writing, I do not think the world itself would contain the books that would have been written.” (Jn. 21:25) This major work of Maria Valtorta, The Poem of the Man-God, is the Gospel expanded, and with her other writings, is in perfect consonance with the canonical Gospels, and with the traditions and magisterium of the Catholic Church. ————— (On 30 November 1998, Bishop Danylak granted his own Imprimatur for Maria Valtorta's spiritual writings in the original Italian, and in English translations approved by Centro Editoriale Valtortiano. An Imprimatur is a decision of a bishop exercising his charism of teaching authority, assuring the faithful that a work is free of moral and doctrinal error.) Maria Valtorta’s Essential Writings – Time-Line (Diagram) 3 1. MARIA VALTORTA AND THE GOSPELS Maria’s Knowledge of the Bible (In her Autobiography, and before she received the visions and dictations which are recorded in her later books, Maria writes of her experiences as a young adult...) ...With respect to the Gospel, I was familiar only with those passages commented on at Sunday Mass. Always those, often explained without putting one’s whole soul into it, and even often listened to with less soul than ever. And then, I was a – lone elephant. I had and have to think over a concept on my own in order to really feel it. (Once) I found a Gospel of St. Luke which Father had brought home. I took it to my room, and started reading it. It was “the lamp placed on the lamp-stand to give light”1 . The more I read it, the more I felt a new heart being formed within me. I wept greatly over that little book... Gentle tears rendered my soul fresh, as in my childhood in love with Christ taken down from the Cross. What hope, what abandon, and what a longing to love as the Divine Evangelizer should be loved! I have never been able to separate myself from the Gospel since then. It is my spirit’s daily bread. I don’t even need to read it any more because I know it by heart, but I still reread it because I always find a new fascination therein. When I feel very bad, when I am quite afraid of something, I place the little volume with the Four Gospels - bought [later] at the beginning of 1925 - over my heart, and am no longer afraid of anything. From those pages Jesus seems to be saying to me, “Fear not”, and to things, “Do no harm to this woman”. I don’t know how to meditate on large or small books on asceticism. I end up reading them as good books, and that’s that. But the Gospel! If I experience a doubt, a moment of melancholy, I pray to the Holy Spirit - to whom I am most devoted - and then open the Gospel casually. I always find a word to comfort me, to enlighten me, or to give an answer to the need to know why [something] is bothering me. The little book with St. Luke’s Gospel gradually warmed up my heart like the flame of a comfortable hearth. Its heat spread through all my veins, all my fibers, pervading all and making Christ grow in me... (Autobiography, pp. 240-1) (Maria writes of a function she had once performed, as an Ecclesiastical Adviser...) ...Most practicing Catholics rack their brains over books on asceticism which they do not understand, and neglect the most lofty and simple Gospel, understandable even to the most unlearned. And they read and read, stuff their heads with big words, become elated, thinking themselves to be doctors of the Church, and find the emotional thrill which delightfully tickles them on the surface... And then, once the book is closed – it’s all over... But the Gospel! The Gospel – so clear, so profound, so vast, and so sublime. The Gospel is the word addressed to all the children of God, the word of the Son of God for all His younger brothers and sisters. And it is understood, not according the human science one possesses, but in conformity with supernatural science, which may be perfect in an illiterate person, and scarcely formed in one who is learned. What a help the Gospel is for the believer who wants to remain in God and constantly come closer to God!... Priests encouraged me to continue. But the women holding diocesan and parish posts waged war on me... They forgot about the words of one little book which said, “Man does not live on bread alone but on the Word of God”2 , and “Woe to you, doctors of the Law, who have usurped the key to knowledge. You have not entered, but have placed impediments for those who would enter” 3 ; and “The one whom God has sent speaks the Word of God, for God gives Him the Spirit without measure”4 ; and “Whoever listens to My word and believes in the One Who has sent me has eternal life”5 ; and “He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; only he who seeks the glory of the One Who has sent him is worthy of faith, and in him there is no injustice.”6 ... Why wish to keep my daughters from hearing the Word which is life, and which – if corroborated by faith - is the source of eternal life? To obstruct me, the pretext was advanced that since I was not a priest, I could not understand and explain the Gospel. But they did not bear in mind that the Spirit of God blows where He wills7 , and that the Will of God can send whomever He wishes, to take the place of the “salt which has lost its savor”8 , so that creatures will not be left without His Word. As Maria Valtorta, the human creature, I was the least of all; but, when speaking by the will of God to those more ignorant than I, I was somebody. For God granted me the spirit without measure9 , seeing my upright intention, which was to make known His Word and lead young hearts to Him.... I made no bid for posts, which seduce only those who live for base human glory. Like John in the desert, I was only a Voice, a Voice crying out in the name of God10, so that souls would wake up to true life... 1 Mt. 5:14-16; Mk. 4:21; Lk. 8:16, 11:33. 2 Dt. 8:3; Mt. 4:4; Lk. 4:4. 3 Mt. 23:13; Lk. 11:52. 4 Jn. 3:34. 5 Jn. 5:24. 6 Jn. 7:18. 7 Is. 40:7. 8 Mt. 5;13; Mk. 9:50; Lk. 14:34. 9 See Endnote 5. 10 Is. 40:3; Jn. 1:23; Mk. 1:3; Mt. 3:3; Lk. 3:3. 4 My heart kept watch over the little flock God had given me, which I took – as long as it was with me – to healthy pastures, without even one perishing, and which now - when the shepherd is sick - is still not lost. For I have offered my life for my sheep. and none of those that God has entrusted to me has perished, except for the daughter of perdition, since every master must be familiar with the bitterness of the Master, who saw a disciple perish... But I still hope to save even this one, for I still have so much to suffer, and I still have to die so much before being reborn eternally in God... (Autobiography, pp. 284-6) (After the commencement of the dictations she received during 1943, Maria writes a response to a request from Father Migliorini, her Spiritual Director, asking what knowledge she had previously had of Sacred Scripture...) ...I can formally assure you that I was familiar with only the four Gospels. I have known them by memory, and for years. I also once read the Song of Songs, thirteen or more years ago, in a Protestant edition... In a book providing general culture I read the Proverbs of Solomon. And my knowledge ends there. To read the Bible is for me like walking in an unknown world which would remain impenetrable for me. For on my own I understand only its superficial meaning and what is commented on by the annotations at the foot of the page, which, I remark, are different from the ones given me by the Master. When I was at school, they had me study Sacred History from a little textbook adapted to our young age. And you know what those texts are like, reduced to the minimum terms. I remembered the leading points, more names than events, and confess that - except for Adam, Abraham, Esau, Moses, Lot, Ruth, Esther, and a few others - I no longer recalled anything. A real dunce, needless to say! As for the New Testament, moreover, in addition to the Gospels, I was familiar with the passages included in the Epistles, and that's all. Even now, when I have the Bible at my disposal - since you took care of that - I have not gone, by a supernatural order, beyond Esther. And I confess to you that many, many pages of Kings and Chronicles put me to sleep, whereas I liked Tobit a lot. Afterwards, the Master took me in hand to such a point that I was unable to go forward in orderly fashion, and came to a standstill at the thirteenth chapter of Job. The rest - excluding the points which the Master explains to me from time to time - represents unknown words to me. I repeat that on the days when Jesus is silent - and with the confidence of love, I invite Him by opening the Book here and there - I don't stop even to read. I look at a point, and if I feel that Jesus is indicating He will speak, fine; if not, I open elsewhere until he speaks. If, after three or at most four attempts, at different points, opened in a haphazard way from among the 1838 pages of the Book, I understand that He does not want to speak, I resign myself and read on my own from the point where I stopped... I could not be more detailed than this, or more obedient. And I have been in the midst of many obstacles, ranging from continual interruptions to the dizzy spells caused by my condition, which the doctor found to be very serious yesterday. The state of my lungs and heart justifies all human fears. and all supernatural joys, for me. I know that my pulse is very weak, thread-like, arrhythmic, and tending to decline. I feel it. I wasn't a nurse for nothing. I know that paralysis may hit me at any moment. I know that the dizziness and collapses are produced by cerebral anaemia and atrophy of the heart. I know that I am breathing with only half of my left lung and that the right one is like a dry branch. I know everything. But these are my riches and the sources of my peace. As for the past, I entrust myself to the Mercy of God. As for the present, I entrust myself to your help. As for the future, the prospect of soon going to the One I love smiles at me like a joyous sun. Every turn for the worse, then, does not have a funereal ring to it, but chimes like a festive bell, announcing to me the approach of my entry into Life. (Notebooks 1943, pp. 449-50) The Four Evangelists (Jesus says:) "Now I will explain to you two points in the Gospel. One is from Matthew, and one, from Luke. In reality, they are a single parable, but it is expressed with a few differences. It should not cause astonishment that these differences are found in my evangelists. When they wrote those pages, they were still men - already chosen, but not yet glorified. They could thus commit oversights and errors, in form, but not in substance. Only in the glory of God is there no longer error. But to reach it they still had to struggle and suffer a lot. "Only one of the evangelists is phonographically exact in reporting what I said. But he was the pure and loving one. Reflect on this. Purity and charity are so powerful that they allow someone to understand, remember, and transmit my word without erring in even a comma or a reflection. John was a soul upon whom Love wrote his words, and He could do so because Love alights upon and has contact with the pure in heart alone, and John was a virginal soul, as pure as that of a small child. I did not entrust my Mother to Peter, but to John11, for the Virgin had to stay with the virgin. Remember this clearly: God does not communicate spiritual substances - restoring to the soul that immaculate freshness which attracts my gaze and procures my word - to someone lacking purity in heart, [which has been] preserved since birth or obtained anew with the assiduous labor of penance and love." (Notebooks 1943, p. 117) (Jesus says:) "...Just two of the Evangelists were Apostles - and if one observes closely, they are the two Gospels most clearly mirroring Me. Luke's is good stylistically, and may be better termed the Gospel of my Mother and my Childhood, abundantly narrating 11 See Jn. 19:26-7. 5 details in relation thereto which the others do not narrate... [That of John}, rather than the Gospel of my public life, is more an echo of the others than a new light, [and he] is the perfect Evangelist of the Light who is Christ the God-Man... "The Teacher is in Matthew (see the Sermon on the Mount, the instructions for the Apostles, the praise of the Baptist and the rest of this chapter, the first episode in Chapter 15 and the heavenly sign, divorce in Chapter 19, and three other chapters: 22, 23, and 24). The Teacher is [also] in the luminous Gospel of John, above all, the Apostle in love, fused in charity with his Christ the Light. Compare what this Gospel reveals about the power of Christ the Orator to what is displayed in this regard by the essential scantiness of Mark's Gospel - precise in the episodes he had heard from Peter, but reduced to a minimum - and you will see whether I, the Word, used only a very humble style, or whether the power of the Perfect Word did not often flash forth in Me. Yes, it shines out in John, though quite reduced in a few episodes. "Now, if to Little John I have wanted to grant an increase in knowledge of Me and my teaching, why should this make you incredulous and obstinate? Open up. Open your intellects and hearts, and bless Me for what I have given you." (Notebooks 1945-50, pp. 422-3) (Jesus says:) "...When you are summoned to the great Judgment12 ... my four Evangelists will be at either side of the Judge, who I am. They consumed themselves to take the law of Charity into hearts, and after death they continued their work with their Gospels, from which the world receives life, since to know Christ is to have Life in oneself. It is proper, then, for John, Luke, Matthew, and Mark to be with Me when you are judged for having or not having lived out the Gospel. I am not a jealous, miserly God. I call you to share my glory. Shouldn't I, then, enable these faithful servants of mine - who spread my Word among you, and subscribed to it with their blood and their afflictions - to take part in the glory of the Judgment?..." (Notebooks 1944, pp. 127-8) (Late in 1950, Maria offers a personal appraisal of each of the evangelists, echoing their traditional titles...) Matthew, as a man, was completely human in his past and in describing the Son of Man... Matthew was matter, all matter until Christ converted him and made him His own... [He was] still a man, even after the conversion which made him, a sinful man, into a man of God - that is, a man raised back up to the degree of a rational creature, destined for eternal life in Heaven. But [he was] still a man, without Luke's culture, without John's supernatural knowledge, and without Mark's lion-like strength... But remaining "a man" did him no harm. It rather served to lead him higher in perfection, by keeping him humble and contrite over his past... He had neither the loving raptures of John, nor the admirable economy of Luke... On the mystical ladder of the evangelists, Matthew may be placed on the first rung... Mark was a lion in preaching Christ among the pagans, even more than in describing the time of Christ in his Gospel, in which however, as a lion, he loved to bring out the figure of the Divine Miracle Worker more than that of the Messiah as a Man, as Matthew had done. And this was for the purpose of causing amazement and winning the pagans over through astonishment, as they were always seduced by what appeared to be wondrous... If Luke is the erudite historian, Mark is the impulsive man who imposes Christ on the pagan multitudes, bringing out His supernatural - indeed, divine - power in miracles of every kind... Mark was a quarter of the way up [the mystical ladder]... Luke was patient and strong as an ox in completing... the full work of God for the salvation of humanity. For this work of infinite love began with the Immaculate Conception of Mary, with the fullness of Grace granted to Her, and with Mary's continuous communion with Her Lord... Luke, unique and patient, consulted and also wrote what may be termed the introduction to the Gospel - which means "announcement" - speaking to us of Our Lady of the Annunciation13, without whom and without whose absolute obedience the Redemption would not have been carried out. It is the property of an ox to ruminate on what was swallowed some time ago. Luke imitates the ox. Over many years, time had swallowed the preliminary episodes of the coming of the Messiah as such - that is, as the Master and Savior-Redeemer. Luke brings them back to light. He shows us the Virgin, a necessary instrument in order for us to have Jesus Christ, the God-Man. He shows us the Most Humble Woman Full of Grace, the Most Obedient One in Her "Let it be done to Me according to Your word"; the Most Charitable One rushing with holy celerity to Her cousin Elizabeth to comfort and help her; and, though She did not have any idea about it, to sanctify him who was to prepare the ways for the Lord Jesus, Her Son14 ... Luke, a physician in addition to being an Evangelist, has the patient study of the doctor who does not stop at the objective fact or the subject under consideration, but studies and examines the environment and heredity from which the subject proceeds...: Joseph's suspicion15, the trip to Bethlehem16, the prophecy of Simeon17, the flight and exile in Egypt18, and the disappearance of Jesus... in the Boy capable of replying to Her, "Why are You looking for Me? Didn't you know that I must do 12 Mt. 25:31-46. 13 Lk. 1:26-38. 14 Lk. 1:39-56. 15 Mt. 1:18-24. 16 Lk. 2:1-7. 17 Lk. 2:25-35. 18 Mt. 2:13-15. 6 what My Father wants Me to do?"19 ... Luke did not limit himself to speaking about Christ the Teacher, but also speaks to us about what the preparation for Christ was like. That is about His Mother and the events preceding the public manifestations of Jesus Christ, to make everything known to us, to confirm the prophets, and to demolish (with the most exact narration of the hidden life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph) the future heresies which would arise... Luke shows us Christ the Savior and Redeemer, Who begins the Passion by sweating blood at Gethsemane20 ... Luke was halfway up [the mystical ladder]... John, the fourth Evangelist, is the Eagle... In John there is the nobility of the noble bird, powerful flight, and the capacity to gaze fixedly at the Divine Sun: Jesus, the Light of the world, the Light of Heaven, the Light of God, Infinite Splendor. [John had] the ability to rise up to supernatural heights to which no other evangelist rose, and in this way, by rising up, to be able to penetrate the mystery and truth and doctrine – everything - of the Man who was God. Soaring like a royal eagle - quite high above earthly things and humanity - he saw Christ in His true Nature as the Word of God. More than the Miracle Worker and the Martyr, John presents us with "the Teacher", the only most perfect Teacher the world has ever had. He was the God-Teacher, Wisdom become flesh and the oral teacher for men, and the Verbum or Word of the Father - that is, the Word making His Father's thoughts perceptible for men. He was the Light come to illuminate the darkness and make the twilight flee... In his Gospel of Truth and Light, John clearly calls [Judas]...: "thief"21. He sees the undercover plots, the subtle traps used to make Christ unpopular with the Roman dominators and Jews, and the "least ones" who formed the flock of those faithful to Christ... And he shows Christ in His sublime holiness, not just as God, but also as Man. A Man Who does not compromise with His enemies to make them friends; a Man Who is able to tell the truth to the powerful and unmask their sins and hypocrisy; a Man Who, while not rejecting any of those deserving of being drawn near... is able to hurl His anathema at those who, though most powerful, deceive Him with false offers of friendship so as to catch Him in sin; a Man Who respects the Law, but tramples on what is superimposed on the Law: the "burdens" set upon the least ones by the Pharisees; a Man Who refuses a kingdom and earthly crown and flees to get free of them22, but does not cease to proclaim His spiritual Kingdom and take the crown of the Redeemer to confirm His doctrine of sacrifice with His own sacrifice; the most holy Man Who wanted to experience everything associated with man except sin23 . The eagle does not sing more or less melodiously, as other birds do, but casts forth his powerful cry, which is such an affirmation of power that it makes the hearts of men and animals tremble. John does not sweetly sing the story of Christ, either, but hurls forth his powerful cry to celebrate the Hero. And it is such a forceful cry in asserting the Divinity and the most luminous Wisdom of Christ, that it makes souls and hearts tremble from the first words of his introduction24 ... John, like the eagle, loved to remain on the summit, in the fire of his Sun, and look at Him alone. He loved to listen to all of His words, both spoken and secret, that is: the deep, sweet lessons and conversations of Christ and His solitary outpourings of feeling; and His prayers and communion with the Father, in the silence of the nights or in the depths of the forests... John - the lover of the Sun of Charity and the virgin wedded to Charity - was the pure one, attracted by Jesus, perfect Purity. Love gives special understanding. And the stronger love is, the more the lover understands even the intimate movements of the beloved. John, the one most faithful to and most loving towards Jesus as God and Man, comprehended everything about Him, not as if resting on His Divine Heart, but as if in His Heart. No one knew Christ intimately as John did. All the perfections of Christ were known to him. He penetrated into His mystery and into the ocean of His virtues, truly measuring the height, breadth, and depth of this living Temple - not made by human hands - that men were trying to destroy in vain. And, after decades had transpired, he wrote about them all and described them, leaving the most perfect Gospel in historical veracity, the most powerful in doctrine, the most luminous in terms of wisdom and charity, and the most faithful in describing episodes and characters... [He described] even what the other evangelists had not dared to say: the Samaritan woman25; ...the scandal and flight and rebellion of the disciples against the Master after the discourse on the Bread of Heaven26; the adulterous woman27; the open disputes with Jews, Pharisees, Scribes, and Doctors; his taking refuge in Samaria and Ephraim28; his contacts with the Gentiles; the truth about Judas "who was a thief"29; and many other things... All four standing around the throne (Revelation 4:7-8) were covered with eyes. Indeed, they were the contemplatives, those who had clearly contemplated Christ so as to be able to describe and confess Him clearly. But John, the eagle... looks fixedly and penetrates as far as the core of the Mystery, and intones the hymn of praise which the others and the twenty-four 19 Lk. 2:41-50. 20 Lk. 22:44. 21 Jn. 12:6. 22 Jn. 6:15 23 2Cor. 5:21. 24 Jn. 1:1-18. 25 Jn. 4:4-42. 26 Jn. 6:66-71. 27 Jn. 8:2-11. 28 Jn. 10:31-42. 29 Jn. 12:6. 7 elders30 follow, to be fortified in spirit and declare the events of the last times: the supreme horror, the supreme persecution, the final scourges, the supreme victories of Christ, and the supreme, eternal joys of his faithful followers. The first words of his Gospel canticle are praise of the Light.31 His last words in the Apocalypse are a cry with a loving reply and a loving question: "Yes, I am coming soon!" "Come, Lord Jesus!32" And these two cries, of the Beloved and the Lover, disclose to us - more than anything else - what John meant to Jesus, and Jesus to John: Love... (Notebooks 1945-50, pp. 610-18) (Early in His public life, Jesus is explaining a complicated situation to Peter, who says he might not be able to remember this. And Matthew then says:) « Don't worry, Peter. Tomorrow I will ask the shepherds to repeat it to me all over again, calmly, in the orchard. Once, twice, three times, if necessary. My memory is good, I exercised it at my excise-desk and I will remember for everybody. When you wish, I will be able to repeat everything to you. I did not even keep notes at Capernaum, and yet… » [And Peter says] « Oh! You never made the mistake of a didrachma!… I remember… Good! I will forgive you your past, wholeheartedly, if you remember this story… and if you repeat it to me very often. I want it to enter my heart, as they have it, as Jonah had it… Oh! to die saying His Name!… » Jesus looks at Peter and smiles. (The Poem..., Vol. 1, p. 748; The Gospel…, Vol. 2, pp. 409-10) (It is now Wednesday of Holy Week, and Jesus is about to leave His apostles to themselves for a while. He says to Matthew:) "My good reporter, you will repeat to them the parable of the ten wise virgins and the ten foolish ones33, and that of the master who gives some talents to his three servants to make them bear interests, and two earn twice as much and the sluggard hides his in the ground34. Do you remember?" "Yes, my Lord, very well." "Repeat them, then, because not everybody knows them. And also those who know them will be pleased to hear them again..." (The Poem..., Vol. 5, p. 469; The Gospel…, Vol. 9, p. 448) Chronological Order of the Gospels (Jesus says to Maria Valtorta:) « ...The order of the Gospels is good, but not perfect as a chronological order. A diligent observer notices that [John], who could have given the exact order of events - having been with Me from the beginning of the Evangelization to My Ascension - did not do so, because John, a true son of the Light, devoted himself to and worried about making the Light shine brightly... John’s sublime Gospel achieved its supernatural purpose, but the chronology of My public life has not been improved by it. The other three evangelists show resemblances to one another with regard to events, but they alter their order with regard to time, because only one of the three was present at almost all My public life: Matthew, and he wrote it only fifteen years later, whilst the others wrote theirs even later, after hearing the story from My Mother, from Peter, and from other apostles and disciples... » (The Poem..., Vol. 4, pp. 350-1; The Gospel…, Vol. 7, p. 307; Notebooks 1944, p. 566) (A Note from the Compiler:) I refer to a table in a chapter of the “Pilgrim’s Guide to The Poem of the Man-God” – later: “Where is It? – A Guide to The Gospel as Revealed to Me”, cross-referencing verses from Scripture to pages in the five volumes of The Poem.... or the ten volumes of The Gospel… Commenting on what Jesus said, an examination of this table reveals a still very close correlation in sequence – with a few exceptions - between John’s verses and Maria’s first-hand witnessing of these events in The Poem...’s and The Gospel…’s pages. John, the Beloved Disciple (One night early in His public life, after Jesus has met with Nicodemus35, He calls in Peter and John towards the end of this meeting, and says to John:) « John, remember those words when the time comes to write them. » (The Poem..., Vol. 1, p. 626; The Gospel…, Vol. 2, p. 262) (Some time later, Jesus is speaking to His apostles about the Last Day36 and says:) « ...All Mankind will be there. And on the side of the damned souls there will be many who laughed at the voices of God - as if they were the voices of mad or possessed people - and tormented them because of their gift. It will be a long expected but fair revenge, granted to those martyrs of the dull wickedness of the world. » « How beautiful it will be to see all that! » exclaims John, enraptured. 30 Rev. 4:4-11, 5:8-14, 11:16-18, 19:4. 31 Jn. 1:4-9. 32 Rev. 22:20. 33 Mt. 25:1-13. 34 Mt. 25:14-30. 35 Jn. 3:1-21. 36 Mt. 25:31-46. 8 « Yes. And to see all the Pharisees grind their teeth, seized with anger » says Peter, rubbing his hands. « Oh! I think I will look only at Jesus and the blessed souls reading the Book with Him... » replies John, dreaming of that hour, while his light-blue eyes - lost in (I wonder) what vision of light - are made brighter by emotional tears which have welled in them, and an innocent smile appears on his red lips. The Zealot looks at him; Jesus also looks at him. But Jesus does not say anything. The Zealot instead says: « You will look at yourself, then! Because if among us there is one who will be the "voice of God" on the earth and will be elected to read the passages of the sealed Book, you are that one, John, the favourite disciple of Jesus and the friend of God. » « Oh! Do not say that! I am the most ignorant among you. And if Jesus did not say that the Kingdom of God belongs to children, I would think that I could never enter it, as I am good for nothing. Is that right, Master, that my only merit is that I am like a child? » « Yes, you belong to blessed childhood. And may you be blessed because of that! » (The Poem..., Vol. 3, p. 506; The Gospel…, Vol. 5, pp. 489-90) (Jesus comments on Maria Valtorta’s witnessing of Jn. 6:15:) « It is for upright-hearted people that this evangelical page, unknown and so explanatory, is given. John, when writing his Gospel after many years, alludes briefly to the fact. He reveals to men this detail - of which they were unaware - and he thus obeys the wish of his Master, Whose divine nature he illustrates more clearly than any other evangelist. And he reveals it with the virginal demureness, which enveloped all his actions and words with discreet humble modesty. John, to whom I confided the gravest events of My life, never made any pretentious displays of My favours. On the contrary, if you read him properly, you will see that he seems to suffer in revealing them and to say: "I must say this because it is true and it exalts my Lord, but please forgive me if I have to appear as being the only one aware of it"37, and he concisely mentions the detail known to him alone. Read the first chapter of his Gospel, in which he tells of his meeting with Me: "John the Baptist was once again with two of his disciples… Hearing this [were] the two disciples… Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard the words of John and had followed Jesus…" 38 He makes no mention of himself, on the contrary he hides behind Andrew, whom he brings into prominence. He was with Me at Cana, and he says: "Jesus was with His disciples… and His disciples believed in Him"39. It was the others who were in need to believe. He already believed. But he puts himself with the others, as if he needed to see miracles in order to believe... And he continues thus, never mentioning his name, always putting his companions forward, as if he had not been the most faithful, the always faithful and perfectly faithful disciple... Remember how delicately he refers to the episode of the Last Supper, as it shows that he was the favourite and was recognised as such also by the others, who apply to him when they want to be informed of the secrets of the Master: "So the disciples began to look at one another, wondering which He meant. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved, was leaning on His breast. Simon Peter signed to him and asked: 'To whom is He referring?'. And he, leaning as he was on Jesus' breast, asked Him: 'Who is it, Lord?"40 . Neither does he mention his name as being called into Gethsemane with Peter and James. [And later that night] he does not even say: "I followed the Lord". He says: "Simon Peter and another disciple followed Him, and as this disciple was known to the high Priest, he went with Jesus into the high Priest's palace"41. Without John I would not have had the comfort of seeing him and Peter during the first hours after I had been captured. But John does not boast about it. One of the main personages during the hours of My Passion - the only apostle to be lovingly, pitifully, heroically present near the Christ, near His Mother, in front of the unchecked fury of Jerusalem - he leaves out his name also in the outstanding episode of the Crucifixion and of the words of the Dying Christ: "Woman, this is Your son", "This is your mother"42. He is the "disciple", the nameless one, with no other name but the one which is his glory after being his vocation: "the disciple". Even after the honour of becoming the "son" of the Mother of God, he does not become elated, and describing the Resurrection he says once again: "Peter and the other apostle (who had been informed by Mary of Lazarus of the empty tomb) came out and went… They ran… but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived first, and he bent down and saw… but did not go in…" 43 A gesture of gentle humility! He, the favourite, the faithful disciple, lets Peter, the chief - although a cowardly sinner - enter first. He does not judge him. He is his Pontiff. Nay, he supports him with his holiness, because also "chiefs" may need - they do actually need - subjects to support them... My little John... oh! what a masterpiece of humility! - in order not to mortify the "Peters", who are not capable of understanding and believing... John humbles himself in everything concerning him. But when there is something to be said which may make the Incarnate Word of God shine with a brighter and brighter divine light, then John lifts the veils and reveals a secret. 37 Jn. 21:24. 38 Jn. 1:35-40. 39 Jn. 2:2-11. 40 Jn. 13:21-30. 41 Jn. 18:15-16. 42 See Jn. 19:26-7. 43 Jn. 20:3-6. 9 In the sixth chapter of his Gospel he says: "When He realised that they wanted to abduct Him to make Him king, He escaped back to the hill by Himself"44. And that hour in the life of the Christ is made known to believers: so that they may know that the Christ was subjected to manifold and complex temptations and struggles in His several distinctive features of Man, Master, Messiah, Redeemer, King; and that men and Satan - the eternal instigator of men - spared the Christ no deceit to diminish, demolish and destroy Him. Satanic and human wickedness assailed the Man, the Eternal Priest, the Master as well as the Lord. [They were] disguised with pretexts most acceptable as good ones, and they teased and tempted all the passions of the citizen, of the patriot, of the son, of the man, to find a weak spot upon which they might act... Do not stand with compasses and small measuring vessels, with microscope and human science, with pedantic reasoning of scribes trying to measure. Compare and discuss whether John has spoken the truth, and to what extent this or that is true... John did not make a mistake out of senile weakness, neither did little John make a mistake out of weakness in illness. The latter related what she saw. Great John, many years after the event told what he knew, subtly linking together places and events he revealed the secret - of which he alone was aware - of the attempt perpetrated maliciously at the incoronation of the Christ… » (The Poem..., Vol. 4, pp. 324-7; The Gospel…, Vol. 7, pp. 275-9) (Jesus is journeying through the countryside a little separated from some of His apostles and disciples – who have been made aware of His approaching persecution and Passion - and John joins Him...) « Why have you come? » asks Jesus. « We could not leave You all alone… so I came. » « And do you think that you could defend Me by yourself against so many? » « I am not sure. But at least I would die before You. And I would be satisfied. » « You will die a long time after Me, John. But do not regret it. If the Most High leaves you in the world, He does so that you may serve Him and His Word. » « And after… » « After, you will continue to serve. As long as you should live, to serve Me as both our hearts would wish. But you will serve Me also after your death. » « How shall I do that, my Master? If I am in Heaven with You, I will worship You. I shall not be able to serve You on the Earth after I have departed from it… » « Do you really think so? Well, I tell you that you will serve Me until My new advent, the final one. Many things will dry up before the last times, just as rivers dry up. And from blue wholesome flowing water-courses they become dusty mould and arid stones. But you will still be a river resounding My word and reflecting My light. You will be the supreme light, left to remind people of Christ. Because you will be a completely spiritual light, and in the last times there will be a struggle of darkness against light, of the flesh against the spirit. Those who persevere in faith, will find strength, hope and comfort in what you have left after you, and which will still be you… and above all will still be Me, because you and I love each other. And where you are, I am, and where I am, you are. I promised Peter that My Church, which will have My Stone as its head and foundation, will not be demolished by the repeated and fiercer and fiercer assaults of Hell45 . But now I tell you that what will still be I... you will leave as light for those seeking the Light. And it will not be destroyed, notwithstanding that Hell will try to annihilate it in every way. Nay: even more! Also those who believe in Me in an imperfect manner - because although they accept Me they will not accept My Peter - will always turn to your lighthouse like boats without pilots and without compass, which steer in their storms towards a light, because light means also salvation. » « But what shall I leave, my Lord? I am… poor… ignorant… I have but love… » « There you are: you will leave love. And the love for your Jesus will be word. And many - also among those who will not belong to My Church, who will not belong to any church, but will seek light and comfort as incentives to their unsatisfied spirits, for need of compassion in their grief – many will come to you and will find Me. » « I wish the first to find You were these cruel Judaeans, these Pharisees and scribes… But I am not of so much use… » « Nothing can be added to a full vessel. But do not be discouraged… » (The Poem..., Vol. 4, pp. 581-2; The Gospel…, Vol. 8, pp. 69-70) (Jesus comments to Maria Valtorta on another witnessing by John...) « I want you to meditate on the point concerning My meetings with Pilate. John, who is the most accurate witness and narrator - as he was almost always present, or at least very close - relates how I was taken to the Praetorium when I left Caiaphas' house. And he specifies "early in the morning"46. In fact you saw that it was daybreak. He also specifies: "they (the Jews) did not enter in order not to be contaminated, and thus be [still] able to eat the Passover"47. Being hypocritical as usual, they thought that it was dangerous to trample on the dust of a Gentile's house, as they might be contaminated, but they did not consider it a sin to kill an Innocent. And with their spirits satisfied with the crime they had accomplished, they were able to enjoy their Passover even more. They have many followers even nowadays. All those, who do wrong internally - but externally profess respect for religion and love for God - are like them. Formulae, formulae, but not true religion! I regard them with disgust and disdain. 44 Jn. 6:15. (Maria Valtorta devotes almost a whole chapter to her description of this episode. See The Poem..., Vol. 4, pp. 311-324) 45 Mt. 16:17-18. 46 Jn. 18:28. 47 Jn. 18:28-9. 10 As the Jews would not go into Pilate's house, Pilate came out to hear what the bawling crowd wanted48 ... » (The Poem..., Vol. 5, pp. 568-9; The Gospel…, Vol. 10, p. 72) (John the apostle, says to Maria:) "John to the little John. After the Master and the Mother, I am also speaking to give you a spiritual teaching. "To be among the beloved, it is necessary to do what I did through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Absolute faithfulness, which accepts everything without hesitation or debate. Purity in spirit, in mind, in flesh. Heroic charity.... "My word for you, disciple, is the same as the one I said to the disciples long ago: "Love. From love there come light, life, hope, faith, constancy, fortitude, and justice49. Everything comes from love. Those who possess love possess the Spirit of God. And those who possess the Spirit of God have, in themselves, the seven founts which annul the seven sins impeding Life in God. "In the Darkness holding sway, bear in yourself the inflamed Light of the world. You will obtain the possession of Heaven for yourself... (And Jesus says:) "O beloved daughter, feed on this holy Word, which they bring you and I give to you. Since you are destined to repeat teachings of the Word - who takes your smallness to confound the great and console the humble50 - accept the food which I offer you and do not refuse it. If the subject seems disagreeable and inedible, like a heavy roll of parchment, know that I break its seals and crumble its parts for you, because I love you and want to nourish you with holy food. "Open your heart and satisfy its insatiable hunger, for the heart that has known God is insatiably hungry for Him. My old and new Gospel shall be most sweet honey for your spirit." (Notebooks 1943, pp. 606-9) (In a later dictation, John says to Maria:) "Instructed as I was, penetrated by and made one with the Master, in my Gospel there lives the Word just as it was spoken. For, on account of my union, I was able to repeat it without modifications. It is Christ who speaks. John is nothing but the instrument who writes. Just like you. "Ours is a great destiny, to which one must be faithful even in the smallest details, so as not to contaminate divine doctrine with ourselves as creatures. And for the sake of this destiny we must lead a chaste life, so that the Word may descend where there is nothing impure, not even the shadow of a thought. "To receive the Word of God is like receiving the Bread of Heaven. He is the Bread of Heaven who becomes a Word for us, so as to become Bread in the spirits of our brothers and sisters. He is the Eucharist of the Word, no less holy than the Eucharist of the altar. For, on coming into us, the Eucharistic Christ brings us His Word, which is heard more or less clearly to the extent that the life of the spirit is in us. And, on coming into us, Christ the Master brings us His nourishment, which renders us increasingly capable of making the Eucharist the Food of eternal life. "He, my Master and yours, said so: 'Blessed are those who keep the Word of God in their hearts.'51 And He also said, 'Whoever listens to My Word has eternal life,' and 'I am the living Bread descending from Heaven. Whoever feeds on Me will not die, and I will raise him up on the last day.'52 The Master, then, gives a single destiny to whoever feeds on Him - the Word of the Father and the Bread of Heaven. "But I am not speaking so much to you for your sake, disciple who are in the light. I - a light of Christ, of Christ, the Light of the world - am speaking to the ones in darkness, who, like those with scales over their pupils, go groping in the dark and are unable to get onto the path where the Master is passing by; they don't want to get onto it, and they cry out, 'Jesus, save us! Give us Your Light!'... "Christ is Truth and Christ is Light. And the Paraclete, Whom Christ gives to those who are 'His,' is Light and Truth. And whoever has Christ, has the Truth and the Light of the Triune Divinity in himself... "The truth is in His Gospel. The Gospel is the one spoken by Him to His disciples and the one He continues to confirm and explain, through His benignity as the Savior. Always the same after so many centuries. There is no other..." (Notebooks 1944, pp. 55-7) (And Jesus says:) "...If it is true that revelation closes with John, it is also true that many things are mysterious in John, and I alone can make them clear and acceptable, not only by faith, but through understanding... " (Notebooks 1945-50, p. 271) 48 Jn. 19:4. 49 1 Jn. 4:7-21, 5:1-3. 50 1Cor. 1:26-7. 51 Lk. 11:28. 52 Jn. 6:32-9. 11 2. CHANGING – OR COMPLETING - THE OLD? The Church Throughout the Ages (Jesus says to Maria Valtorta:) "Every period has had its forms of piety. "The Church arose amidst the turbulent waves of the world. Virgins and those consecrated lived, mixed in among the pagan throngs, bringing into them the fragrance of Christ, which saturated them. And they conquered the world for Christ. "Then came the period of the austere separations. To bury oneself to the world, according to the views of the time, was necessary for perfection and for the ongoing redemption of souls. From the monasteries, from the hermitages, from the walled-in cells, rivers of sacrifices and prayers spread over the earth, descended upon Purgatory, and rose up to Heaven. "Later came the convents of active life. Hospitals, asylums, and schools benefited from this new manifestation of the Christian religion. But now, in the pagan world of a new paganism which is even more atrocious because it is more demoniacally subtle, consecrated souls are again needed that live in the world, as in the early times of My Church, to perfume the world with Me. They summarize the active and contemplative life in themselves in a single word: 'Victims'. "How many victims this poor world needs, to obtain mercy! If men listened to Me, I would give My loving command to each one: 'Sacrifice and penance, to be saved'. But I have only the Victims who are capable of imitating Me in sacrifice, which is the highest form of love... "How does one become a victim? By living with a single thought: that of consoling Me by redeeming others. The others are redeemed by sacrifice. I am consoled by love and by igniting love in extinguished hearts. The life of a victim is a perpetual ‘not belonging any more to oneself, a continuous scattering of oneself, an unceasing burning’. "But the Invisible Presence, in which you, too, take delight, is granted to whoever is able to live this way. For I am where My apostles and my Martyrs are. And the victims are martyrs and apostles." (Jesus further states:) "Since very ancient times, to preserve bodies from the corruption of death, special fragrances have been used which halt putrefaction and conserve corpses. But - O men who fall to pieces spiritually, wasted away by the corruptions of a whole society polluted to the core, O poor men for whom I died to no avail - why don't you use on yourselves the fragrances which can halt your corruption? "I have taught them to you. I have taught them to you by My life, by My word, by My death. In My Gospel is the norm in order to live healthy in the flesh and in the soul, in thought and in action. And I lived out that Gospel in My thirty-three years of life..." (Notebooks 1943, pp. 90-2) “God does not Change” (One morning, Maria opens her Bible at random, and writes:) The second chapter of the Book of Joel turned up, and precisely verses eighteen to thirty-two. I gave those words an interpretation which my heart as an Italian dreams of with all its strength. But Jesus explains a much higher meaning for it… And the little donkey Maria writes it down, telling herself that only the Lord is wise. (Jesus says:) "What Wisdom said in chapter 16, verses 1-10, has already been explained by Me on more than one occasion since I have been your Master, in a broader way than is the explanation for many of your brothers and sisters. Let us not pause, then, to consider those words. True Wisdom explained them to you long before the Book opened for you at that page. "And don't be surprised if on different occasions you find feelings and words in the Book, identical to the ones you have heard directly from Me. I am the Word of the Father. And the Word is one. It is thus the same now as it was at the time of the patriarchs and prophets. It is natural, then, that on reading the ancient words you should find them to be the same as the very new ones you hear from Me. It is I Who am speaking to you, as it was I Who spoke to those distant. And if your times and your thoughts have changed so much, and if you, little John, are so different from the solemn patriarchs and the vehement prophets, I am always that - the same, immutable in word and in doctrine. "God does not change. He adapts to your changes, to your - let's even call it - evolution, in the settings of His work. But the core of it - the true content of His teaching in what is not a matter of the passing life, but a question of the soul that does not die - remains and always will remain that. [This would be so], even if the Earth were still to remain the Earth for a thousand or ten thousand years, and man were to reach such material evolution - note carefully - as would enable him to abolish the laws of space, gravity, and velocity and became nearly omnipresent through instruments annulling separation. [Towards this separation] man is headed, and you designate [it] with scientific names such as television, telephoto, and other similar ones. Or [the core would remain if], through other instruments, he were to abolish the impossibility of acting at a distance, creating radio controls which will unleash on earth the demoniacal vengeance of deflagrations at a distance, lethal rays, and similar creations with a Satanic mark. "I can never tell you - even if you manage to become the assailants of other planets, and the creators of rays as powerful as the ray of My sun and [the creators of] the interceptors of waves which abolish the most immense distances for hearing and sight - that it is licit to abolish the Law of Charity, Continence, Sincerity, Honesty, and Humility. No, I can never, ever tell you that. But, rather, now and always I tell you, and will tell you, 'May you be blessed if you use the intellect for discoveries serving the common good. May you be accursed if you prostitute your intelligence by illicit commerce with Evil, to give birth to works of wickedness and destruction'..." (Notebooks 1943, pp. 314-5) 12 Genesis the Prophet (Jesus is speaking to a sorrowful mother-in-law, who is upset about her son’s affection for his wife. She tells Him:) « ...Before he was all for me, now he loves her more than he loves me… » The real reason of prejudices of mothers-in-law overflows at last from the old woman's heart, together with tears from her eyes. « Does your son leave you wanting anything? Has he neglected you since he got married?… » « No. I cannot say that. But, in brief, he belongs to his wife now… » and she weeps, moaning more loudly. Jesus smiles a quiet, pitiful smile for the jealous old woman. But, being as kind as ever, He does not reproach her. He feels pity for the suffering mother and tries to cure her. He lays His hand on her shoulder as if He wanted to guide her - because she is blinded by tears - perhaps to make her feel, through His contact, so much love that she may be comforted and cured. And He says to her: « Mother, and is it not right that it is so? Your husband did so with you, and his mother did not lose him, as you say and think, but she felt that he belonged less to her because your husband divided his love between his mother and you. And your husband's father, in his turn, stopped belonging completely to his mother, to love the mother of his children. And so on from generation to generation, going back in time to Eve: the first mother who saw her children divide with their wives the love which they previously had exclusively for their parents. But does Genesis not say: "This at last is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh… This is why a man will leave his father and mother and will join himself to his wife and they will become one body"53 . You may object: "It was the word of a man". Yes, but of what man? He was in the state of innocence and grace. He thus reflected without any shadow the Wisdom which had created him, and he was aware of its truth. Through Grace and his innocence he possessed also the other gifts of God in full measure. As his senses were subdued to his reason, his mind was not obscured by the fumes of concupiscence. And because science was proportionate to his state, he spoke words of truth. So he was a prophet. Because you know that prophet means a person who speaks in the name of another person. True prophets always speak of matters concerning the spirit and the future, even if relating apparently to the present time and the body, because in the sins of the flesh and in the facts of the present time are the seeds of future punishments, or facts of the future have roots in ancient events... The Eternal Spirit sees everything in an eternal present. And the Eternal Spirit speaks through saints, because he cannot dwell in sinners. Adam was a saint, because justice was complete in him and every virtue was present in him, because God had instilled the fullness of His gifts into His creature. Man has to work hard now, to attain justice and possess virtues, because the incentives of evil are in him. But such incentives were not in Adam, on the contrary Grace made him little inferior to God his Creator54. So his lips spoke words of grace. And this is a truthful word: "A man will leave his father and mother for a woman and he will join himself to his wife and they will become one body"55. And it is so absolutely true, that the Most Good Lord, in order to comfort mothers and fathers, included the fourth Commandment in the Law: "Honour your father and your mother"56. A Commandment that does not end with the marriage of man, but lasts beyond marriage. Previously, good people instinctively honoured their relatives, also after they left them to set up a new family. Since Moses it is an obligation of Law. And the purpose of it is to mitigate the grief of parents who were too often forgotten by their children after they got married. But the Law has not cancelled the prophetic words of Adam: "Man will leave his father and mother for his wife". They were just words and they are still valid. They reflected the thought of God. And the thought of God is immutable because it is perfect. So, mother, you must accept without selfishness the love of your son for his wife. And you will be holy as well. On the other hand, every sacrifice is compensated on the Earth. Is it not pleasant for you to kiss your grandchildren, the children of your son? And will the evening of your life not be peaceful and your last sleep placid with the delicate love of a daughter near you, to take the place of those daughters who are no longer in your house?… » And the woman asks Jesus: « How do You know that my daughters, who are all older than my son, are married and live far away?... Are You a prophet, too?... » (The Poem..., Vol. 4, pp. 360-1; The Gospel…, Vol. 7, pp. 319-21) Deuteronomy (Jesus is engaged in a discussion with Judas Iscariot, who says that they neglect Deuteronomy too much by following the new law. Jesus says:) « The New Law is the fruit of the old one, that is, it is the perfection achieved by the tree of Faith. But none of us neglect it, as far as I know, because I am the first to respect it and to prevent others from neglecting it. » Jesus is very incisive in saying these words. He resumes: « The Deuteronomy is untouchable. Also when My Kingdom will triumph - and with My Kingdom the New Law and its new codes and clauses - the Deuteronomy will always be applied to the new dictates, as the squared stones of ancient buildings are used for new ones, because they are perfect and make very strong walls. But My Kingdom does not yet exist, and I, a faithful Israelite, do not offend or neglect the Mosaic Book. It is the base of My behaviour and My teaching. Upon the base of the Man and of the Master, the Son of the Father places the heavenly construction of His Nature and Wisdom. In Deuteronomy it is written: "You shall not hand over to his master the slave who has come to you. He shall live 53 Gen. 2:23-4. 54 See Gen. 1:26-30. 55 Gen. 2:23-4. 56 Ex. 20:12; Dt. 5:16. 13 with you, wherever he pleases, he shall stay peacefully in one of your towns and you shall not molest him"57. This decree applies in any case where a slave has been compelled to run away from a cruel master. In My case, in the case of Syntyche58 , the flight is not towards a limited freedom, but towards the unlimited freedom of the Son of God. And now that this skylark has escaped from the hunters' trap, do you expect Me to put her into a net once again and hand her over to her prison to deprive her also of hope, after taking away her freedom? No, never!... so our visit to Caesarea has brought this woman to Me, that I may lead her to the Father... » (The Poem..., Vol. 2, pp. 634-5; The Gospel…, Vol. 4, pp. 205-6) (Jesus, Who has just rescued a nest of little birds which has fallen from a tree, is reproached by a “renowned scribe” for doing manual labour on the Sabbath. Jesus asks:) « Do you know Deuteronomy? » « Are you asking me? Me, a true rabbi of Israel? » « I know what you want to tell Me: that I, as I am not a scribe, but a poor Galilean, cannot be a "rabbi". But I ask you once again: "Do you know Deuteronomy?". » « Certainly better than You do. » « To the letter… certainly, if you wish to think so. But do you know it in its true meaning? » « What is said is said. There is but one meaning. » « True, there is but one meaning. And it is a meaning of love; or, if you do not want to call it love, of mercy; or if it annoys you to call it so, say: of humanity. And Deuteronomy says: "If you see your brother's sheep or his ox straying, even if they are not close at hand, you must not make off, but you will take them back to him, or you will keep them until he comes for them". It says: "If you see your brother's donkey or ox fall, do not pretend you have not seen, but help him to put it on its feet again"59. It says: "If in a tree or on the ground you find a nest with the mother bird sitting on the chicks or the eggs, you must not take the mother (because she is sacred to procreation), you may take the chicks only"60 . I saw a nest on the ground and the mother weeping over it. I felt sorry for her because she was a mother. And I gave her chicks back to her. I did not think I was profaning the Sabbath by consoling a mother. We must not let the sheep of our brother go astray, but the Law does not say that it is a sin to put a donkey on its feet again on a Sabbath. It says only that we must have mercy on our brother, and humanity for the donkey, a creature of God. I thought that God had created that mother that she might procreate, and that she had obeyed God's command, and that to prevent her from bringing up her offspring was to interfere with her obedience to a divine command. But you do not understand that. You and your friends consider the letter, not the spirit. You and your friends do not consider that you infringe the Sabbath twice, nay, three times, by degrading the divine Word to the pettiness of human mentality, by interfering with a command of God, and by lacking in mercy towards your neighbour. In order to injure by means of a reproach, you do not consider that it is wrong to speak unnecessarily. This, which is also work, but neither useful nor necessary nor good, does not seem a profanation of the Sabbath to you. Johanan ben Zaccai, listen to Me. Today you have no mercy on a blackcap, and according to Pharisaic practice you would let her die of grief, and you would let her offspring perish miserably, left at the mercy of asps or wicked people. Likewise, tomorrow you will have no mercy on a mother and you will make her die a miserable death and you will have her offspring killed, saying that it is right to do so out of respect to your law. To yours, not to God's. To the law which you and those like you have made to oppress the weak so that you, the strong ones, may triumph. But see. The weak always find a saviour. Whereas the proud, those who are strong according to the law of the world, will be crushed under the weight of their own heavy law. Goodbye, Johanan ben Zaccai. Remember this hour, and mind you do not profane yourself another Sabbath, with the satisfaction of a crime committed. »... (The Poem..., Vol. 4, pp. 97-9; The Gospel…, Vol. 6, pp. 509-11) Isaiah’s Relevance to Today (Jesus says:) "One must be able to read the Book - not with one's eyes, but with one's spirit. Then the supernatural Knowledge which inspired it is illuminated with the light of Truth. But to obtain this, one must have a spirit united to My Spirit. Then it is My Spirit that leads you. "Now, look: in the pages of Isaiah let us take the words of the chapters read together, like tesseras in a mosaic, and line them up with supernatural vision61. They will prove to be clearer for you. Begin with the ones I have pointed out to you for the blameworthy: ---------- "'Even if compassion is shown to the wicked one, he will not learn justice; he will do evil things in the land of the saints, and will not see the glory of the Lord’ 62 . 57 Dt. 23:15-16. 58 (A runaway slave girl who has sought sanctuary with Jesus.) 59 Dt. 22:1-4. 60 Dt. 22:6. 61 Isaiah, Chapters 26 to 33. 62 Is. 26:10. 14 "'Therefore, listen to the word of the Lord, O mockers, the leaders of my people that is in Jerusalem. You have said, "We have made an alliance with death; we have formed a pact with hell: when the scourges pass by, they will not come upon us, for we have placed our hopes in deceit and by deceit we are protected.’ 63 "’Your alliance with death shall be destroyed; your pact with hell shall no longer exist; when the scourge tempestuously passes, it shall sweep you away with it. And only the exhaustion will make you learn the lesson.’ 64 "'So, then, do not mock, so that your chains will not be tighter.’ 65 "'Woe to you that hide yourselves in your hearts to conceal their designs from the Lord! They do their works in darkness and say, "Who sees us? Who recognizes us?" This thought of yours is perverse.’ 66 "'Woe to you, children that desert and conceive designs, but without Me, and weave a cloth which is not according to My spirit, and pile up sin upon sin.’ 67 "'Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Since you have disdained this word and have hoped in slander and turmoil and grounded yourselves on these things, this iniquity shall be for you like a ruinous, imperceptible breach in a high wall which suddenly, when no one imagines, brings about a collapse and breaks into a thousand pieces."’ 68 "'Woe to those who go down into Egypt to seek help and hope in horses and trust in chariots - for they are numerous - and in cavalrymen who are exceedingly vigorous, and have not placed their trust in the Holy One. They have not sought the Lord.’ 69 "'Egypt is man and not God; its horses are flesh and not spirit. The Lord will stretch out His hand, and whoever offers help will collapse; whoever is helped will fall, and they will all be destroyed together.’ 70 "'Woe to you, sacker! Won't you be sacked, too? Woe to you, mocker! Won't you be mocked, too? When you have finished sacking, you will be sacked; when, weary, you finish mocking, you will be mocked.' 71 ---------- "Before speaking about topics and God's promises, let us comment on this passage. "The heart of man, which the prophet calls wicked, is a mixture of pride, overbearance, and rebelliousness. The threefold lust is in it, it is the throne on which the Evil One sits to fill that heart, which has repudiated God and His Justice, with demoniacal thoughts. From this heart, nothing but iniquity can emerge, for its King is the Spirit of Evil, who grants ephemeral triumphs paid for later by everlasting ruin. The wicked man, who reigns under the sign of the Beast, passes like a torrent of pain and corruption in the land of the saints - and Rome is a land of saints - dragging the lesser wicked into evil, and tormenting the children of the Lord... (On the following day, Jesus says:) "Let us look today at how much reflection there is on the lesser ones. I state, through the mouth of Isaiah, having the humble speak or speaking to them: --------- "'Without You, Lord, our God, they have made us slaves of the masters; grant that only for Your sake we may recall Your Name. Whoever dies, lives again; the giants do not rise anew: for this reason You visited them, exterminated them, and made every memory of them disappear.’ 72 "'Go, my people, enter into your rooms, close your doors behind you, and hide for a brief instant, until the indignation has passed. Behold, the Lord will go out of His dwelling and visit the iniquity of those who are against Him on the earth.’ "'On that day the Lord will visit the Leviathan, the agile serpent, the Leviathan, the twisting serpent, with his unbending sword, large and strong.’ 73 "'With barbarous words, in a foreign tongue, the Lord will speak to this people, to whom I have said, "Here is my rest; refresh the weary; this is my relief." But they did not want to listen to Me.’ 74 "And the Lord said, ‘Because this people approaches Me with its mouth and honors Me with its lips - but its heart is far from Me, and they offer Me worship with human precepts and teachings - for this reason I will again excite this people's admiration with a great, stupendous prodigy: the wisdom of the wise shall perish.’ 75 "Because the oppressor has disappeared, the mocker is annihilated, and those who plotted evil are exterminated, [those] who made men sin by their words, who laid snares for whoever reproached them, and without reason withdrew from the just one. For this reason the Lord says, 'Jacob shall not be confused; there will be no blush on his face now, but when he sees his 63 Is. 28:14-15. 64 Is. 28:18-19. 65 Is. 28:22. 66 Is. 29:15-16. 67 Is. 30:1. 68 Is. 30:12-14. 69 Is. 31:1. 70 Is. 31:3. 71 Is. 33:1. 72 Is. 26:13-14. 73 Is. 26:20 to 27:1. 74 Is. 28:11.12. 75 Is. 29:13-14. 15 children - the work of his hands - in his breast, he shall glorify my Name. And those who wandered in spirit shall learn knowledge, and the backbiters shall learn the law.’76 "'On that day each shall cast aside his idols of gold and silver, which your hands made for you so as to sin. And Asher shall fall by a sword which is not of man, and the sword which is not of man shall devour him, and he shall flee, not before the sword, and his youth shall pay the tribute.' 77 ---------- "The prime cause of evil: to be left without God. You have not wanted to have God for a Master, and a benign Master, and you have thus had masters who have degraded your freedom as men to the mortification of slaves. They have lent, sold, and recovered you like slaves, like slaves sent to death, laughing and growing fat on your pain. "The world is dying because it no longer has God for a Master; you in particular, are dying because you have not wanted God as a fatherly Master. May God will that you should turn to Him now! "In His Name is salvation. Life is Life in His Name, and death is resurrection. He who lives in the Lord never dies... "Come back to the Lord, children, to the Source from which Life springs forth. The passage of centuries does not burden it with old age, for Time is an instant, compared to My Eternity. Wash your souls in the Source; immerse your spirits therein, that they may see. That they may see God and the prodigies I work to excite your admiration, so that your minds will be stripped of the knowledge of the wise - a fallacious knowledge - and learn Knowledge from Me, Who am the Wisdom of God...” (Jesus says:) "And now, after the black tesseras and the purple ones, the golden tesseras in Isaiah's mosaic: ---------- "'The Lord says, "Behold, I shall place a stone as the foundation of Zion, a chosen stone, a cornerstone, precious, grounded on the foundations; let whoever believes not be in haste."’ 78 "’Whoever proceeds in justice and tells the truth, whoever hates gain deriving from calumny and shakes every gift out of his hands, and whoever covers his ears so as not to hear talk of blood, and closes his eyes so as not to see evil - shall dwell in a wonderful place; the fortresses in the cliffs shall be his lofty dwelling.’79 "'Turn your gaze towards Zion; your eyes shall see Jerusalem, the dwelling of abundance, a tent which can never be transferred: its pegs shall never be removed, and none of its ropes shall be broken.’ 80 "'After becoming inebriated in the heavens, my sword shall suddenly plunge down upon the people condemned to destruction by my judgment… Demons… shall be found there [in its devastated land].’ 81 "'Diligently search in the book of the Lord and read: not one of these things is lacking, and one is not without the other. For what comes out of my mouth is ordered by Him, and his spirit draws things together'.82 ---------- "The chosen stone - a cornerstone and a precious stone, with a secure foundation upon which the eternal Zion rises up - is My Church and the Morality coming from My Law, of which the Church is the teaching chair. It is vain to try to put another law in its place. None is so safe and just as this one, for this one is dictated by a divine mind. "But in hearts as well, I place a cornerstone upon which your spiritual, individual Zion must be based, and from which your spirit must hurl itself onto the ascent leading to Me, into the supernatural kingdom for which I created you. [This kingdom] is not closed to you until the moment of death, but its doors of light are always open for you. "Blessed are those able to live in the spirit. Their earthly life is a foretaste of loving blessedness with Me. They are the ones that proceed in Justice and Truth, who do not seek wealth acquired badly by fraud and usury, by deceit and calumny; they are the ones not thirsty for vengeance or hungry for vice; [they are] clean in thought, heart, and hands. "For them the dwellings in My Father's Kingdom are kept, and beginning in this life, the Lord's grace encircles them like a fortress on cliffs. They are the 'secure'. Only their will - if it becomes perverted - can break this security of theirs, whose cornerstones are the Will of God and their will, the Word of God and their obedience to the Law. "The Jerusalem about which Isaiah speaks is My Church here below, the antechamber of the heavenly Jerusalem. In her there is an abundance, not of human wealth, but of divine treasures of Forgiveness and Knowledge, as there are divine treasures of blessedness in the heavenly Jerusalem. "No human force can devastate My Church like a whirlwind, to the point of destroying her. I shall be with her, to act as a peg and a rope. When the time comes for the earth to cease to be, My Church - which cannot perish because it is cemented by the Blood of a God and of his saints - will be transported by the angels into Heaven. "A people, Isaiah says, shall be struck by the sword of Justice. But there will be many more, for the world has fornicated with the devil in many parts. And still others are on the point of sinning, in spite of all I have done to keep them on the way of Life. Pray, pray, pray a lot to prevent new condemnations, originated by new fornications. "The demons - oh! The demons are already in the place where I shall punish. It is the demons, installed as masters in hearts, that lead the nations to death. And there are peoples in which only a few hearts are not the dwelling-place of demons. 76 Is. 29:20-4. 77 Is. 31:7-8. 78 Is. 28:10. 79 Is. 33:15-16. 80 Is. 33:20. 81 Is. 34:4-5. 82 Is. 34:16. 16 Legions of legions of devils move whole nations like puppets. And how can I reign where hearts have become the dwelling of the sons and daughters of Lucifer? "The prophetic word has other applications, but I have wanted to show it to you in reference to the hour you are living through. And not tell you more so as not to demoralize you more. "Pray. Your God will open the doors for you before you experience the maximum horror. For the time being, enter into the dwelling of His Heart, and give Me your love to appease My Justice. In truth I tell you that to die of love is the bloodiest of deaths, because one suffers not from one thing alone, but from the things of all creation. One suffers for the sake of God and for one's neighbor. It is the death of your Jesus, for - know this - the most fitting word on My death is not 'scourges', 'tortures', or 'cross'. It is 'love'. "It is love that sacrificed the Son of God. Love for you. May it be love that sacrifices the new redeemers." (Notebooks 1943, pp. 200-8) The Commandments – and the Sermon on the Mount [While adding to or clarifying passages in Scripture, Jesus – in His introduction to His Sermon on the Mount - emphasises that the Ten Commandments83 (the “Law”) remain inviolate:] « ...I will not change one iota of the Law84. And Who gave it amongst the peals of thunder on Sinai? The Most High. Who is the Most High? God One and Trine. Where did He take it from? From His Thought. How did He give it? By His Word. Why did He give it? Out of His Love. You can thus see that the Trinity was present. And the Word, obedient as ever to the Thought and Love, spoke on behalf of the Thought and Love. Could I give Myself the lie? No, I could not. But since I can do everything, I can complete the Law, make it divinely complete... The Law is what it is, and it shall be such until the last day: not one word will be changed, not one precept will be abolished. It is crowned with perfection. To reach salvation it is sufficient to accept it as it was given. To obtain immediate union with God it is necessary to live it according to My advice. But since heroes are an exception, I will speak to common souls, to the mass of souls, so that no one may say that I have made what is necessary unknown, in order to reach perfection. But of everything I tell you, remember this: he who takes the liberty of infringing one of the least of these commandments, will be considered one of the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. And he who will induce others to infringe them, will be considered one of the least, both with regard to himself and to those whom he led to the infringement. He, instead, who through his life and deeds - rather than by words - has convinced others to abide by the Law, will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. And his greatness will be increased by each of those whom he has led to obey and thus sanctify themselves... » (While not taking away from the importance of the Ten Commandments, Jesus introduces an alternative approach to living God’s will, in His teachings on the Beatitudes85. He says:) « ...You may ask: "How can one conquer God and His Kingdom through a milder road than the harsh Sinai one?" There is no other road but that one. But let us look at it not from the point of view of a threat, but from the point of view of love. Let us not say: "Woe to me, if I do not do that!" trembling with fear of sinning, of not being able not to sin. But let us say: "How glad I will be if I do that!" and with the impulse of a supernatural joy, full of happiness, let us rush towards these beatitudes, brought about by compliance with the Law, as roses sprout from a thorny bush... » (The Poem..., Vol. 2, pp. 142-3, 135; The Gospel…, Vol. 3, pp. 95-7, 87) 3. THE “WORK” (THE POEM…or THE GOSPEL…) Maria Receives her Mission (On December 27, 1943, after a year of “formation” dictations recorded in Notebooks 1943, Jesus tells Maria of her new mission...) "O beloved daughter, feed on this holy Word, which they bring you and I give to you. Since you are destined to repeat teachings of the Word, Who takes your smallness to confound the great and console the humble86, accept the food which I offer you and do not refuse it. If the subject seems disagreeable and inedible, like a heavy roll of parchment, know that I break its seals and crumble its parts for you, because I love you and want to nourish you with holy food. "Open your heart and satisfy its insatiable hunger, for the heart that has known God is insatiably hungry for Him. My old and new Gospel shall be most sweet honey for your spirit." (Notebooks 1943, p. 609) Receiving the Dictations and Visions (Some ten months later, Maria writes:) ...This morning I feel the active joy which in me is always a prelude to His Word. I shall explain as best I can. I feel a passive joy when, as happened yesterday and the day before, I rejoice in the Presence, but It does not call me to serve It. I feel an active joy when that indescribable "something" I experience says to me, "Servant of your Jesus, He calls you. Serve Him." I then go from spiritual serenity to cheerfulness, from peace to a lightness which relieves me. If I could move, I think I would 83 Ex. 20:1-17; Dt. 5:6-22. 84 Lk. 16:17. 85 Mt. 5:1-12; Lk. 6:20-2. 86 1Cor. 1:26-7. 17 go back and forth - inside the house or, better, outside it - with exuberance over this JOY and strength penetrating me. In the state I am in, my only outlet is song... That sweet languor then takes over which changes my face, a languor wherein I melt into a sweetness which is not of this earth. And from it I go to the real work of writing by dictation or describing what presents itself to me. If it is writing by dictation, and the dictation is based on a point in the Bible, then Jesus first has me open to the point He wants to explain. If, on the other hand, it is a dictation without special references, He then does not have me take up even the Bible or any other holy book. If it is a vision, it presents itself, as I said, with an initial figure which is generally the culminating point in the vision, and then develops in an orderly way. As soon as it presents itself, it fills me with even more intense joy. When the vision has an orderly unfolding, I start at the beginning. When it presents itself from the culminating point on, I describe that point and then, when the preceding one is shown, I write that one and the sequence (so it was with the vision of Rabbi Gamaliel in August, in the first ten days of the month, I think). Jesus told me to repeat once more, to provide more light for those who are or want to remain in the dark concerning my case. And He now tells me to open the Bible. Today, then, it is a dictation... (Notebooks 1944, pp. 584-5) Maria Replaces Another (Jesus says to Maria:) "Among sinners and converts, I sometimes see souls that are so beautiful and so grateful that I chose them to be My spouses, in place of others, previously called, who have rejected Me. "You, Maria, were a poor thing, a beggar, hungry, agitated, and unclothed. You tried to satisfy your hunger by yourself, to calm your anxiety, to cover your wretchedness, without success. You then approached My Dwelling, having understood that only therein are peace and true refreshment to be found. And I received you, putting you in the place of another who, called by Me, rejected grace. And on seeing you grateful and willing, I chose you as My bride…" (Notebooks 1943, p. 119 – June 28, 1943) "You Alone”, Maria (Jesus answers a concern Maria had expressed to Him, about not having ever gone to see the Holy Land. He says:) "Some days ago you said you are dying without having fulfilled the desire to see the Holy Places. You see them, and it is the way they were when I sanctified them with My presence. Now, after twenty centuries of profanations arising from hate or love, they are no longer the way they were. Consider, then, that you see them, and those going to Palestine do not. And do not be saddened by this. "The second point: you complain that even those books which speak of Me seem to hold no relish for you any longer, whereas you greatly loved them before. This also comes from your present condition. How can you want human works to seem more perfect to you, when you know the truth of events through My action? It is what happens with even good translations. They always mutilate the energy of the original phrase. Human descriptions - whether they be of places, events, or feelings - are 'translations' and thus always incomplete, inexact, if not in words and events, in feelings. Especially now that rationalism has brought such sterility. Consequently, when one is led by Me to see and know, every other description is cold and leaves one dissatisfied and displeased..." (Notebooks 1944, p. 197) (On August 15 1949, Jesus said to Maria Valtorta:) "Only my Mother knew everything about Me, as regards My time as a Son in Nazareth, as the Master and Redeemer, and as the glorious Risen One. For, through both My word and divine decision, Mary knew everything and partook of Me: moments of fatigue, sorrows, joys, and triumphs. Mary alone. The Evangelists and Apostles partially knew about this or that aspect of My life. And they did not know much – [they knew] very little - about My Mother. "But you, My little Mary, My little John, you alone know all about Me and Mary. You have lived through Our lives, at Our side. You have breathed the air of Our house, of the house of Joachim and then of Mary, of Our Nazareth, of Our whole Palestine. You have sniffed the smell of bread just baked by Mary, of the linen washed by Her, of Her virginal body and Mine. You have smelled the scent of Mary Magdalene's balms, of Lazarus's putrescence, of the lamb and wine at the Paschal Supper, and of My Blood shed in the Passion. You have counted Our sighs and voices and looks, acts, lessons, and miracles. "You know more than the great John. O My worshipping crucified one, this is what I wanted to give you by virtue of your long suffering: perfect, complete knowledge of Us, as Saints and Doctors did not possess it. "But the times require an urgent response. Only a broad knowledge of Me can save. And to the one who gave Me all, I have given all, so that many - through your sacrifice, which has obtained all from My love - may have Life. Neither men nor Hell can tear the treasure I have given you away from your spirit. It will help you to live and die, and gain a foretaste of the joy of Heaven. "Soul of Mine, close your bodily eyes to the world surrounding and afflicting you, but open the eyes of your spirit and always keep them open to the world I have clarified for you - My world. "Exult and take joy in Me as an infant. Admire and listen to the Boy who is already a Teacher. Disciple, listen to the Word speaking to the multitudes. "Rest on My Heart, new John. Redden yourself with My blood. "Weep over the agony of My Mother, which bursts forth at last, after the heroic suffering on Calvary. You, at least, must understand that twofold agony - as a Mother, and as the first and perfect One among believers. No one understands. Only you - that have heard it and remember it - hear and see the voices, tears, and sobs. "Make reparation for the sorrow of Mary - taken into consideration too little - the Co-Redemptrix, with your understanding 18 love. I ask you for this: for you to make reparation for the superficiality with which too many observe the passion of My Mother. "I ask you today - today, feast of the Assumption. A day of Marian joy. But to have that joy, Mary had to drink a chalice as bitter as Mine.... Mary, before being the Queen of Heaven, was a sea of sorrow. "You are washed by My Blood and by the sea of Mary's weeping. And no one gives it a thought.... Make reparation for the indifferent." (Notebooks 1945-50, pp. 529-31) A Rallying Call from Jesus (Very soon afterwards, Jesus says:) "Maria, do you remember your act of offering to Love and Justice87? Robed in the merits of your Beloved, in that act you repeat My words: 'Father, forgive men... and if, to placate Your justice, expiatory hosts are needed, here I am, Father. Immolate Me for the sake of peace between man and God, between man and man, for the coming of Your Kingdom.' And to Me, your Love, say, 'You said that the greatest love is offered by the one who lays down his life for his friends88 . That's it. I come and offer myself to You so that Your Kingdom will be established on earth and in hearts.' And you ask Me to use you as an instrument, a blind instrument that thus does not ask the reason for anything. "I use you. I use you for this. For My Kingdom in the hearts of the men who no longer know Me as I am. If they knew Me as I am, very many would come to Me. I want them to come. I take pity on these throngs. Many in them are corrupted because they do not know the Shepherd. "Rally the flock together. The Shepherd is coming. Let the sheep and the lambs gather at the sound of My loving appeal. The goats will separate by themselves. Are there only a few of you? There were twelve, and eleven remained. Is the cradle obscure and base? In a manger, in the smallest of the cities in Judah, the Savior was born89 . I bless the 'good wills' which gather90. Let Me have 'My followers,' as Satan has his. "Come back to the Gospel, children. Come back. If there had been holier actions and words to bring spirits to Goodness, I, Wisdom, would have used them. There is nothing more suited to sanctifying than the Gospel. "Come to the 'Fount of the waters of the Savior.'91 Yes, they are truly waters issuing from My Heart - these loving words which are My Gospel: the word of the Good News. The Good News which I repeat once more with an urgent invitation to the world, which is perishing in what is not good. "Great and humble ones who want this Work - My blessing for you. And you, little John, are more of a martyr than ever for this reason. Go in peace." (Notebooks 1944, pp. 601-2) 4. CLARIFYING AND ENHANCING THE GOSPELS The Decalogue and the Gospel (After showing Maria the vision of the flight of Mary and Joseph and the Baby Jesus to Egypt,92 Jesus says to Maria:) « ...We have been showing you the scenes which preceded, accompanied and followed My coming... They are well known, although they have been distorted by elements superimposed throughout centuries, always as a consequence of the mentality of men, who in order to give greater praise to God - and are therefore forgiven - make unreal what would be so lovely to leave real. Such way of seeing things in their reality does not diminish My Humanity or Mary's, neither does it offend My Divinity or the Majesty of the Father or the Love of the Most Holy Trinity. On the contrary, the merits of My Mother and My perfect humility shine brightly, and so does the omnipotent kindness of the Eternal Lord. But We have shown you these scenes in order to be able to apply to you - and to other people - the supernatural meaning deriving from them, and give it to you as a rule of life. The Decalogue is the Law; and My Gospel is the Doctrine that makes the Law clearer for you and more loving to follow. The Law and My Doctrine would be sufficient to make saints of men. But you are so hampered by your humanity - it really overwhelms your souls too much - that you cannot follow My ways and you fall; or you stop, disheartened. You go on saying to yourselves, and to those who would like to assist you, quoting the examples of the Gospel for you: "But Jesus, but Mary, but Joseph (and so on for all the saints) were not like us. They were strong, they were immediately comforted in their sorrow. Also in the little sorrow which they experienced, they did not feel passions. They were already beings out of this world". That little sorrow! They did not feel passions! Sorrow has been Our faithful friend, and it had all the most varied forms and names... We had eyes to see and ears to hear, and Satan caused those vices to dance in front of Us and around Us, showing them to Us with their heap of filth in action, or tempting Us with his insinuations. But, since We firmly wanted to please God, his filth 87 (See Maria’s Autobiography, pp. 250-9 and 279-300.) 88 Jn. 10:11,15:13. 89 Mt. 2:5-6; Lk. 2:4-7. 90 See Lk. 2:14. 91 Is. 12:3; Jn. 4:10-15. 92 Mt. 2:13-15. 19 and insinuations - instead of achieving the purpose intended by Satan - obtained the very opposite. And the more he worked, the more We took shelter in the light of God, disgusted as We were with the muddy darkness which he showed to the eyes of our bodies and of our souls... We loved our country, and in our country we loved our little Nazareth above every other town in Palestine. We were fond of our house, of our relatives and friends. Why should we not? We did not become slaves to our feelings, because nothing is to be our master except God. But our feelings were our good companions... Mary's virginity after Her delivery, and Joseph's chastity, have been strongly denied... Well, I wish to tell those deniers of the most beautiful things... that Mary was and remained a virgin, and that only Her soul was married to Joseph, exactly as Her spirit was united only to the Spirit of God, by Whose deed She conceived Her Only Son: I, Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of the Father and of Mary. This is not a tradition embellished afterwards, out of loving respect for the Blessed Virgin Who was My Mother. It is the truth, and it has been known since early times. Matthew was not born after centuries. He was a contemporary of Mary. Matthew was not a poor ignorant man brought up in a forest and likely to believe any idle story. He was a clerk in the taxation office - as you would say nowadays - he was an excise man, as we said then. He could see, hear, understand, and tell the truth from the false. Matthew did not hear things reported by third parties. He heard them directly from Mary's lips to Whom he applied for information, prompted by his love for his Master and for the truth... This is the last teaching of the vision. And it is a halo which shines on the heads of Mary and Joseph. The Inviolate Virgin. The just and chaste man. The two lilies amongst whom I grew up, receiving only the perfume of purity... » (The Poem..., Vol. 1, pp. 183-7; The Gospel…, Vol. 1, pp. 221-6) Joseph’s Dilemma (After Mary’s visit to Her cousin Elizabeth, Joseph goes to meet Her in Jerusalem to take Her home to Nazareth. The Gosper account of Joseph’s discovery of Mary’s pregnancy93 is greatly enhanced by Maria’s descriptions...) ...They get on their donkeys. Joseph has fastened Mary's little trunk to his saddle, as he had done when coming to Jerusalem. And before She gets on Her donkey, he makes sure that Her saddle is properly fastened. I see that Joseph looks at Mary when she mounts Her saddle. But he does not say anything. Their journey begins… (Mary comments on Joseph’s dilemma and his passion…) « It began in Jerusalem when he noticed My condition. And it lasted several days, exactly as it had happened to Jesus and to Me. Neither was it less painful for his soul. And only because of the holiness of My just spouse, it was contained in such a dignified and secret form, that it has been hardly noticed throughout centuries… Joseph was holy. His pure spirit lived in God. His charity was ardent and strong. And out of charity he saved your Savior for you... The three days of his passion were short in number, but deep in intensity. And they were tremendous also for Me, those days of My first passion. Because I was aware of his suffering, which I could not alleviate - in fact I had to obey God's command, Who had said to Me: "Be silent!" And when, after we arrived in Nazareth, I saw him go away with a laconic goodbye - bent as if he had aged in a short time - I noticed that he no longer came to see Me in the evening as he used to do. Then I tell you, My children, that My heart wept very bitterly... I had to fight despair and Satan's insinuation, and hope, hope, hope. And pray, pray, pray. And forgive, forgive, forgive Joseph's suspicion, his disturbance and just despair... » (The scene moves forward to another vision of Maria Valtorta…) I see the little orchard [behind the house] in Nazareth. Mary is spinning, in the shade of a very thick apple-tree overloaded with apples... The beautiful color… of Her cheeks… has disappeared… and Her eyes are swollen… Mary starts at a loud resolute knocking. She lays the distaff and spindle down and rises to go [through the house] and open the door. Her dress is loose and wide, but it does not conceal the roundness of Her pelvis. Joseph is standing in front of Her. Mary turns pale… and looks at Joseph with sad, enquiring eyes. Joseph looks at Her with imploring ones. They are both silent, looking at each other. Then Mary says: « At this time, Joseph? Is there anything you need? What do you want to tell Me? Come in. » Joseph enters, and closes the door. He is still silent. « Speak, Joseph. What is it you want from Me? » « I want You to forgive me. » Joseph bends down as if he wanted to kneel. But Mary - Who is always so reserved in touching him - seizes him firmly by the shoulders and stops him. Mary's face blushes and goes pale in rapid succession... « You want Me to forgive you? I have nothing to forgive you for, Joseph. I can only thank you once again for everything you have done here while I was away, and for your love for Me. » Joseph looks at Her, and I can see two large tears welling up in the cavity of his deep eyes... « Forgive me, Mary. I mistrusted You. Now I know… I was not giving You the possibility of defending Yourself because I was about to take a decision without questioning You… I offended You with my suspicion… Whoever suspects, does not know. And I did not know You as I should have. Oh! the torment I suffered… three days of torture, forgive me, Mary. » « I have nothing to forgive you for. On the contrary, I ask you to forgive Me, for the pain I caused you. » « Oh! Yes, it was a great pain! What a torture!... But why, Mary, have You been so humble as to hide Your glory from me, Your spouse, and so allow me to suspect You? »… 93 Mt. 1:18-24 20 Mary lays Her tiny hand on his head, and smiles… And She whispers: « If I had not been humble in the most perfect manner, I would not have deserved to conceive the Expected One, Who is coming to pay for the sin of pride that ruined man. And then I obeyed… God had requested such obedience. It cost Me so much… because of you, because of the pain that you were to suffer. But I could only obey. I am the Handmaid of the Lord94, and servants do not discuss the orders they receive. They fulfill them Joseph, even if they cause bitter tears. » Mary weeps quietly, while speaking… Joseph presses Mary's little hands in his dark strong ones, and he kisses the tips of Her fingers... « Now we shall have to arrange for… » Joseph does not say anything else but he looks at Mary's body. And She becomes purple, and sits suddenly, to avoid Her figure being exposed... Joseph continues: « We shall have to make haste. I will come here… We will complete the wedding… Next week. Is that all right? » « Whatever you do is all right, Joseph. You are the head of the family, I am your servant. »… « But You… I am a poor man, the poorest of God's children!… » And Mary says: « Jesus is coming to us poor people, to make us rich in God, He is coming to the two of us, because we are the poorest, and we admit it. Rejoice, Joseph. The House of David has the King long waited for, and our home will become more splendid than Solomon's palace. Because Heaven will be here!… » Mary cries with joy. Such happy tears! And Joseph, who is now kneeling at Her feet, is weeping, with his head almost hidden in Mary's wide dress... (The Poem..., Vol. 1, pp. 123-8; The Gospel…, Vol. 1, pp. 151-7) Jesus’ Early Childhood (Mary offers Maria some reminiscences of Jesus as a Child:) "...Legend loves to make my Child a prodigious, unnatural being, who from his birth onwards, acted like a man... But I want to speak to you about my Child just as He was... His growth was neither more nor less like that of a healthy child cared for by his mother. "My Child was intelligent. Very. As perfect as one can be. But his intelligence awakened day by day, following the rule common to all born of woman... The first glances - no longer indefinite, like those of the first days - began to rest upon things, and especially on his Mother. The first smiles were uncertain, and then increasingly certain when I would bend over his crib and take Him onto my lap to give Him milk, wash Him, dress Him, and kiss Him. "The first words, confused, and then clearer and clearer. What blessedness to be the Mother, teaching the Son of God to say, 'Mother!' And the first time He pronounced this word correctly - which no one ever knew how to say with so much Love as He did... – was a celebration for me and Joseph... "And his first steps on his tender little feet, pink like the petal of a flesh-colored rose; those feet... which they would later nail to the cross and I would see contracting in agony... "And his falls when He started to move on his own. I would run to lift Him up again and kiss his bruises… Oh, I could do so then! One day I would see Him fall under the cross... and I would no longer be able to run to lift Him up again and kiss his bleeding bruises - the poor Mother of a poor executed Son! "And his first acts of attentiveness: a little flower picked in the small garden or along the road and brought to Me, a little stool dragged to my feet so that I would be more comfortable, the picking up of an object that I had dropped. "And his smile... Whoever has seen my Son's smile has seen Paradise on Earth. For everyone... When, moreover, the voice was joined to the smile... it was the voice of God that was speaking, Maria... "Jesus’ intelligence, more and more open until reaching perfection, aroused my admiration and respect. But it was so tempered with goodness that it never humiliated anyone. My sweet Son, You were gentle to all, and especially to your Mother!..." (Notebooks 1943, pp. 550-1) The Man who wanted to Bury his Father (The following passage is a follow-on from Maria’s description of Jesus’ encounter with the man who wanted to follow Jesus, but who first wanted to go home and bury his father95 . Jesus had said to him:) « Follow Me. Leave the dead to bury their dead. You have already been attracted by Life. On the other hand, you aspired to that. Do not weep over the gap which Life opened around you to make you a disciple. The loss of affection is the root of the wings which are born of a man who has become a servant of the Truth. Leave corruption to its own fate. Rise towards the Kingdom of the incorrupt. There you will find the incorruptible pearl of your father. God calls and passes by. Tomorrow you would no longer find your heart of today, or God's invitation. Come. Go and announce the Kingdom of God. » The man is leaning against a low wall and with his arms hanging by his sides. He is holding two bags, full of perfumes and bandages; and his head is lowered in thought, wavering between two loves: for God, and for his father... The man makes up his mind. He hands the two bundles to a companion and comes towards Jesus... Who embraces the young man, to comfort him and support him in his effort... [Afterwards], Jesus goes on board Peter's boat and whispers a few words to him. I see Jesus smile while Peter makes a gesture expressing amazement. But He does not say anything. Also [Elias], the man who didn't go to bury his father - in order to follow Jesus - gets into the boat… (A little while later, Jesus says to Peter:) 94 Lk. 1:38 95 Mt. 8:21-2; Lk. 9:59-60 21 « Go up the river as far as you can, and stop on the other side. » And while the two boats sail a short distance up the river, and then stop near the bank, Jesus sits down and asks the new disciple: « Who is left now at home? » « My mother, and my eldest brother who has been married for five years. My sisters are in various parts of the region. My father was very good, and my mother mourns his death broken-heartedly. » The young man stops all of a sudden, stifling heartfelt sobs. Jesus grabs his hand and says: « I experienced that sorrow Myself, and I saw My Mother weep. So I can understand… Now we are in sight of Korazim. » And Jesus stares at the new disciple, saying: « Much is given to those who give. And possessions do not deprive the gift of its merits. Take Me to the sepulchre of your family, and to your mother's house. » The young man kneels down, kissing Jesus' hand, and weeping. « Get up. Let us go. My spirit has perceived your weeping. I want to fortify you in your heroism, through My love. »… They stop first near the sepulchre and pray. After, through a still semi-bare vineyard, they go to Elias' house. The meeting of the two brothers is a rather cold one. The elder brother feels offended, and wants people to notice it. The younger one feels guilty, from a human point of view, and does not react. But the arrival of their mother - who, without saying anything, prostrates herself and kisses the hem of Jesus' tunic - brightens the atmosphere and their spirits. And they want to honour the Master, but Jesus does not accept anything. He only says: « Let your hearts be just, one towards the other, as just was he whom you are mourning. Do not give a human sense to what is super-human: death, and the election to a mission. The soul of your just father was not upset, seeing that this son was not present at the burial of his body. But it rested quietly on the certainty of Elias' future. Do not let worldly thoughts disturb the grace of the election. If the world was surprised at not seeing him near his father's coffin, the angels exulted, seeing him beside the Messiah. Be just. And may that comfort you, mother. You brought him up wisely, and he has been called by Wisdom. I bless you all. Peace be with you, now and always. » They go on the road which takes them back to the river, and from there to Bethsaida. Elias did not delay - even for one moment - on the threshold of his father's house. After kissing his mother goodbye, he follows the Master with the simplicity of a child who follows his real father... (The Poem..., Vol. 2, pp. 192-3, 198-200; The Gospel…, Vol. 3, pp. 156-8, 164-6) The Odd, Missing Word (Jesus explains a critical word which is left out of the account of the Marriage Feast of Cana96...) « That "still", which is omitted by many translators, is the keyword of the sentence and explains its true meaning. I was the Son, submissive to My Mother, up to the moment when the will of My Father told Me that the hour had come when I was to be the Master. From the moment My mission started, I was no longer the Son submissive to My Mother, but I was the Servant of God. My moral ties with My Mother were broken. They had turned into higher bonds, all of a spiritual nature. I always called Mary, My Holy "Mother". Our love suffered no interruptions, neither did it even cool down, nay, it was never so perfect as when I was separated from Her as by a second birth, and She gave Me to the world and for the world, as the Messiah and Evangeliser. Her third sublime mystical maternity took place when She bore Me to the Cross in the torture of Golgotha, and made Me the Redeemer of the world. "What is there still between Me and You?" Before I was Yours, only Yours. You gave Me orders, and I obeyed You. I was subject to You. Now I belong to My mission. Did I not say: "He, who lays his hand on the plough and looks back to bid farewell to those who are staying, is not fit for the Kingdom of God"97? I had laid My hand on the plough, not to cut the ground with the ploughshare, but to open the hearts of men and sow there the word of God. I was to take My hand away from the plough only when they would tear it away to nail it to the Cross, and to open with My torturing nail My Father's heart, out of which forgiveness for mankind was to flow. That "still", forgotten by most, meant this: "You were everything for Me, Mother, as long as I was only Jesus of Mary of Nazareth, and You are everything in My spirit; but since I became the expected Messiah, I belong to My Father. Wait for a little while, and once My mission is over I will be, once again, entirely Yours; You will hold Me once again in Your arms, as when I was a little child, and no one will ever again contend with You for Your Son, considered as the disgrace of mankind, who will throw His mortal remains at You, to bring on You the shame of being the mother of a criminal. Afterwards, You will have Me once again, triumphant; and finally You will have Me forever when You are triumphant in Heaven. But now I belong to all these men. And I belong to the Father, Who sent Me to them". That is the sense of that short but so full of meaning "still". » (The Poem..., Vol. 1, pp. 283-4; The Gospel…, Vol. 1, pp. 336-7) (Jesus gives a word of caution for Maria...) « ...I wish to point out to you how a sentence omitted or a word wrongly copied can alter everything. And you, My writer, are alive and can make the correction at once. So consider and try to understand how twenty centuries have deprived the Gospel, the apostolic Gospel, of parts that did no harm to the doctrine, but prevented it from being easily understood. This - if we go back to the origin we find that it is still the work of Disorder - explains many things and lends itself to the children of Disorder for so many more things. And you can see how easy it is to make errors in copying…. » (The Poem..., Vol. 2, pp. 98-9; The Gospel…, Vol. 3, p. 42) 96 Jn. 2:1-11. 97 Lk. 9:62. 22 (Jesus refers to the passage in which the two apostles – John and his brother James - are rebuked for asking that they be seated on the right and left beside Jesus when He is in His Kingdom98. He says to them:) « I tell you that you do not know what you are asking! Can you drink of the cup that I am going to drink? » « We can, Lord. » « How can you say so if you have not understood the bitterness of My cup? It will not be only the bitterness that I described to you yesterday, the bitterness of the Man of all sorrows99. There will be tortures that you would not be in a position to understand, even if I should describe them to you… And yet, yes, although you are still like two boys who do not know the value of what they ask - as you are two just spirits who love Me - you will certainly drink of My cup. But it is not for Me to grant you to sit at My right or at My left. It is granted to those for whom it was prepared by My Father. »... (Jesus comments to Maria:) « Make the following sentence very clear: "… you will certainly drink of My chalice". In translations you read: "My chalice". I said: "of My chalice", not "My chalice". No man could have drunk My chalice. I alone, the Redeemer, had to drink all My chalice. My disciples, My imitators and lovers, are certainly allowed to drink of that chalice from which I drank, with regard to that drop, sip or sips that God's predilection grants them to drink. But no one will ever drink all the chalice as I did. So it is right to say "of My chalice" and not "My chalice". » (The Poem..., Vol. 5, pp. 296-8; The Gospel…, Vol. 9, pp. 232-4) 5. MARY MAGDALENE, PETER, AND JUDAS Three Maries, Two, or One? (Jesus expands on the passage where He speaks to Simon the Pharisee, after He has allowed the sinful woman to wash His feet100...) « What made the Pharisee and his companions lower their heads and is not mentioned in the Gospel, are the words that My spirit, in one glance darted at him and drove into his arid avid soul. I answered him much more than has been reported, because none of the thoughts of those men were concealed from Me. And he understood My mute language, which was more meaningful and reproachful than My words were. I said to him: "No. Do not make wicked insinuations to justify yourself to yourself. I am not affected by lewdness as you are. She does not come to Me attracted by sensuality. I am not you or like those who are like you. She comes to Me because My countenance and My word, which she heard by chance, have enlightened her soul, which lust had left in utter darkness. And she comes because she wants to overcome her sensuality and she realises, poor creature, that she will never succeed by herself. She loves My spirit, nothing but My spirit, which she perceives is supernaturally good. After so much evil that she received from you all - who have taken advantage of her weakness for your own vices, rewarding her with your lashing scorn - she comes to Me because she realises that she has found Goodness, Joy and Peace, which she sought in vain in the pomps and vanities of this wicked world. Cure the leprosy of your soul, o hypocritical Pharisee, that you may have the right view of things. Forsake pride of mind and lust of flesh. Their leprosy is much more fetid than the leprosy of your bodies. My touch can cure you of the latter, because you beg Me to cure you, but I cannot cure you of the leprosy of your souls, because you do not wish to be cured, as you like it. But she wants to recover. And thus I cleanse her, and I free her from the chains of her slavery. The sinner is dead. She is still over there, in those ornaments that she is ashamed to offer Me that I may sanctify them, using them for the needs of My disciples and Mine and for the poor, whom I help by means of the surplus of other people, because I, the Master of the universe, possess nothing now that I am the Saviour of man. She is still here, in the perfume spread on My feet, the perfume that has been humiliated like her hair, on that part of My body that you disdained to refresh with the water of your well, notwithstanding I have walked so far to bring light to you also. The sinner is dead. And Mary is reborn, as beautiful as a modest girl, through her deep sorrow and her righteous love. She washed herself in her tears. And I solemnly tell you, o Pharisee, that between this young man who loves Me in the purity of his youth (meaning John, who was also present at the banquet), and that woman who loves Me in the sincerity of repentance of a heart reborn to Grace, I make no difference... That is what I wanted to tell the Pharisee by means of My countenance... » (The Poem..., Vol. 2, pp. 513-4; The Gospel…, Vol. 4, pp. 56-8) (In the previous passage, Jesus says “The sinner is dead. And Mary is reborn...” Was the woman in the previous passage Mary Magdalene? Or Mary of Bethany? Or neither? Or was she both? The Gospel verses are not clear about this. But in the dictations immediately following, and throughout Maria Valtorta’s writings, it is clear that she was both. Jesus tells Maria:) « ...I will draw your attention to something else: for your joy and the joy of many. Also at Bethany, Mary repeated the gesture that marked the dawn of her redemption101. There are personal gestures, which are repeated and are peculiar to a person like the person's style. They are unmistakable gestures. But, as it was fair, at Bethany the gesture was not humiliated so much and it was more confidential in its reverent adoration. 98 Mt. 20:22-3; Mk. 10:38-9. 99 Is. 53:3. 100 Lk. 7:39-50. 101 Mt. 26:6-13; Mk. 14:3-9; Jn. 12:3-8. 23 Mary has gone a long way since that dawn of her redemption. A very long way. Love, like a high wind, has blown her high up and far ahead. Love has burnt her like a fire, destroying her impure flesh and making a purified spirit her new master. And Mary, now different in her revived womanly dignity, as she is different in her clothing, which is now as simple as My Mother's, in her hair-style, her looks, her behaviour, her words, this new Mary has a new way to honour Me by means of the same gesture. She takes the last of her vases of perfume, which she kept for Me, and pours it on My feet and My head, without shedding any tears, with a happy countenance due to love and the certainty that she had been forgiven and saved. Mary can now touch My head and anoint Me. Repentance and love have cleansed her by means of the fire of seraphim and she is a seraph... » (In a further dictation, Jesus tells Maria of one of His first encounters with Mary Magdalene, prior to the episode in the house of Simon the Pharisee:) « ...I always come when "a heart is anxious to understand". I am not a hard severe God. I am Living Mercy. And I come faster than thought to those who apply to Me. And I went immediately to poor Mary of Magdala, so immersed in sin, with My spirit, as soon as I perceived that the desire to understand was rising in her. The desire to understand the light of God and her own state of darkness. And I became her Light... Poor Mary of Magdala was always wrongly judged in her good deeds. But she was not wrongly judged in her bad deeds because they were lustful mouthfuls offered to the insatiable hunger of lewd men. She was criticised and wrongly judged at Nain, in the house of the Pharisee and she was criticised and reproached at Bethany, in her own home... Good people do not criticise. Never. They understand... The criticism of the world is of no importance. What matters is the judgement of God. » (The Poem..., Vol. 2, pp. 514-7; The Gospel…, Vol. 2, pp. 58-61) Simon Peter’s Love, and his Sorrow after Denying Jesus (Travelling towards Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks His apostles who people say He is, and they give a variety of answers.102 Finally...) « You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God » exclaims Peter, kneeling down with his arms stretched upwards, towards Jesus, Who looks at him with His face bright with love and Who bends to raise and embrace him, saying: « Simon, son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not the flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but My Father in Heaven. Since the first day you came with Me, you have been asking yourself that question, and because you are simple and honest, you have been able to understand and accept the reply that came to you from Heaven... You believed since the first moment you saw Me, and your faith was never shaken. That is why I called you Cephas. And that is why on you, Peter, I will build My Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven. And whatever you loose on the earth shall be loosed also in Heaven, o prudent faithful man, whose heart I have been able to test. And now, from this moment you are the head, to whom obedience and respect are due as to another Myself. And I proclaim him such before all of you. » If Jesus had crushed Peter under a hailstorm of reproaches, Peter would not have wept so copiously. He is weeping and is shaken by sobs, with his face on Jesus' chest. His weeping can be compared only to the tears he will shed in his grief for denying Jesus. When he raises his shy embarrassed face, he can make only one gesture to say everything, to promise everything, to strengthen himself completely for his new ministry: he throws his arms round Jesus' neck, compelling Him to bend and kiss him, mingling his somewhat bristly grizzled hair and beard with the soft golden hair and beard of Jesus. And he looks at Jesus with his large, loving, imploring and adoring eyes, still shining and red with tears, holding the Master's ascetic face, bent over his own, in his rough large stumpy hands, as if it were a vase from which a vital liquid flowed... and he drinks kindness, grace, confidence and strength from Jesus' face, eyes and smile... (The Poem..., Vol. 3, pp. 371-2; The Gospel…, Vol. 5, pp. 324-5) (It is a different Peter, sorrowful and remorseful after having denied Jesus during His Passion, and now, when Jesus appears to His apostles in the room of the Last Supper, after His Resurrection103. Eventually, a weeping Peter falls on his knees and shouts:) « Forgive me, forgive me! Take me out of this hell in which I have been for so many hours. Tell me that You have seen my error for what it was. Not of the spirit, but of the flesh that overwhelmed my heart. Tell me that You have seen my repentance… It will last until my death. But… but do tell me that I must not fear You as Jesus… and I, and I… I will try to behave so well, as to make also God forgive me… and die… having only a long purgatory to suffer. » « Come here, Simon of Jonah. » « I am afraid. » « Come here. Be no longer cowardly. » « I do not deserve to come near You. » « Come here... What has Satan done to you to blind you so much? Now I say to you: if you do not look at Me now, that I have spread a veil on My glory to adapt Myself to your weakness, never again will you be able to come to your Lord without 102 Mt. 16:13-20; Mk. 8:27-30; Lk. 9:18-21. 103 Lk. 24:36-43; Jn. 20:19-23. 24 fear. And then what will happen to you? You sinned out of presumption. Do you want now to sin again out of obstinacy? Come, I tell you. » Peter drags himself along on his knees, between the table and the seats, covering his weeping face with his hands. Jesus stops him when he is at His feet, by laying His Hand on his head. Peter, weeping more bitterly, takes that Hand and kisses it, amid hearty sobs without restraint. He can only say: « Forgive me! Forgive me! » Jesus frees Himself from his grip and lifting the chin of the apostle with His hand, He compels him to raise his head, and He stares at his reddened, burnt eyes, tortured by repentance, with His own clear bright Eyes. He seems to be wishing to pierce his soul. He then says: « Come on. Remove the shame of Judas from Me. Kiss Me where he kissed Me104. Wash with your kiss the sign of betrayal. » Peter raises his head, while Jesus bends even more, and he touches His cheek lightly… then he rests his head on Jesus' knees and remains thus… like an old child who has done wrong but is forgiven... (The Poem..., Vol. 5, pp. 741-2; The Gospel…, Vol. 10, pp. 289-90) The Lessons of Judas Iscariot (The story of Judas Iscariot is a saga in itself, and occupies many chapters in The Poem. These begin with his first encounter with Jesus, Who accepts his companion Thomas as a disciple promptly, but sends Judas away to ponder whether he really wants to become a disciple. They continue with Judas’ many ups and downs of changing behaviours, temptations, and disturbances to the other apostles. And then there is there are the final heart-breaking episodes of Judas’ ultimate betrayal. Early in His public life, an elderly Simon the Zealot notices Jesus’ despondency after an encounter with Judas, and says to Him:) « ...How can You, the Truth, tolerate that liar? He lies shamelessly. He is more deceitful than a fox and more closed than a rock. He has now gone away. What for? How many friends has he got? I am sorry to leave You. But I would like to follow him and see… Oh! My Jesus! That man… send him away, my Lord. » « It is useless. What is to be, shall be... Judas is part of this future. He is to be there, too. » « But John told me that Simon Peter is very frank and full of ardour… Will he suffer Judas? » « He must stand him. Also Peter is destined for a part, and Judas is the canvas on which he must weave his part, or, if you prefer so, Judas is the school where Peter will learn more than with anyone else... Iit is difficult to be good with people like Judas, to understand souls like Judas' and to be a doctor and priest for them. Judas is your living teaching. » « Ours? » « Yes. Yours. The Master will not be on the earth for ever. He will leave after eating the hardest bread and drinking the sourest wine. But you will stay to continue Me… and you must know. Because the world does not end with the Master. It will last longer, until the final return of Christ and the final judgement of man. And I solemnly tell you that for every John, Peter, Simon, James, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, there are at least seven Judases. And many, many more!… » (The Poem..., Vol. 1, p. 447; The Gospel…, Vol. 2, p. 45) (Travelling through the countryside in Judas’ absence, Jesus notices two of His other apostles – Thomas and Judas Thaddeus – talking quietly among themselves. He approaches them and asks, staring at them:) « Of what were you speaking between yourselves? » The two look at each other. Should they tell Him? Should they not? Sincerity wins. « Of Judas » they say together. « I knew. But I wanted to put your sincerity to the test. You would have distressed Me if you had lied… But do not speak any more about him, and particularly in that manner. There are so many good things about which you can speak. Why always debase oneself to consider what is very, nay, too material?... I say to you: stop analysing that man and take care of his spirit. The animal that is in him, his monster, must not attract your attention and your judgement; but love his spirit with sorrowful active love. Free him from the monster that is detaining him. You do not know. »… He turns round to call the other seven: « Come here, all of you, because what I am about to say is useful to everybody, as you all have the same thoughts in your hearts… Do you not know that you learn more through Judas of Kerioth than through any other person? You will find many Judases and very few Jesuses in your apostolic ministry. The Jesuses will be kind, good, pure, faithful, obedient, prudent, free from greed. They will be very few… But how many Judases of Kerioth you, your followers and your successors will find along the ways of the world! And in order to be masters and to know, you must attend this school… With his faults he shows you what man is; I show you what man should be. Two examples equally necessary. By knowing both well, you must try to change the former into the latter… And let My patience be your rule. » « Lord, I was a big sinner, and I am certainly an example as well. But I would like Judas, who is not such a sinner as I was, to become the convert that I am. Is it pride to say this? » « No, Matthew, it is not pride. You honour two truths by saying so. The first is that the sentence saying: "The good will of man works divine miracles" is truthful. The second is that God loved you infinitely, since the time you thought nothing about it, and He did so because He was aware of your capability for heroism. You are the fruit of two powers: your will and God's love. And I am putting your will first, because without it God's love would have been vain. Vain, inert… » « But could God not convert us without our will? » asks James of Alphaeus. « Certainly. But man's will would still be required to persevere in the conversion obtained miraculously. » « So such will has not been and is not in Judas, either before knowing You, or now… » says Philip impulsively… 104 Mt. 26:47-9; Mk. 14:43-5; Lk. 22:47-8 25 Jesus is the only one who defends the absent apostle: « Do not say that! He had it and has it. But the evil law of the flesh overwhelms it at intervals. He is ill. A poor sick brother. In every family there is a week or a sick person, someone who is the pain, the worry, the burden of the family. And yet is a frail child not the one most loved by his mother? Is the unhappy brother not the one best served by his brothers? Is he not the one to whom his father gives the dainty, taking it from his plate, to make him happy, to make him feel that he is not a burden and thus make his illness less boring? » « That is true. It is just like that. My twin sister was delicate in her childhood. I had taken all the sturdiness. But the love of the whole family helped so much that now she is a buxom wife and mother » says Thomas. « Exactly. Do with your spiritual brother what you would do with a weak brother german. I will not utter one word of reproach. Do not be more severe than I am. Your patient love is the sharpest rebuke against which it is not possible to react. I will leave Matthew and Philip at Tekoah to wait for Judas… Let the former remember that he was a sinner and the latter that he is a father. » « Yes Master. We will bear that in mind... » (The Poem..., Vol. 4, pp. 663-5; The Gospel…, Vol. 8, pp. 171-2) Did Judas Go to Hell? (Jesus says:) "…The men of this time no longer believe in the existence of Hell. They have invented an afterlife according to their taste, such as to be less terrorizing for their conscience, deserving of great punishment. More or less faithful disciples of the Spirit of Evil, they know that their conscience would draw back from certain misdeeds if it really believed in Hell… "It pushes this opinion to the point of believing sacrilegiously that the greatest of all the sinners of mankind, the favorite son of Satan, the one who was a thief, as stated in the Gospel105 ... can be redeemed and arrive at Me by passing through successive stages. "No. If he was the sacrilegious one par excellence, I am not. If he was the unjust one par excellence, I am not. If he was the one who shed my Blood with disdain, I am not. And to forgive Judas would be sacrilege for my Divinity, betrayed by him; it would be injustice towards all other men, who are always less blameworthy than he and are still punished for their sins; it would be disdain for my Blood; finally, it would be to neglect my laws. "I said - I, the Triune God - that what is destined for Hell endures in it for eternity, for people do not emerge from that death to a new resurrection…" (Notebooks 1944, pp. 76-7) (Jesus says to Maria Valtorta:) “I solemnly tell you that, if Hell did not already exist and was not perfect in its torments, it would have been created even more dreadful and eternal for Judas, because of all sinners and damned souls, he is the most damned and the biggest sinner, and throughout eternity there will be no mitigation of his sentence.” (The Poem..., Vol. 5, p. 580; The Gospel…, Vol. 10, p. 87) “Only those completely possessed – I say completely – by the devil were resistant to my lavacre of spiritual love. The others, possessed by one passion alone, were saved before or after my Death. Judas, Annas, and some others were not, for the seven princes of the demons held them in their clutches with seven ropes, and cohorts of demons were in them to carry out the work that made them gems of Hell.” (Notebooks 1943, p. 159) Peter and Judas - and the Cross-roads of Remorse (The Holy Spirit speaks of two apostles - each troubled with remorse, with different outcomes...) "...Jesus, “the Master of Infinite Wisdom”... spoke for all. However, who did He bear in mind, who was indicated underneath the veil of the parables and the lessons? Peter: the humble one who had been exalted for his simple and great humility; Judas of Kerioth, who had been lowered for his arrogance, triple concupiscence, the exteriority of the Law, and his friendship with Christ and his reckoning as an adult - an astute adult - and consequently, even a sigh was made with a two-fold end. Peter: the child, even if an adult, to whom the spiritual Kingdom as Pope and the heavenly one as saint was given106 . Judas: the wise vainglorious one, who for having become malevolent to the infinitely benevolent King, was thrown out from the Kingdom of God into darkness and infernal torment107 . "One would need to meditate on the Gospel and on the nature of the apostles much more profoundly than what is generally done. One would draw answers and luminous lessons, able to guide spirits of good will onto the paths of true Wisdom that leads to Heaven...." (...Paul to the Romans, pp. 278-80) (After His Resurrection and before His Ascension into Heaven, Jesus is comforting His contrite and remorseful apostles – especially Peter – who had deserted Him during His hour of need...) « ...The moon is rising in the east. She will shed her light on us. I do not think that you will sleep tonight, although you are still so much and only men. No. You will not sleep because an agent, that you did not have previously, has entered into you. It is remorse. A torture, that is true. But it serves to pass to higher stages, both in good and in evil. In Judas of Kerioth, as he 105 Jn. 12:6 106 Mt. 16:13-20. 107 Mt. 27:3-5. 26 moved away from God, it brought about desperation and damnation. In you who have never come away from the closeness to God - I can assure you, because in you there was not the will and the full consideration of what you were doing - it will cause a trustful repentance that will lead you to wisdom and justice... You have your remorse. It is a good friend in good people... » (The Poem..., Vol. 5, p. 772; The Gospel…, Vol. 10, p. 325) 6. FILLING IN GAPS IN THE GOSPELS Unknown Episodes (Jesus says:) "When I reveal to you unknown episodes in my public life, I already hear the chorus of difficult doctors saying, 'But this fact is not mentioned in the Gospels. How can she say, "I saw this"?' I respond to them with the words of the Gospels. "'And Jesus passed through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all the weakness and illnesses,'108 Matthew says. "And, in addition: 'Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, and the good news is announced to the poor.'109 "And, in addition: 'Woe to you, Chorazin; woe to you, Bethsaida - for if in Tyre and Sidon the miracles worked in your midst had taken place, for a long time now they would have been doing penance in sackcloth and ashes... And you, Capernaum - will you be exalted to heaven? You will descend to hell, for if in Sodom the miracles worked in you had taken place, it might still exist.'110 "And Mark:'... And many people followed Him from Galilee, Judah, Idumaea, and beyond the Jordan. Many people, having heard what He was doing, also came to Him from the surroundings of Tyre and Sidon...'111 "And Luke: 'Jesus went through the cities and villages, preaching and announcing the good news and the Kingdom of God. And with Him were the twelve, and some women who had been freed from evil spirits and infirmities. '112 "And my John: 'After this, Jesus went beyond the Sea of Galilee, and a great crowd followed Him because they saw the miracles worked by Him among the sick.'113 "And since John was present at all the miracles - of whatever nature - which I worked for three years, the beloved one bears Me this unlimited witness: 'This is the disciple who has seen these things and has written them. We know that his testimony is true. There are, moreover, other things done by Jesus, and, if they were to be written one by one, I believe the world could not contain the books which would have to be written.'114 "So? What do the doctors of quibbling say now? "If My goodness, to relieve a woman who loves Me and bears My Cross for you... to awaken you from the lethargy in which you are dying... makes known episodes in this ministry, would [you] like to turn this into a reproach for that goodness? "You truly do not deserve this gift and this effort by your Savior, to draw you out of the miasma in which you are asphyxiating... "You won't indeed want to think that in three years I worked the few miracles narrated? You won't think that the few women mentioned were the ones healed or the few miracles mentioned the only ones worked. But if the shadow of Peter served to heal115 , what must My shadow have done? Or My breath? Or My glance? Remember the woman suffering from bleeding: 'If I manage to touch the hem of His robe, I shall be healed.'116 And so it was. "The power of miracles issued from Me continually. I had come to take people to God, and open the dikes of Love, closed by the day of sin. Centuries of love expanded like waves over the little world of Palestine. All God's love for man could finally expand, as He desired to redeem men first, with Love, rather than Blood. "You may ask Me, 'But why to her, who is such a poor thing?' I shall answer you when she, whom you disdain and I love, is less exhausted. You would deserve the silence I observed with Herod117 . But it is My attempt to redeem you - whom pride makes the hardest to persuade." (Notebooks 1944, pp. 531-3) 108 Mt. 4:23, Mt. 9:35. 109 Mt. 11:4-5; Lk. 7:22. 110 Mt. 11:20-4; Lk. 10:13-15. 111 Mk. 3:7-8. 112 Lk. 8:1-3. 113 Jn. 6:1-2. 114 Jn. 21:24-5. 115 Acts 5:14-15. 116 Mt. 9:20-2; Mk. 5:25-9; Lk. 8:43-8. 117 Lk. 23:8-9. 27 Omissions and Abbreviations by the Evangelists (Jesus says to Maria:) « ...Forestalling an objection of the ever alive scribes and Sadducees, ill disposed to My servants, I say... those critics ought to remember that the evangelists always belonged to that race and lived in times when every exaggerated clash might have had violent and harmful repercussions for neophytes. Let them read the Acts of the Apostles again, and they will see that the fusion of so many different thoughts was not peaceful, and that while they admired one another, acknowledging one another's merits, they did not lack differences of opinion, because the thoughts of men are various and always imperfect. In their writings and to avoid deeper ruptures between one thought and another, the evangelists - enlightened by the Holy Spirit - deliberately omitted some sentences that might have hurt the excessive susceptibility of the Hebrews. And [they might have] scandalised the Gentiles, who needed to believe that the Hebrews were perfect - as they were the nucleus from which the Church came - in order not to go away saying: "They are like us". This was just to make known the persecutions of Christ, but not the spiritual diseases of the people of Israel, by now corrupt, particularly in the higher classes. And they veiled them as much as possible. They should observe how the Gospels become the more and more explicit, up to the limpid Gospel of My John, the later they were written after My Ascension to My Father. Only John fully relates even the most painful flaws of the very apostolic group, openly calling Judas a "thief"118; and he integrally reports the base actions of the Jews, feigned will to make Me king119; the abandonment by many after the sermon on the Bread of Heaven120; and Thomas' incredulity121 . The last survivor, who lived long enough to see the Church already strong, he lifts the veils that the others had not dared to lift. But now the Spirit of God wants also these words to be known. And the Lord should be blessed for that, because they are so many lights and guides for people with righteous hearts. » (The Poem..., Vol. 5, pp. 432-3; The Gospel…, Vol. 9, p. 403) (Expanding on the fact that there was much that He did which is not recorded in the Gospels, Jesus says:) "...The versions of My words were greatly reduced by the Evangelists, to the point of being diminished to a skeleton - more an allusion [a hint, or indirect reference] than a version. A fact which deprives them of the stylistic form which I had given them..." (Notebooks 1945-50, p. 422-3) The Death of Joseph (Jesus is working diligently in the carpenter’s workshop, inside His house at Nazareth. Mary comes in, saying:) « Oh! Jesus! Come, come. He is very ill! » They are uttered with trembling lips and tears shining in Her reddened and tired eyes. Jesus says only: « Mother! » but that word means everything… They go into the adjoining room where there is a low bed, covered with small mattresses… Leaning on many cushions, there is Joseph. He is dying… Jesus goes round the bed, takes a stool and makes Mary sit on it, once again calling Her simply: « Mother ». He then goes back to His place and takes Joseph's hand into His own once again. The scene is so real that I can't help crying because of Mary's pain. Then Jesus bending over the dying man, whispers a psalm… Joseph sobbing, looks at Jesus and makes an effort to speak as if to bless Him. But he cannot. He obviously understands, but has an impediment in his speech. But he is happy and looks at his Jesus with liveliness and trust… (Jesus prays many prayers, and finally says:) « Go before Me and tell the Patriarchs that the Saviour is in the world and the Kingdom of Heaven will soon be opened to them. Go, father. May My blessing accompany you. » Jesus has raised His voice to reach the heart of Joseph, who is sinking into the mists of death. His end is impending. He is panting very painfully. Mary caresses him, Jesus sits on the edge of the little bed, embraces him and draws to Himself the dying man, who collapses, and passes away peacefully. The scene is full of a solemn peace. Jesus lays the Patriarch down again and embraces Mary, Who at the last moment, broken-hearted, had gone near Jesus. (Jesus says to Maria Valtorta:) « I exhort all wives who are tortured by pain, to imitate Mary in Her widowhood: to be united to Jesus. Those who think that Mary's heart did not suffer any afflictions are mistaken. My Mother did suffer. Let that be known. She suffered in a holy way, because everything in Her was holy, but She suffered bitterly. Those who think that Mary did not love Joseph deeply, only because he was the spouse of Her soul and not of Her flesh, are also mistaken. Mary did love Joseph deeply, and She devoted thirty years of faithful life to him. Joseph was Her father, Her spouse, Her brother, Her friend, Her protector. Now She felt as lonely as the shoot of a vine when the tree to which it is tied is cut down. It was as if Her house had been struck by thunder. It was splitting. Before it was a unit in which the members supported one another. Now the main wall was missing and that was the first blow to the Family and a sign of the impending parting of Her beloved Jesus. 118 Jn. 6:15. (Maria Valtorta devotes almost a whole chapter to her description of this episode. See The Poem... Vol. 4, pp. 311-324; The Gospel… Vol. 7, pp. 259-75) 119 Jn. 6:15. 120 Jn. 6:66. 121 Jn. 20:24-9. 28 The will of the Eternal Father Who had asked Her to be a spouse and a Mother, was now imposing upon Her widowhood and separation from Her Creature. But Mary utters, shedding tears, one of Her most sublime remarks: "Yes. Yes, Lord, let it be done to Me according to Your word"122 … » (The Poem… Vol. 1, pp. 223-7; The Gospel… Vol. 1, pp. 269-73) John 6:15 (Immediately after the first multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and just before the episode of Jesus walking on the water, John writes a single verse which occupies a whole chapter of 18 pages in The Poem… - and 21 pages in The Gospel… It reads:) “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdraws again to the mountain by himself.”123 (In this episode, Maria describes a great banquet arranged by His friends and many others, with the expressed purpose of persuading Him to become king. Jesus is very much aware of the motives of many of the guests – to serve their own ends – and to an uproar which evolves when He refuses the offer, he escapes and disappears into the night. A half-naked John was watching outside, and follows Jesus to a rugged clifftop where he encounters his Master in a heart-moving scene, saying:) « …How much You are suffering, Jesus!… » « How much I redeem! But you console Me in My suffering. We shall depart from here at dawn. We shall find a boat. If I say to you that we shall be able to proceed without oars, will you believe Me? » «I would believe You even if You said that we can go without a boat… » They remain embraced, enveloped only in Jesus' mantle, and John, tired as he is, ends up by falling asleep in the warmth, like a child in its mother's arms. -------------------- (Jesus comments to Maria Valtorta:) « It is for upright-hearted people that this evangelical page, unknown and so explanatory, is given. John, when writing his Gospel after many years, alludes briefly to the fact. He reveals to men this detail, of which they were unaware, and he thus obeys the wish of his Master, Whose divine nature he illustrates more clearly than any other evangelist, and he reveals it with the virginal demureness which enveloped all his actions and words with discreet humble modesty… » (See The Poem… Vol. 4, pp. 314-24; The Gospel… Vol. 7, pp. 263-75) Jesus Appears to Mary, after His Resurrection (Pope John Paul II once said that it would be logical to believe that Jesus would have appeared to His Mother, after His Resurrection. Maria Valtorta describes this such event. It is early on Easter Sunday morning, in the house of the Last Supper…) Mary is prostrated with Her face on the floor. She looks like a poor wretch. She looks like that withered flower of which She has spoken. The closed window is opened with a violent banging of the heavy shutters, and with the first ray of the sun, Jesus enters. Mary, Who has been shaken by the noise and has raised Her head to see which wind has opened the shutters, sees Her radiant Son: handsome, infinitely more handsome than He was before suffering, smiling, lively, brighter than the sun, dressed in a white garment that seems woven light, and Who is advancing towards Her. She straightens Herself up on Her knees and crossing Her hands on Her breast, She says with a sob that is joy and grief: « Lord, My God ». And She remains thus, enraptured in contemplating Him, with Her face all washed by tears, but made serene, pacified by His smile and by the ecstasy… Mary realises then that it is not a vision, that it is Her Son Who has really risen, that it is Her Jesus, the Son Who still loves Her as a Son. And with a cry, She flings Her arms round His neck, and She embraces and kisses Him, laughing in Her weeping. She kisses His Forehead, where there are no longer any wounds, His Head no longer unkempt and bloody, His shining Eyes, His healed Cheeks, His Mouth no longer swollen. She then takes His Hands and kisses their backs and palms, their radiant wounds, and She suddenly bends down to His Feet and uncovers them from under His bright garment and kisses them. Then She stands up, looks at Him, but dare not. But He smiles and understands. He uncovers His chest a little and says: « And this one, Mother, are You not kissing it, this one that grieved You so much and that You alone are worthy to kiss? Kiss My Heart, Mother. Your kiss will cancel the last remembrance of what is sorrowful and will give Me that joy, which My Joy of having risen from the dead still lacks. » And He takes the face of His Mother in His Hands and He lays Her lips on the lips of the wound of His Chest, from which streams of a very bright light are flowing. Mary's face is haloed by that light, flooded as it is with its beams. She kisses and kisses, while Jesus caresses Her. She never tires kissing. She looks like a thirsty woman whose mouth is attached to a fountain and who drinks from it the life that was escaping her. Jesus speaks now. « It is all over, Mother. You no longer have to weep over Your Son The trial is over. Redemption has taken place. Mother, thanks for conceiving Me, for bringing Me up, for helping Me in life and in death. 122 Lk. 1:38. 123 See Jn. 6:15. 29 I heard Your prayers come to Me. They have been My strength in My grief, My companions in My journey on the Earth and beyond the Earth. They came with Me on the Cross and to Limbo… They have been recognised by the Patriarchs and by the new Saints, by the new, first, citizens of My Jerusalem, and I bring You their thanks, Mother, together with the kisses of their relatives, with their blessings and with that of Joseph, the spouse of Your soul. The whole of Heaven sings its hosanna to You, Mother, Holy Mother!... I will now go to the Father in My human appearance… Then I will ascend to Heaven. But I will not leave You alone... You will have Me, in the Sacrament… And, by having Your Son, You have our Trinity. A living Heaven, You will bring the Trinity to men on the Earth, and You will sanctify the Church, You, Queen of the Priesthood and Mother of the Christians. Then I will come to get You. And no longer shall I be in You, but You will be in Me, in My Kingdom, to make Paradise more beautiful. I am going now, Mother. I am going to make the other Mary happy. Then I will ascend to the Father. Thence I will come to those who do not believe. Mother, Your kiss as a blessing. And My Peace to You as a companion. Goodbye. » And Jesus disappears in the sunshine that streams down from the early morning clear sky. (The Poem… Vol. 5, pp. 701-4; The Gospel… Vol. 10, pp. 239-42) The Death of Mary Magdalene (Maria Valtorta writes:) I see a cavern in the rock where there is a bed of piled-up leaves on a rustic frame of interwoven branches bound together with rushes. It must be as comfortable as a rack for torture. The grotto also has a large stone which serves as a table and a smaller one which serves as a chair. Against the side farthest back there is another one: a large stone splinter sticking out of the rock which-I don't know whether it is naturally or by patient, toilsome human effort-has been polished and presents a rather smooth surface. Upon this, which looks like a rustic altar, a cross made of two wicker-bound branches is resting… In the grotto there is also a rustic jug with water. Nothing else. Through the narrow, low aperture mountains can be seen in the background, and, since there appears a moving luminosity which is glimpsed in the distance, one would assume that the sea is visible from this point… A thin woman, wearing rustic, dark clothing, covered by a goatskin as a blanket, goes into the grotto, pushing aside the hanging branches. She looks exhausted. It is impossible to determine her age. If one were to judge by her withered face, one would say she was quite old-over sixty. If one were to go by her flowing locks, still beautiful, thick, and golden, not over forty… The woman must certainly have been beautiful, for her brow is still lofty and smooth, and her nose, well-shaped, and the oval, though thinned by weariness, regular. But her eyes no longer sparkle. They are deeply sunken in their sockets… Two eyes which reveal the many tears they have shed… Her mouth hangs down in a weary curve and is a very pale pink. It must once have been a splendid mouth; now it is withered. The curve of the lips is like that of two broken wings dangling. A mouth of pain. The woman drags herself over to the mass of stone which serves as a table and sets bilberries and wild strawberries upon it. She then goes to the altar and kneels down. But she is so exhausted that she nearly falls in doing so and must hold herself up with one hand on the stone slab. She prays, looking at the cross, and tears flow down her wrinkles to her mouth, which drinks them in. She then lets her goatskin slip down, remaining with only the rough tunic to cover her, and takes the scourges and the thorns. She clasps the thorny branches tightly around her head and her loins and scourges herself with the cords. But she is too weak to do so. She drops the scourge and, supporting herself against the altar with both hands and her forehead, she says, "I can't withstand any more, Rabbi! I can't suffer more, in memory of Your pain!" The voice brings me to recognize her. It is Mary Magdalene. I am in her grotto as a penitent. Mary is weeping. She calls Jesus lovingly. She cannot suffer any more. But she can still love… She loves by speaking to her Master in a continuous profession of love and a renewed act of contrition. She has slipped, with her brow touching the ground. The same posture she had on Calvary before Jesus, when He was placed on Mary's lap, the same one she had in the house in Jerusalem when Veronica explained her veil, the same one she had in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea, when Jesus called her and she recognized Him and worshipped Him124 . But now she is crying because Jesus is not there. "Life is fleeing from me, my Master. And will I have to die without seeing You again? When will I be able to take delight in Your face? My sins are before me and accuse me. You have forgiven me125, and I believe hell will not possess me. But how long will I be detained in expiation before living by You, Oh, good Master! For the sake of the love You have given me, comfort my soul! The hour of death has come. For the sake of Your desolate dying on the cross, comfort Your creature!... Give me a sign that my life has served to expiate my sinning." "Mary!" Jesus has appeared. He seems to come down from the rustic cross. But He is not wounded and dying. He is as handsome as on the morning of the Resurrection. He comes down from the altar and goes towards the prostrate woman. He bends over her. He calls her again, and, since she seems to believe that Voice is sounding for her spiritual senses and remains with her face to the ground, she does not see the light Christ is emitting. He touches her, resting his hand on her head and taking her by the elbow, as in Bethany, to lift her up again. "When she feels touched and recognizes that hand by its length, she cries out loudly. And she uplifts her face, transfigured with joy. And she lowers it to kiss the feet of her Lord. 124 Jn. 20:14-17. 125 Lk. 7:47. 30 "Get up, Mary. It's Me. Life is fleeing. It's true. But I have come to tell you that Christ awaits you. There is no waiting for Mary. Everything is forgiven her. From the first moment it was forgiven. But now it is more than forgiven. Your place is already prepared in My Kingdom… "Mary, blessed are you, that have never betrayed and confirmed Me in My hope as the Redeemer - you, in whom I saw all those saved by My death! While everyone ate, you worshipped. You had given Me the perfumed water for My weary feet and chaste, ardent kisses for My hands, and, still not content, you wanted to break open your last precious vase and anoint My head, freshening up My hair as a mother does, and anoint My hands and feet so that all your Master's limbs would be scented as members of the consecrated King... Now, because of this act of love you gave Me on the threshold of My death, I come, on the threshold of your death, to repay you with love… "In you, then, a penitent and a lover, there is martyrdom, as in those perishing in the arenas. Mary, I will precede you into glory. Kiss My hand and lie down in peace. Rest. It is time for you to rest. Give Me your thorns. Now is the time for roses. Rest and wait. I bless you, blessed one." Mary rises again to a sitting position when a very bright radiance appears in the grotto because of the arrival of an angel bearing a chalice which he sets upon the altar and worships. Mary, kneeling beside her cot, worships, too. She can no longer move. Her strength is failing. But she is blessed. The angel takes the chalice and gives her Communion. He then goes back up to Heaven. Mary, like a flower scorched by too much sun, bends - she bends with her arms still crossed over her chest and falls, with her face amidst the leaves of her cot. She is dead. The Eucharistic ecstasy has cut the last thread of life… [Jesus says (to us):] "…I never disappoint those who hope in Me. Say this over and over again to everyone. " (Notebooks 1944, pp. 252-9) 7. FOR ALL CHRISTIANS, AND NON-CHRISTIANS God’s Mercy is for All (Jesus says:) "Those who close their hearts to mercy close their hearts to God. For God is in your brothers and sisters, and those who are not merciful to their brothers and sisters are not merciful to God. "God cannot be divided from His sons and daughters, and consider carefully that you that live are all sons and daughters of the Eternal, Who created you. Even those who apparently are not, because they live outside My Church, are. Do not think it is licit to be harsh and selfish because someone is not one of your own. The origin is single: the Father... "God is not exclusive to Catholics, and those Catholics who do not work for non-Catholics err greatly. They do not work in the Father's interest - they are just parasites who live off the Father without giving Him filial assistance. God has no need of assistance because He is most powerful. But He wants it from you, just the same. "God circulates like life-giving blood in the veins of the whole body of the Universe. In this great body created by Him, Catholicity is the center. But how could the most distant members be vivified by God if the center locked itself within itself with its Treasure, and excluded the members from this benefit? "God is also where a different faith or a different spirit makes one think He is not. And in truth I tell you that what is true is not what appears. Many Catholics are destitute of God more than a savage is. For many Catholics are sons and daughters of God in name only; even worse, they deride this name, and cause it to be derided through the works of hypocritical life, whose manifestations are the antithesis of the dictates of My Law... Whereas in the faith of a non-Catholic, mistaken in essence but corroborated by an upright life, the sign of the Father is more present. These are creatures who need only to know the Truth. The false children, on the other hand, are creatures who must know Respect and Love for God126, in addition to the Truth..." (Notebooks 1943, pp. 164-5) (The Holy Spirit says127:) "Here is the promise. And here is the reply to whoever believes that only a Catholic can save himself... "God has every power. God has every mercy. And His joy is to communicate Himself to the spirits who yearn for the unknown God128 - Whom they feel exists without knowing how, Who, where He is, nor how to go to Him... "Many. Many. Yes. Because God justifies the uncircumcised by means of faith, and the circumcised by means of faith. And truly, many times the uncircumcised - out of the mysterious faith that inspires them (a divine gift to these with good will), without knowing the works prescribed by the Law - work better than those who know them, by showing thus that faith is even more valuable than the Law in saving man. Because where there is faith in an unknown God Who loves and rewards for the good done in His honour, there is hope and there is love. And where there is love, there is salvation. Because truly, at the end of time, those who were not baptized with water will be baptized with Fire, that is, with the Love given as a reward for their love." (...Paul to the Romans, p. 80) 126 (In May, 1944.) 127 Dt. 6:5. 128 See Acts. 3:23-31: 31 Justice, and Judgement Day (The Holy Spirit says:) "Truly, on Judgement Day129, one will see amongst those who will be on the right [side] of the Son of Man, many of those whom men judged as not elected to the Kingdom because they did not belong to the Church. While on His left there will be many who [were] - at least in appearance, for only God knows the truth of things - living members of the mystical Body, whom men had judged as certain co-heirs of Heaven. And the astonishment of those who had judged will be great, as well as that of the two categories of the judged. "And the elect, through mysterious operations of God and seconded by their upright conscience, will say, 'Why are we here if we did not know You nor serve You as You say, by feeding You, by giving You drink, and by receiving You and visiting You?' "And the just Judge, who died in order to give eternal Life to all those of good will, will reply, 'Because you have known Me without knowing it, and without knowing it, you have served Me through the love that was given to your neighbor. You have helped Me because even a sip of water, given out of love to one who was thirsty, has been love given to Me.' "And the rejected will ask, 'How can You close Your Kingdom to us if we were yours?' "And He will reply, 'As you closed your heart to the needs of your brothers, so I, too, close to you the doors of the Kingdom. That which you did not do to the least amongst you, you did not do to Me, and with greater gravity of sin because you knew of Me, of My Gospel and of the Law. Go, therefore, a long way away from Me, workers of iniquity, because he who is like Me is My brother, and you, under the hypocritical mask, do not resemble Me - for your being without Love, which is My Nature. ' "This is where the resemblance lies: in love. The most perfect Love in the First-born amongst the brothers. A love that aspired to become the most perfect possible, in the brothers of Christ, in the flesh, and in faith130. Whoever does not live in love, and does not practice works of love, is not a brother of Christ - Who loved as far as dying for His brothers. And therefore, he is not His co-heir..." (...Paul to the Romans, pp. 245-7) Heaven, and Purgatory (Jesus speaks to Maria of Heaven and Purgatory...) "Oh, joy of joys, when you find yourselves risen to my Glory, having passed from that realm of expectation to the Kingdom of triumph. Oh, perfect knowledge of Perfect Love! "This knowledge, O Maria, is a mystery which the mind can know by the will of God, but cannot describe with human words. Believe that it is worth suffering for a whole lifetime to possess it, beginning at the hour of death. Believe that there is no greater charity, than to seek it with prayers for the ones you loved on earth and who are now beginning the purgation in love, to which they closed the doors of their hearts so many times in life. "Courage, blessed one to whom the hidden truths are revealed. Proceed, act, and rise. For yourself and for the ones you love in the hereafter. "Let the thread of your life be consumed by Love. Pour your love upon Purgatory131 to open the gates of Heaven to the ones you love. Blessed are you if you are able to love to the point of burning to ashes that which is weak and which sinned. The Seraphim come to meet the spirit purified by the immolation of love, and to teach it the eternal Sanctus to be sung at the foot of My throne132." (Notebooks 1943, p. 415) 129 Mt. 25:31-46.. 130 Mt. 10:42; Mk. 9:41. 131 Lev. 19:18. 132 See Zech. 13:8-9; Mal. 3:1-3; 2Macc. 12:39-46 (Douay-Rheims Bible); 1Cor. 3:13,15; 1Pet. 1:3-7; Rev. 7:13-17. 32 The “Our Father” 133 (In the second year of His public life, Jesus takes His apostles through Herod’s Gate in Jerusalem, to a nearby hill…) They climb up among the olive-trees, leaving Gethsemane on the right, until they reach the top of the mountain, where the leaves of the olive-trees are rustling in the wind. Jesus stops and says: « Let us stop… My dear disciples who are to continue My work in future, come near Me. Many a time you have said to Me: "Teach us to pray as You pray. Teach us, as John taught his disciples, so that we may pray with the same words as our Master". And I always replied to you: "I will do that when I see in you, the minimum sufficient preparation, so that the prayer may not be a vain formula of human words, but a real conversation with the Father". That moment has now come. You now possess what is necessary to know the words, worth being said to God. And I want to teach you them this evening, in peace and in our mutual love. In the peace and love of God and with God, because as true Israelites, we have fulfilled the Passover precept, and we have complied with God's commandment concerning love for God and our neighbour134… When you pray, pray thus: "Our Father, Who are in Heaven, may Your name be held holy, Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven, and may Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are in debt to us, and do not put us to the test, but save us from the Evil One". » Jesus has stood up to say the prayer and everybody has imitated Him, attentively and moved. « Nothing else is required, My friends. Everything man needs for his spirit, and for his flesh and blood, is contained in these words - as in a golden ring. With this prayer, you ask for what is useful to the former, and to the latter. And if you do what you ask for, you will gain eternal life. It is so perfect a prayer that neither the storms of heresies nor the course of ages will undermine it. Christianity will be split by Satan's bite, and many parts of My mystic body will be torn off and separated, forming independent cells in the vain desire to form a body as perfect as the mystical Body of Christ, the one formed by all the faithful believers united in the apostolic Church, the only true Church, as long as the earth exists. But those separated little cells, devoid of the gifts (which I will leave to the Mother Church to nourish My children), will always be denominated Christian, because of their worship of the Christ. And even in their error, they will always remember that they derive from the Christ. Well, they will pray with this universal prayer as well. Remember it carefully. Meditate on it continuously. Practise it in your actions. You need nothing else to sanctify yourselves. If one were alone, in a heathen place, without churches, without books, one would already have all the knowledge to meditate on in this prayer, and a church in his heart for this prayer. One would have a safe rule of sanctification. "Our Father". I call Him: "Father". Father of the Word, Father of the Incarnate. That is how I want you to call Him, because you are all one with Me, if you remain in Me. Once man had to prostrate himself with his face on the ground to whisper, trembling with fear: "God!" He who does not believe in Me and in My word is still in such paralyzing fear… Watch the interior of the Temple. Not God, but the very remembrance of God is concealed from the eyes of the faithful by a treble veil135. He who prays is separated by remoteness and veils. Everything has been devised to say to him: "You are mud. He is Light. You are contemptible. He is Holy. You are a slave. He is King". But now!… Stand up! Come near Me! I am the Eternal Priest. I can take you by the hand and say: "Come". I can grasp the veils and draw them, and thus throw open the inaccessible place closed so far136. Closed? Why? Closed by Sin, yes. But even more closed by the dispirited thought of man. Why closed, if God is Love, if God is father? I can, I must, I want to take you not into the dust, but into the azure; not far, but near; not as slaves, but as children on to the heart of God. Say: "Father! Father!". And never tire repeating this word. Do you not know that every time you say it, Heaven shines, because of God's joy? If you said with true love no other word but that one, you would be saying a prayer pleasing to the Lord. "Father! Father!": the little ones say to their fathers. It is the first word they say: "Mother, father". You are the little children of God… "May Your Name be held holy". Oh! Name, which is holier and sweeter than any other name, and which the fear of the guilty taught you to conceal under a different one. No, no longer Adonai. He is God. He is the God Who, in an excess of love, created Mankind. And Mankind - from now onwards, with lips cleansed by the purification that I am preparing - should call Him by His Name, awaiting to fully comprehend the true meaning of the Incomprehensible One, when the best children of Mankind, united to Him, will rise to the Kingdom that I have come to establish. “Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven". Desire its coming with all your strength. If it came, it would be the joy of the earth. The Kingdom of God in hearts, in families, among citizens and nations. Suffer, work, sacrifice yourselves for this Kingdom. Let the earth be a mirror reflecting the life of Heaven in each individual. It will happen. All this will happen one day. Centuries of tears and blood, of errors, persecutions, of darkness relieved by flashes of light radiating from the mystical Light of My Church will precede the moment in which the earth will possess the Kingdom of God. Oh!... It will most certainly come. And then there will be the perfect, blessed eternal Kingdom of Heaven. 133 See Is. 6:1-3. 134 Mt. 6:9-13, Lk. 11:1-4. 135 Dt. 6:5, Lev. 19:18 136 See Ex. 26:31-7, 36:35-8, Num. 4:5, 2Chron. 3:14. 33 “And may Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven". The submission of one's will to the will of another person can be accomplished only when one reaches perfect love for that creature. The submission of one's will to God's can be achieved only when one achieves possession of the theological virtues in a heroic degree. In Heaven, where everything is faultless, God's will is done. You, children of Heaven, must learn to do what is done in Heaven. “Give us today our daily bread". …Since you are the children of God, it is only fair to say: "Father, give us some bread". Are you afraid He will not hear you? Oh! no! Just think: If one of you has a friend and, if he finds out that he has no bread to offer another friend or relative, who has arrived in the middle of the night, goes to his friend saying: "Lend me three loaves, because a guest has arrived and I have nothing to give him to eat"137, can he possibly hear his friend answer him from inside the house: "Do not bother me, I have already bolted the door and my children are already sleeping beside me. I cannot get up and give you what you want"? No. If he has applied to a true friend, and if he insists, he will receive what he asks for. He would receive it also if he applied to someone who was not a very good friend. He would be satisfied because of his insistence. And his friend (of whom he asked the favour) will hasten to give him what he wants, so that he may no longer be bothered. But when you pray the Father, you do not turn to a friend of the earth, but you apply to the Perfect Friend Who is the Father of Heaven. That is why I say to you: "Ask, and it will be given to you, search, and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to You"138. For the one who asks will receive, the one who searches always finds, the one who knocks will have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a roasted fish? A father who did that to his own children would be a criminal. I have already told you and I will repeat it to convince you to be good and trustful. As a sound-minded person would not give a scorpion instead of an egg, with what greater bounty will God give you what you ask for! Because He is good, whereas you are more or less wicked. Ask, therefore, the Father for your bread with humble filial love. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are in debt to us". …To obey God… and to love Him, are a spiritual debt. He loves us, and is to be loved, just as a mother, a wife, a son, from whom so much is exacted, are to be loved. A selfish man wants to receive, but does not give. But an egoist is poles apart from Heaven. We are in debt to everybody. From God to a relative, from a relative to a friend, from a friend to our neighbour, to a servant, to a slave. Because they are all beings like ourselves. Woe to him who does not forgive! He will not be forgiven. God, out of justice, cannot remit the debt of a man who is in debt to Him, the Most Holy One, if man does not forgive his fellow man. "Do not put us to the test, but save us from the Evil One". …A man asked Me, less than a year ago: "What? You asked not to be tempted, and to be helped against temptation?"… I will therefore repeat [this] once, ten times, one hundred times - until everything is accomplished. But since you are not hardened by strange doctrines or by even stranger passions, I beg you to pray thus. Pray with humility that God may avert temptations from you. Oh! humility! To know oneself for what one is! Without losing heart, but to know oneself! Say: "I may give in, even if I do not think I could do it, because I am but an imperfect judge of myself139. Therefore, Father, if possible, deliver me from temptations, by keeping me so close to You, as not to allow the Evil One to harm me". Because, remember, it is not God Who tempts you to evil things, but it is the Evil One who tempts you. Pray the Father that He may support your weakness, so that it may not be led into temptation by the Evil One… I will have other gifts for My future Passovers amongst you, so that, when I shall have gone where the Father wants Me, you may have a remembrance of Me, the Lamb, at every feast of the Mosaic lamb140… (Vol. 2, pp. 324-30; The Gospel…, Vol. 3, pp. 319-26) (Jesus says to Maria Valtorta:) "…Remain in Me. Make the Father unable to distinguish between the branch and the vine, since the branch is so united to it141. Make the Father unable to grasp where I end and you begin, since the likeness is so complete. Those who love, end up taking on the inflexions, phrases, and gestures of their beloved. "I want you to be as many other Jesuses. And this is because I want you to receive what you ask for142 - when fused to Me, you can ask only for good things - and not have to experience rejection. And this is because I want you to receive even more than what you ask for, since the Father pours out his treasures upon the Son in a continuous flow of love. And whoever is in the Son enjoys this infinite outpouring, which is the love of God, who rejoices in his Word and circulates in Him143 ... "Ask and ask and ask. For everyone. For the good, that God may bless them. For the wicked, that God may convert them. Say with Me, 'Father, forgive them.144' Ask for health, peace in the family, peace in the world, and peace for eternity. Ask for holiness. Yes, this, too. God is the Holy One and the Father. Along with the life maintaining you, ask Him for holiness through the Strength which comes from Him…" 137 See Ps. 118:19-20, Is. 26:1-2, Ezek. 37:11-14. 138 See Lk. 11:5-8. 139 Mt. 7:7-11, Lk. 11:9-13 140 See 1Cor. 2:11 141 See Ex. 12:, 13:3-10 142 Jn. 15:1-8 143 Mt. 7:7-11, Lk. 11:9-13 144 Lk. 23:34 34 (Notebooks 1944, pp. 371-2) (Azariah, Maria’s Guardian Angel, says:) "…The Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ has taught men to ask for their daily bread. But, if one were to properly meditate on it, He placed this request for an entirely human need - after the three sublime requests. [These three preceding requests are]: o that the Most Holy Name of God may receive the honors due to it, o that His Kingdom may come, and o that His Will may be done on earth as it is in Heaven. The perfect prayer… entreats: 'Give us this day our daily bread'. We see that it immediately rises up again from the animal need for food, to the spiritual needs of the soul. And it flies, rendered light once more by the will to forgive the creature 'as we forgive those who trespass against us,' asking to be forgiven. And it finishes by alighting, after having completed a cycle of perfect prayer, again at the feet of Him whom he has called 'Father', asking Him for what a loving Father can do: to defend his children from temptation. "This prayer, without any missing parts or defects, teaches man how, why, and for what he should pray… "Blessed are those who are able to pray for the spirit and for spiritual things. More blessed are those who are able to pray, not even to ask for holy things, but to say, 'You, that know what is best for me, give me what's best.' Most blessed are those who come, forgetting about themselves and asking God to do what is best. They say only, 'I pray that what is for your glory, and what may serve to sanctify my brothers and sisters, may be accomplished.' "Then the one at prayer rises to perfect prayer, to that which forgets one's own martyrdoms, but entreats for others…" [Book of Azariah, pp. 116-7 (1993), 121-2 (2007)] 8. MARY’S ESSENTIAL ROLES FOR MANKIND The Eternal Bearer of Jesus [For whatever historical reasons – be they cultural and/or political – the life of Mary receives scant attention from the Gospels. Fr. Gabriel M. Roschini, professor at "Marianum", Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Rome, famous mariologist, author of 130 books, and advisor to the Holy Office (1972) says: "I must candidly admit that the Mariology found in Maria Valtorta's writings, whether published or not, has been for me a real discovery. No other Marian writing, not even the sum total of all the writings I have read and studied, were able to give me as clear, as lively, as complete, as luminous, or as fascinating an image, both simple and sublime, of Mary, God's masterpiece."145 Below are just a few extracts from Maria’s writings, which highlight the vital importance of Mary’s roles in leading us to Jesus, and in mankind’s Redemption.] (On September 8, 1946, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Azariah, Maria’s Guardian Angel, says to Maria:) “…The Most Holy Lord Jesus and our Most Blessed Queen have already spoken to you about it - when they made you the gift of the Life of Mary. And I have nothing to add because They are Wisdom, and I, just a reflection of Wisdom... Mary is the preparation for Christ. Certain beverages - given to someone who is weak, lacking appetite, and nauseated by food and drugs or different illnesses – serve to restore strength, appetite, health and desire for nourishment. They prepare the physical state’s return to well-being, and assist this return to the point of perfect recovery. So Mary, the Mother of the Lord, is the one who prepares the spirit for true fruitful union with Jesus. “She, the universal Mother, pours Her milk of grace on Her poor children – sinners, weak, sick, fearful, nauseated and weary. It is always sweet to receive comfort and care from a Mother. She strengthens them, and gives them a healthy appetite and a desire for more perfect Food, that Food which is in Her and is one with Her: Her Jesus...” [(Book of Azariah, pp. 216-7 (1993), p. 226 (2007)] (Jesus says:) "...The human eye cannot stare at the sun, but it can look at the moon. The soul's eye cannot stare at God's perfection as it is. But it can look at the perfection of Mary. "Mary is like the moon as compared to the sun. She is illuminated by Him, and She reflects the light which has illuminated Her... making it bearable for your limited nature... "Furthermore, She is the Mother eternally. And She has all the mercies of the Mother: excusing you, interceding, and patiently instructing. Mary's joy is great when She can say to someone who loves Her, 'Love My Son'... For the Mother rejoices in giving others - filled with love - to the Son; and the Son rejoices in seeing the Mother loved by others. Our glory does not seek to impose itself, but is completed in the glory of another. "I thus say to you, 'Love Mary. I give you to Her Who loves you, and She will illuminate you solely with the softness of Her smile."' (Notebooks 1943, pp. 115-6) (Mary says:) « ...I am the Eternal Bearer of Jesus... Who comes to Me, finds Him. Who leans on Me, touches Him. Who addresses Me, speaks to Him. I am His Dress. He is My Soul. My Son is united to His Mother more, much more now, than He was in the nine 145 See The Virgin Mary in the Writings of Maria Valtorta, Centro Editoriale Valtortiano, Italy, 2000, p. XV111. 35 months that He was in My womb. And every pain is appeased, every hope flourishes and every grace flows, for those who come to Me and rest their heads against My bosom. I pray for you. Remember that. The beatitude of being in Heaven, living in the ray of God, does not cause Me to forget My children who are suffering on the earth. I pray. And all Heaven prays, because Heaven loves. Heaven is living charity. And Charity has mercy on you. But even if I were all by Myself, My prayer would be sufficient for the needs of those who hope in God. Because I never stop praying for you all, for the holy and the wicked, to give joy to the holy, and to give repentance to the wicked that they might be saved. Come, come, o children of My sorrow. I am waiting for you at the foot of the Cross, to grant you graces. » (The Poem..., Vol. 1, p. 116; The Gospel…, Vol. 1, p. 142) Blessedness and Pain (Jesus says:) "...Through Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, God has worked the salvation of the human race... "[But] She was not superior to Pain. And great, huge, sovereign and absolute Pain penetrated into Her with the violence of a meteorite plunging from the sky, at the very moment She experienced the ecstasy of the embrace with the Creator Spirit. "Blessedness146 and pain held Mary's heart in a single knot, at the instant of her most lofty Fiat and her most chaste marriage. Blessedness and pain fused into one, as She had become one with God. Since She was called to a mission as Redemptrix, pain surpassed blessedness from the very start. Blessedness came at her Assumption... "To the miracles connected with the Redemption - both known and unknown, and evident to all or revealed to the privileged - add this one, too: the continuation of life in Mary by the action of the Eternal, after her heart was broken by and for the human race, like that of her Son, Jesus... "For the sake of the pain which tortured my Mother on your behalf, I would like you to give Her love. Great, most tender love, that of children for the most perfect of all mothers. [She is] the Mother who has still not ceased to suffer, shedding heavenly tears over the children of her love who repudiate their Father's house..." (Notebooks 1943, pp. 290, 293-5) Co-Redemptrix and Teacher (Jesus says:) "...Mary was the Co-Redemptrix. And the mission of a redeemer is always a mission of infinite pain. Otherwise, how could a redeemer pay the ransom for the sins of others? Or redeem his brothers and sisters as a victim? Mary was a redeemer, as I was the Redeemer. It was right, then, that Pain should be Her companion... "Always consider that She is the Master of Pain, as I am the Master of Life; always consider that Pain is real, absolute, only when God is no longer close to a spirit to support it in trial. Consider that Mary was alone, in the tremendous hour, to know the horror of solitude and to expiate your acts of desperation as creatures. "She is Hope, in addition to Faith and Charity... She was an abyss of hope. And I have thus set Her as your Star, to show you the way to Heaven. If you believe in Her always, you will never know the horror of despair, and will not kill yourselves with despair. May Mary, the Hope of God who awaited Her to accomplish man's Redemption, be man's hope. "O mortals, do not lose sight of the Morning Star, whose rays are made of the seven swords driven into Her most sweet and pure Heart, driven in out of love for you. Live in Her. And die in the Holy One, Who is the Mother of God and Who prays for you without wearying before Our Throne. "Mary, Who fell asleep on God's Heart, now lives in Heaven with Her glorified flesh. The soul that falls asleep upon the Heart of Mary will have its flesh glorified in Heaven when the time is fulfilled, for She is your Salvation." (Notebooks 1943, pp. 310-11) (Maria Valtorta writes:) ...If it is true that before the end of time more and more false prophets, servants of the Antichrist, will arise - it is equally true that Christ the Lord will set more and more of his servants against them, raising up new apostles in places where they are least expected. Infinite Mercy - taking pity on distressed men, overwhelmed by the storm of blood, fire, persecution and death - will have Mary, the pure Star of the Sea, shine upon the sea of blood and horror. She will be the forerunner of Christ in His final coming, and these new evangelizers will bear the Gospel of Mary. She was truly left in the shadow by all the Evangelists... whereas vaster knowledge of Her would have instructed many, preventing many falls. For She is the Co-Redemptrix and Teacher. The Teacher of pure, humble, faithful, prudent, and devout life... She is always a Teacher, down through the centuries. [And She is] worthy to be all the better known - the more the world sinks towards the mire and darkness - so as to be all the more imitated in order to lead the world back to what is not darkness and mire. The times ahead will be times of war - not only materially but, above all, between materiality and spirit. The Antichrist will seek to drag rational creatures into the swamp of a beastly life. Christ will seek to prevent this repudiation - not only of religion, but also of reason - by opening up new horizons and ways illuminated by spiritual lights, prompting a powerful awakening of the spirit in whoever does not openly reject it. [It will be] an awakening assisted by these new evangelizers, bearing not only Christ, but the Mother of God. They will uplift the standard of Mary. They will lead people to Mary... For She is the holy 146 Lk. 1:42 36 Adversary of the wicked Enemy. And her heel is destined to crush the infernal dragon perpetually147, just as Wisdom - which has found its seat in Her - is destined to defeat the heresies corrupting souls and intellects... (Notebooks 1945-50, pp. 565-6) 9. WHY THIS, AND WHY NOW? An Act of Mercy – for These Times (At the beginning of 1947, Jesus says to Maria:) "Now then, listen, O my little John. I told you a long time ago148 - you were in the place of exile and suffered as only I know - that every Gospel passage and episode is a mine of teaching. Do you remember? I had shown you the second multiplication of loaves of bread and told you that, as with a few fish and pieces of bread I was able to satisfy the hunger of the throngs149 . In the same way your spirits can be satisfied limitlessly by the few passages which are included in the four Gospels. Indeed, for twenty centuries an incalculable number of men have been fed by them. And now, through my little John, I have increased the episodes and words. Because starvation is truly about to consume spirits, and I have mercy on them. But even from those few episodes in the four Gospels, bread and fish have been coming to men for twenty centuries so that they will be fed to the full, and there will still be food left over. "All of this is done by the Holy Spirit, Who is the Master teaching from the chair of Gospel instruction. 'When the Paraclete comes, He will instruct you concerning all truth and teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said'150 , teaching the true spirit of every word, of every letter in the episode. For it is the spirit of the word, and not the word in itself, which gives life to the spirit..." (Notebooks 1945-50, p. 318) (Jesus speaks of the importance of the Gospel, in the times that are advancing upon us...) "...Over against the red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven diadems - on its heads that with its tail drags behind it a third of the stars in the sky and causes them to plunge down151 - set my Angel, flying in the midst of Heaven, holding the Eternal Gospel wide open, even to the pages which have been closed until now. [This is] so that men can be saved - through its light - from the coils of the great Serpent with seven faces, seeking to strangle them in his darkness and at my return. 152 I will still find faith and charity in the hearts of the persevering, and they will be more numerous than the work of Satan and men lead one to hope that they may be." (Notebooks 1945-50, p. 346-7) Seven Reasons for The Poem... – The Gospel… (Jesus dictates seven main reasons for giving us His major “Work” – The Poem of the Man-God – and The Gospel as Revealed to Me:) « 1. The most profound reason for the gift of this work is that in the present time, when modernism, condemned by My holy Vicar Pius X, becomes corrupted in more and more harmful doctrines, the Church - represented by My Vicar - may have further material to fight against those who deny: the supernaturalness of dogmas; the divinity of the Christ; the Truth of the Christ, God and Man, real and perfect both in the faith and in the history that has been handed down from Him (Gospel, Acts of the Apostles, Apostolic Letters, tradition); and the doctrine of Paul... 2 To rouse a keen love for the Gospel and for everything pertaining to the Christ in Priests and in laymen. First of all, renewed love for My Mother, in Whose prayers lies the secret of the salvation of the world. She, My Mother, is the Conqueress of the cursed Dragon. Assist Her power by means of your renewed love for Her and of your renewed faith and knowledge of what pertains to Her. Mary has given the Saviour to the world. The world will receive salvation again from Her. 3. To give spiritual masters and directors assistance in their ministry, by studying the different souls of the world in which I lived and the different methods used by Me to save them... I solemnly tell you that not even after reading and accepting this illustration of My public life will you know everything about Me. I would have killed My little John, in the fatigue of reporting all the days of My ministry and all the actions performed on each day, if I had made him acquainted with everything so that he might transmit everything to you!... 4. To reinstate, in their truth, the figures of the Son of Man and of Mary, true children of Adam by flesh and blood, but of an innocent Adam. The children of the Man were to be like us, if our First Parents had not depreciated their perfect humanity... in which there is the double nature: spiritual, in the image and likeness of God; and material... not attached by sensuality, but only by a tie of spiritual love... The explanation of certain verbal amplifications may seem exaggerated to you... The eastern and Hebrew styles are flowery and pompous also when commonly spoken. All the writings of that time and of that race prove it, and in the course of ages the eastern style has not changed very much... 147 Gen. 3:15 148 Lk. 23:34 149 Mt. 15:32-8; Mk. 8:1-9. 150 Jn. 14:25-6. 151 Rev. 12:1-9. 152 Dan. 7:; Rev. 12:, 13:, 14:6-7,17,20. 37 And the purpose of this Work is also to clarify certain points that a number of circumstances has covered with darkness... between one episode and another... 5. To have an exact knowledge of the complexity and duration of: My long passion, that culminates in the sanguinary Passion accomplished in few hours, that had consumed Me in a daily torture that lasted for years and years, and that had increased more and more; and with the passion of My Mother, Whose heart was pierced by the sword of sorrow for the same length of time. And I urge you, through this knowledge, to love Us more. 6. To show the power of My Word and its different effects according to whether the person receiving it belonged to the group of men of good will, or to that of those who had a sensual will, which is never righteous. The Apostles and Judas. Here are the two opposed examples. The former, very imperfect, rough, ignorant, violent, but with good will. Judas, learned more than most of them, refined by living in the capital and in the Temple, but of evil will. Watch the evolution of the former in Good, their ascent. Watch the evolution of the latter in Evil, and his descent... Because merit is really consequent on the victory over disorderly passions and temptations, a victory achieved through love for God and to attain the final aim: to enjoy God for ever. It should be watched by those who claim that a conversion should come only from God. God gives the means to be converted, but He does not do violence to the will of man. And if man does not want to be converted, in vain he has what serves other people to become converted. Let those who examine the situation consider the manifold effects of My Word not only on the human man, but also on the spiritual man... My Word, when it is received with good will, transforms both, leading to external and internal perfection. The apostles, through their ignorance and My humility, treated the Son of Man with excessive familiarity - a good master among them, nothing more, a humble and patient master with whom it was permissible to take liberties, at times excessive... The apostles were quarrelsome with one another, selfish, jealous of their love and of Mine, impatient with the people, somewhat proud of being "the Apostles", and eager for stupendous capacities, which point them out to the crowds as gifted with an extraordinary power. But slowly, continuously, they change into new men, bridling their passions first to imitate Me and make Me happy, then - as they became more and more acquainted with My true Ego - changing manners and love so much as to see Me, love Me and treat Me as the divine Lord153 ... Are they - above all after the Resurrection - the friends who treat the Son of Man as a Friend? No, they are not. They are the ministers of the King, first. They are the priests of God, later. They are completely different and completely transformed. This should be considered by those who will find the apostles' nature... unnatural. I was not a difficult doctor and a proud king... I wanted to form, using raw materials, and fill empty vases with all kinds of perfections, proving that God can do everything154 ... 7. Finally: to make you acquainted with the mystery of Judas, that mystery which is the fall of a spirit that God had favoured in an extraordinary manner. A mystery that is repeated too often, and is the wound that aches in the Heart of your Jesus... » (The Poem..., Vol. 5, pp. 946-9; The Gospel…, Vol. 10, pp. 542-8) 10. “DO NOT DENY” As in Jeremiah – the “Work” can be Repeated (Jesus says:) "...If, through his own capacity, unlearned as he is, little John speaks divine words, it is then evident that the Author of Wisdom, the Holy Spirit, lives in him with the fullness of his gifts. The Work thus remains the word of God. "I could do everything - even destroy the Work and dictate it again afterwards. It would be an exact repetition (in the points dictated by supernatural voices) of the destroyed work. The differences would be observed only in the words used by the spokesman to describe places and episodes. It would be an exact repetition of the destroyed work, just as occurred with the prophecies of Jeremiah, burned by Jehoiakim, king of Judah155 ... "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, whose friendship you need so much, by denying His action - every revelation and inspired work has the Paraclete as its Author - and by waging war on and opposing one of His tabernacles... To contest His words or fail to appreciate them is to commit an offense against Love156. To persecute one of His instruments is to offend Love, Who wisely knows why He has chosen that instrument." (Notebooks 1945-50, pp. 449-50) (Experiencing of a growing hostility and persecution in some parts of the country, Jesus says to His apostles:) « Do not be afraid. We read in Jeremiah how the prophet told his secretary Baruch to write what the Lord dictated to him, to go and read what he had written to those who had gathered in the house of the Lord, and to read it in place of the prophet who was in prison and could not go there157. I will do the same. Among My apostles and disciples I have many faithful Baruchs. They will come and tell you the word of the Lord, and your souls will not perish... 153 See Col. 3:1-10. 154 Lk. 1:37. 155 Jer. 36:20-32. 156 Mt. 12:31-2; Mk. 3:28-9; Lk. 12:10. 157 See Jer. 36:. 38 And do not be afraid either of losing the words which are in you. We read, always in Jeremiah, that also after the destruction of the scroll by Jehoiakim, king of Judah - who by burning the scroll hoped to destroy the eternal truthful words, what God had dictated - remained, because the Lord gave this order to the prophet: "Take another scroll and write down all the words that were written on the scroll burnt by the king". And Jeremiah gave a scroll to Baruch, a scroll without any writing, and he dictated once again to his secretary the eternal word. And he added some more as well to complete the previous ones, because the Lord mends the damages caused by men when such amends are useful to souls, and He does not allow hatred to cancel the work of love. Well, even if I, comparing Myself to a scroll full of holy verities, should be destroyed, do you think that the Lord would let you perish without the help of other scrolls, which will contain My words and those of My witnesses?... And do you think that what is impressed in the scrolls of your hearts can be cancelled with the passing of time on the words? No. The angel of the Lord will repeat those words to you, keeping them fresh in your souls eager for Wisdom. Not only. But he will explain them to you, and you will be wise through the word of your Master. You seal your love for Me by means of the seal of sorrow. Can what resists persecution perish? It cannot. I am telling you. God's gifts cannot be cancelled. Sin only can cancel them. But you certainly do not wish to commit sin, do you, My friends? »... (The Poem..., Vol. 4, p. 105; The Gospel…, Vol. 6, pp. 518-9) “All the Proofs” (Jesus says:) "When I hear the hypocritical and unreasonable sentence... 'If it is the work of God, God will take care of it and make it triumph' - with a start of holy wrath I would like to come down to earth and repeat the gesture with which I cleansed the Temple of swindlers, thieves, and merchants158 . "I ought to do this. But I am Mercy, and remain such as long as man is on earth. I wait for their conversion, as long as they have breath... "What should I do to take care of the Work and make it triumph? Should I bring into action the tremendous God of Sinai - the God of the times of indignation and severity - and strike them dead in their sin, in their sins, for many are the sins contained in their arrogance towards My will? What else, if not this? "Through you, I have provided all the proofs... And what else do they want, if this does not suffice for them to say, 'Yes, it is the Spirit of God present here'? There is no dogmatic error, there truly is none in the Work... "But in order not to call themselves rebels out of human pride, to conceal these wounds of theirs, they say, 'It is up to God.' "God has acted and acts. But the prince of the world holds sway in this world, whereas the King of kings reigns in Heaven. And faithful - He is faithful - to the free will which He has left to man - to test, reward, or, quite often, condemn him - He does not do violence to their will, but awaits them, and soon, in judgment. "They would do well to meditate on the page in the Gospel where I - the Teacher of teachers, Incarnate Wisdom, Word, and Truth - say that sins against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven159 "And this truly is a work of the Spirit of the Spirit of God, of the Love of the Father and the Son, of the Spirit Who knows all truth and comes to tell it to the men caught in the present whirlwind - or, rather, whirlwinds - so that they can defend themselves from the doctrines of hell... "This sorrow! What pain! To see Myself, God, frustrated in My will by men, or not understood, to the point of being told, 'You must take care 'Of it.' Does no one consider that this 'if it is the work of God, He must take care of it' is proof of the offensive doubt present in them, and this does not come from God? Don't they consider that they are offending charity towards Me - by insinuating that God, to persuade them, ought to perform extraordinary works, to effect the triumph of those which are already extraordinary... by insinuating - even unconsciously - that you have either simulated or had Darkness as your teacher? Let them not say so any more. Ever again. "I had been wanting to say this for a long time. Because I see that your heart is getting covered with wounds, one for each time the foolish statement is made. But you are now too wounded, soul of Mine, for Me to go on maintaining silence. "Soul of Mine, soul of Mine, soul of Mine! Come and weep here, to be able to go on living. Come to Me. Here. And let us weep together, because I once more came 'to My house and was not welcomed or recognized,'160 and once more 'Jerusalem kills her prophets between the temple and the altar161....' "Since men and angels were created, how many perfect works of God have been frustrated or squandered by man?! And did they perhaps not come from God because they did not succeed? On the contrary, precisely because they have come from God, they have been frustrated. I am telling you so, because it is true." (Notebooks 1945-50, pp. 531-3) (Azariah says:) "The word of God is always judgment. It is always placed as a touchstone before men. According to their metal, reactions differ. And according to the reactions, God judges. 158 Jn. 2:14-17. 159 Mt. 12:31-2; Mk. 3:28-9; Lk. 12:10. 160 Mt. 13:54-8; Mk. 6:1-6; Lk. 4:16-30. 161 Mt. 23:24-31; Lk. 11:47-8. 39 "Having descended a first time in the middle of the night - in the period of wrath - to be an inexorable punishment for those trampling upon the servants of God, and having descended in the middle of the night - the second time in the period of mercy - to be most powerful saving love, the Word of God throughout the ages continues to be judgment and a touchstone for men162. It is inexorable punishment for those who deride it, and for its sake persecute the ones who are faithful to it. And it is most powerful, saving, instructing love for those who - with good will - seek this Word and love it as a cherished spouse of their spirit, from which they never separate themselves163, for they find every delight therein..." [(Book of Azariah, p. 300 (1993), 311 (2007)] No More Dictations on Paul’s Epistles (There is no doubt that Maria Valtorta has documented an extraordinary number of passages which [purport to] add substantially to the completeness and understanding of Scripture, and particularly of Gospels. Since the publication of the first (Italian) edition of Maria’s “Work”, there has been much controversy within the Catholic Church as to the authenticity of Maria’s writings. The final passage in this section reveals Jesus’ cessation of His further clarification of passages in the New Testament... In May 1953 Jesus said to Maria:) "...My Divine Mercy has given the Work [The Poem of the Man-God; The Gospel as Revealed to Me] out of mercy for infinite souls, lost or on the way to being lost - both lay and even consecrated souls - so that they would again have eternal Salvation. "The Work was the practical application of the spiritual works of mercy which I have taught: ‘Instruct the ignorant, convert sinners..." "Those who have blocked it for years, unjustly and without a true reason - rather only for a blameworthy reason - have not understood its end, its aim, or the power of My Gift. They have profoundly wounded My Heart and made themselves responsible for the spiritual death of so many souls, and for a great lack of charity and justice toward you, Maria... "And since it is five years now that I have been wounded unceasingly with unjust actions toward the Work, I have halted the flow of Divine Wisdom which I wanted to pour again into you, [Maria] - My cistern of love and of grace for souls – [which would have been] giving you the explanations of the Apocalypse, of the other Pauline Epistles, and of those of Peter, James and Jude of Alpheus. All the apostolic letters..." (Quadernetti164 , from pp. 200-08) 11. THE WORD OF GOD – SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING AND SANCTIFICATION In the Secrecy of the Heart (Jesus says:) "...No tyrant is a greater tyrant than the flesh and the Devil. And those who are able to gain victory over the flesh and the Devil, and make the flesh a spirit and the Devil a vanquished foe, are 'the victors'. "But to be such, people must have given themselves totally to Love. Totally: those who love with all their strength reserve nothing for themselves, and, in not keeping anything for themselves, they keep nothing for the flesh and the Devil. They give everything to their God, and God gives everything to those who love Him. "He gives them His Word. This is what He gives the victors to eat, beginning on this earth. Nor could He give them anything greater. He gives Me, the Father's Word, to be the food of the spirit consecrated to Heaven... "What would you think of someone wanting to live on sweets, liqueurs, and smoke? You say that person will die, because that isn't the food one needs to live healthily. The same holds for those who weary themselves with a thousand superficial things, and do not take into account that which is the core of the whole life of the soul: My Word. "Why don't the Mass, the Eucharist, and Confession sanctify you as ought to happen? Because to you they are purely formal acts; you don't make them fruitful through attention to My Word. Even worse: by lukewarmness, hypocrisy, and more or less serious sin you choke off My Word, which I hurl from the heights of Heaven as a summons and light for you... "I no longer speak from afar, from the heights of the heavens, but take up My dwelling - and with Me, the Father and the Spirit, for We are one single reality - in the hearts of those who love Me165. And My word is no longer a whisper, but a full Voice, no longer isolated, but continuous. I am then the true 'Master'. I am the One Who twenty centuries ago tirelessly spoke to the crowds, and Who now finds His delight in speaking to His beloved ones who are able to listen to Him, and I make them into My channels of grace. "How much Life I give you! True Life, holy Life, eternal Life, joyful Life, through My word, which is the Word of the Father and the Love of the Spirit. Yes, in truth I have 'the victor' eat of the fruit of the tree of Life. I give it to him, beginning on this earth through My spiritual doctrine, which I return to bear among men so that not all men will perish. I give it to you in the other life, by My being in your midst eternally... 162 Is. 28:16. 163 See Wisdom 8:2. 164 Maria Valtorta, Quadernetti (“Little Notebooks”.- Italian edition / Centro Editoriale Valtortiano, Isola del Liri (FR), Italia, 2006 165 Jn. 14:23. 40 "The 'hidden manna' is also My Word, Manna, because it brings together all the sweetness of love of our Trinity, which is the Father, Brother, and Spouse of your souls, and which loves you with the three highest loves. Hidden, because it is spoken in the secrecy of the heart, to those deserving to savor it. "I would certainly like to be able to have it rain down on everyone and nourish all with it. But it is said, 'Do not give pearls to swine and holy things to dogs'166. And many who have even been washed in My Baptism and redeemed by My Blood, are lower than swine and more canine than dogs... "I thus give the manna to those who gain victory over the lower part - with all its tendencies towards non-faith, the senses, and base, selfish concerns. I give the manna of My Word, which fills your spirits with sweetness and light. I give the 'little white stone on which a new name is written'167 - that is, on which a Truth which is silenced for the unworthy is revealed. It is the Truth which opens to you the gates of eternal Life, which gives you its keys, and sets you on the Way to arrive at the Gate of My heavenly City..." (Notebooks 1943, pp. 248-50.) The Light of the Spirit (Jesus says:) "The books of Wisdom should always be read with Superhuman references. "[This is] just the opposite of what the world does, and the science of the world, which is unable to raise itself to the supernatural level, but strives to lower the supernatural in things to its earthly level... "To understand the Word as it is, and to make the spirit as it should be - the lord of the flesh and not a slave - mankind must set the axe to whole forests and cut down the wicked trees, planted by the imprudence of some or by their rebellious thought, and left to grow freely. Indeed, it is helped to grow by other imprudent ones, and by other rebels against the law of the Lord. Humanity should do this, and shed light. Allow the Light to descend from the heights of the Heavens upon the meadows of the earth, where, like grass that passes, you sprout, blossom, and fall in a short time. And blessed are those who blossom in such fashion as to be worthy of being transplanted into My Paradise. "These are the ones for whom the light of the spirit is not precluded and extinguished. They are the strong who are able to resist human currents. They are the faithful who are able to believe, even in opposition to human assertions. They are the secure who are able to go on feeling the Sun - even beyond the shadows created by man - and nothing displaces them from this security of theirs. Like the sensitive needle of a compass, they aim towards the Light, as migratory birds follow their sun. They are able to leave homes and relatives, to come to the Sun of their souls. "And I am not referring, Maria, to those who enter a monastery. There are creatures who, while living in their families, 'leave' them 'out of love for Me'168 more than if they were to set themselves beyond the double grill of a monastery. You know something about this, and you know what tears it costs 'to follow Me' in opposition to the hostile will of family members. "Those who, going against the selfishness, derision, and incredulity of relatives, are able to follow their King of Love, and 'come to Me'. They do not grow disturbed or cold under the daily assault of unjust remarks and the religious indifference of others. But, rather, they suffer this, and labor to augment the Light in themselves, and bear it into the midst of their obfuscated families. They exhaust themselves in protecting the interests of their God within the first of human societies - the family - and go so far as to give Me their lives, provided they can obtain Life for the dead in their families - the spiritually dead. "Oh, blessed, oh, holy, oh, heroic children of mine! I know what it means to go against the sweet bond of love and the harsh chain of family prejudice, to break them and follow the Lord's order. I know. I remember. And I reward with a special reward the hidden martyrs of family selfishness or family love, the holy martyrs of My Love, as irrepressible as death in them, and as agonizing as a fire... " (Notebooks 1943, pp. 379-81) “Remain in Me... and I Remain in You” (Jesus says:) "If you remain in Me and My doctrine remains in you, you will be given what you ask for.'169 "I descend into you and become your food. But, as the Center I am, I breathe you into Myself. You feed on Me, but with greater reason I feed on you. The two hungers are insatiable and continuous. The vine nourishes its shoots. But it is the shoots that make the vine170. The water nourishes the seas, but it is the seas that nourish the water, rising again in evaporation, to come down once more. You must thus remain in Me as I remain in you. if separated, you, not I, would die. "I am food for the spirit and food for thought. The spirit feeds on the Flesh of a God. The essence poured out by God, it can receive food only from what is its matrix. Thought feeds on My Word, which is the Thought of a God. "Your thought! Intelligence is what makes you resemble God, for in intelligence there is memory, intellect, and will, as there is a likeness in the spirit171 because it is spiritual, free, and immortal. 166 Mt. 7:6. 167 Rev. 2:17. 168 Mt. 19:29; Mk. 10:29-30; Lk. 18:29-30. 169 Jn. 15:7. 170 Jn. 15:1-8. 171 Gen. 1:26-7. 41 "Your thought, to be capable of remembering, understanding, and willing what is good, must be nourished by My doctrine. It reminds you of the benefits and works of God, Who God is, and what is due to God. It brings you to comprehend good, and distinguish it from evil. It brings you to want to do good..." (Notebooks 1944, p. 370) (Jesus says:) "...Oh, what light for horizons of divine knowledge, a single word of My Gospel can open for you! In that 'he became fortified' and 'grew' in the Gospel of My childhood172 , what a mystery of perfect love and justice is enclosed! You read and pass on. Or you read and meditate, but you dip what is superhuman into a human substance. Your flesh is so strong in you, that it overcomes the intellectual powers of the spirit. What thus happens is that only those who have slain the flesh - in its voices and overbearance - and made these ruins the base for the throne of the spirit-king, are granted insights. [This is such], through either the divine Word, or a divine infusion of intelligence bordering on perfection. For it proceeds from the Paraclete Who, by a spiritual incarnation of the Word in you - virgin spirits desirous only of an eternal marriage - infuses Himself and generates the Word in you, making you 'bearers of Christ,' as the virginal Bride bore His septiform ardor. "I said 'bordering on perfection.' It is perfect, for it comes from God. But a human creature could not possess Perfection as it is. The creature would be dissolved by it. Dissolved, because the heart and mind of one, living on earth, cannot contain the total knowledge of what God is. The Infinite does not fit into the finite... "The Truth, which is good, always clothes itself in a veil of flesh - to make itself bearable for your weakness, and to allow your limitedness to know God and live in the knowledge of Him, bringing Heaven into you without your dying therefrom before the time comes..." (Notebooks 1944, pp. 506-7) Multiplication of the Word (At 6.35 a.m. on January 1, 1946, Jesus tells Maria:) "Rise, Maria. Let us sanctify the day with a page from the Gospel. For My word is sanctification. See, Maria. For to see the days of Christ on earth is sanctification; for to repeat what Jesus says is sanctification; for to preach Jesus is sanctification; for to instruct brothers and sisters is sanctification. You shall be greatly rewarded for this act of charity." (The Poem..., Vol. 3, pp. 515-6; The Gospel…, Vol. 6, p. 11; and Notebooks 1945-50, pp. 155-6) (Just after showing Maria the passage of the second multiplication of the loaves and fishes173 . Jesus gives her words of comfort and reassurance:) « ...I give My word. I give everything you can understand and assimilate, to nourish your souls. But you have been made so dull by fatigue and exhaustion that you cannot assimilate all the nourishment which is in My word. You would need so much of it. But you are not able to receive much. You are so poor in spiritual strength! It burdens you without giving you blood or strength. And the Spirit then works the miracle for you. The spiritual miracle of the multiplication of the Word. It enlightens for you, and thus multiplies all its most secret meanings, so that you can feed on it and thus not collapse exhausted along the desert of life. Thus you do not have to encumber yourselves with a load that would crush you without strengthening you. Seven pieces of bread and a few fish! I preached for three years and, as My beloved John says, "if all the parables I told and all the miracles I worked were to be written to give you substantial food, capable of taking you as far as the Kingdom, without fainting through weakness, the whole Earth would not suffice to contain all the volumes"174. And even if all that had been written, you could not have read so many books... So Love comes and multiplies. He, too, Who is One with Me and the Father, "feels sorry for you who are dying from starvation" and with a miracle that is being repeated throughout centuries, He multiplies twice, ten times, a hundred times the nourishment of each word of Mine. You thus have an infinite treasure of celestial food. It is offered to you by the Charity. Draw from it without fear. The more you draw from it, the more it will grow, as it is the fruit of Love... God has no limit in His wealth and possibilities. You are relative. He is not. He is infinite. In all His works. Also in His power to give you, every moment and for every event, the light you need, in any particular moment. And as on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit, infused in the apostles, made their word understandable... so it will comfort you when you weep, will advise you when you ask for advice, and will share your joy when you rejoice, through the same Word... » (The Poem..., Vol. 3, pp. 435-6; The Gospel…, Vol. 5, pp. 401-2) (Early in January 1947, Jesus says to Maria:) "I told you a long time ago - you were in the place of exile, and suffered to a degree that I alone know - that every Gospel passage and episode is a mine of teachings. Do you remember? I had shown you the second multiplication of bread and had told you that, as with a few fish and a few pieces of bread I was able to feed the crowds. 175 In the same way, your spirits can be limitlessly fed by the few passages which are reported by the Four Gospels. Indeed, an incalculable number of men have been feeding on them for twenty centuries. And 1, now, through my little John, have given an increase in episodes and words, because starvation is truly about to consume spirits and I have mercy on them. But for twenty centuries, bread and fish have 172 Lk. 2:52. 173 Mt. 15:32-8; Mk. 8:1-9. 174 Jn. 21:24-5. 175 Mt. 15:32-8; Mk. 8:1-9. 42
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