Notes for this keyword
GRM 25.12
It is Passion time. Have pity on your Redeemer. Listen to His cries, and count His wounds and tears. The former were suffered, the latter shed for you. Let every other vision disappear before that one that reminds you of the Redemption accomplished for you.
GRM 37.7
Many think that I did not suffer as a human being when the holy glance of the guardian of our home was extinguished by death. If I was God, and as such I was aware of the happy destiny of Joseph, and consequently I was not sorry for his death, because after a short time in Limbo, I was going to open Heaven to him, as a Man I cried bitterly in the house now empty and deprived of his presence. I cried over My dead friend, and should I not have cried over My holy friend, on whose chest I had slept when I was a little boy, and from whom I had received so much love in so many years?
Jesus said:
GRM 80.9
(...) Here I felt nostalgia for My far away Mother, here I felt the need for Her care for My human frailty, here I felt once again the pain of parting from the Only One Who loved Me with perfect love, here I realised what sorrow is laid aside for Me and I was grieved at Her sorrows, poor Mother, Who will have to shed so many tears for Her Son and because of the wickedness of men, that She will be left tearless. And here I experienced the weariness of the hero and of the ascetic who in an hour of forewarning realise the uselessness of their efforts… I cried… Sadness… a lure for Satan. It is not a sin to be sad in painful circumstances. It is a sin to go beyond sadness and fall into inertness and despair. But Satan comes at once when he sees anyone in spiritual languor.
Jesus speaks about his temptation in the desert.
GRM 83
Jesus is in the countryside. He is talking to a peasant who confides the good he gets from listening to Jesus (it's exactly the same for us who read the Work). Jesus talks about God's blessing, and about suffering, about how it is atonement and grace. Then John leaves, and Judas asks to go to Jerusalem to meet a friend. Jesus is disheartened by Judas, and weeps quietly in a bushy grove. He prays. Finally, he is joined by Simon the Zealot, who guesses his pain. They talk about Judas... And Simon also expresses his desire for him to meet Lazarus.
GRM 83.3-6
It is evening and the country becomes silent. Simon watches the peasants watering their fields.
83.4 Jesus has not moved from the place where He was sitting. He then gets up, goes round to the back of the house, and walks along the orchard. He wants to be alone. He goes as far as a thicket of huge pomegranate trees and low bushes, which I think must be gooseberries. But I am not sure, because there are no berries on them and I am not familiar with the leaves of these plants. Jesus hides behind the thicket. He kneels down. He prays… and then He bends down with His face on the ground, on the grass and He weeps. I realise that He is crying because of His deep, interrupted sighs. A disheartened crying, without sobs, but so sad.
Some time passes in this way. It is now twilight. But it is not yet so dark as to prevent seeing. And in the faint light Simon’s disfigured but honest face suddenly appears above a bush. He looks around for something and sees the crouched figure of the Master, completely covered by His dark blue mantle which confuses Him with the dark ground. Only His fair hair and His hands joined in prayer catch his eye: His hands protrude above His head which rests on His wrists. Simon looks at Him with his large kind eyes. He understands that Jesus is sad because of His sighing and he utters: «Master», with his thick almost purple lips.
Jesus looks up.
«You are crying, Master? Why? May I come near You?» Simon’s expression is one of astonishment and sorrow. He is definitely not a handsome man. In addition to his disfigured features and his dark olive complexion, he bears the deep bluish marks of the scars caused by his disease. But his glance is so gentle that his ugliness disappears.
«Come, Simon, My friend.»
Jesus is sitting on the grass. Simon sits beside Him.
«Why are You sad, Master? I am not John and I am not capable of giving You what John gives you. But I would like to give You every possible comfort, and I am only sorry that I am not able to do so. Tell me. Have I hurt You these last few days to the extent that it depresses You to stay with me?»
«No. My good friend. You have never hurt Me since the first moment I saw you. And I think you will never cause Me to shed tears.»
«Well, then, Master? I am not worthy of Your confidence. But, on account of my age, I could be Your father and You know how anxious I have always been to have children… Allow me to caress You as if You were my son and let me be a father and mother to You in this hour of pain. It is Your Mother that You are in need of to forget so many things…»
«Oh! Yes! It is My Mother!»
«Well, while waiting to have comfort in Her, grant Your servant the joy of consoling You.
83.5 You are crying, Master, because someone has hurt You. For several days Your face has been like the sun darkened by clouds. I have been watching You. Your goodness hides the wound, that we may not hate him who wounds You. But the wound is a painful and abhorrent one. But tell me, my Lord: why do You not remove the source of Your pain?»
«Because it would be useless from a human point of view and it would not be charitable.»
«Ah! You are aware that I am speaking of Judas! It is because of him that You are suffering. 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.»
«What do You mean?»
«Nothing special.»
«You were pleased to let him go, because You were disgusted with his behaviour at Jericho.»
«It is true, Simon. I tell you once again: what is to be, shall be. And 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 put up with 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. Also idiots are capable of being good with John and understanding souls like John’s. But it is difficult to be good with people like Judas, and 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 forever. He will leave after eating the hardest bread and drinking the most sour 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!…»
Simon is thoughtful and silent. He then says: «The shepherds are good. Judas scorns them. But I love them.»
«I love them and praise them.»
«They are simple souls, just like the ones You like.»
«Judas has lived in town.»
«His only excuse. But there are many people who have lived in towns, and yet…
83.6 When will You come to my friend?»
«Tomorrow, Simon. And I will come with pleasure, because we are by ourselves, just you and I. I believe he is a learned and experienced man, like you.»
«And he suffers a lot… In his body and even more in his heart. Master… I would like to ask You a favour: if he does not speak to You of his grief, please do not ask him any question about his family.»
«I will not. I am on the side of those who suffer, but I do not force anybody’s confidence. Tears deserve respect.»
«And I did not respect them… But I felt so sorry for You…»
«You are My friend and you have already given a name to My sorrow. I am an unknown Rabbi for your friend. When he knows Me… then… Let us go. It is dark. Do not let us keep our tired guests waiting. Tomorrow at dawn we will go to Bethany.»
GRM 83.7
83.7 Jesus then says:
«My little John, how many times have I cried with My face on the ground because of men! And you would like to be less than Me?
Also amongst you, good people are in the proportion that existed between good people and Judas. And the better one is, the more one suffers. But also for you it is necessary to learn by studying Judas, and I say that particularly for those who are responsible for the spiritual care of souls. Each of you, priests, is a “Peter”. And you have to forgive and retain. But how much power of observation you must have, how much union with God, what great pains you must take and how many comparisons with the method of the Master you must make, in order to be a priest as it is your duty to be!
Some people may think that what I am saying is useless, human, impossible. They are the usual people who deny the human phases of Jesus’ life and they make of Me a being so remote from human life as to be only a divine being. What happens then to the most holy Humanity, to the sacrifice of the Second Person in becoming flesh? Oh! I was truly a Man amongst men. I was the Man. And that is why I suffered in seeing the traitor and ungrateful people. That is why I rejoiced on account of those who loved Me or were converted to Me. That is why I shuddered and cried before Judas’ spiritual corpse. I shuddered and cried before My dead friend. But I knew that I would call him back to life and I rejoiced seeing his soul already in Limbo. Here… I had the Demon in front of Me. And I will say no more.
Follow Me, John. Let us give men also this gift. And then… Blessed are those who listen to the Word of God and strive to do what it says. Blessed are those who want to know Me in order to love Me. In them and to them I shall be a blessing.»
GRM 105.1-5
GRM 121.2
Translation in progress
GRM 137.5-6
Translation in progress
GRM 157.4