Jesus, while passing along a path between fields which must have been sown
recently, because the soil is still soft and dark as it looks just after being
sown, stops to caress two children: a little boy not more than four years old
and a little girl about eight or nine. They must be very poor children because
they are wearing poor faded garments, which are also torn and their faces are
sad and thin.
Jesus does not ask any questions. He only gazes at them while He caresses them.
He then hastens towards a house at the end of the path. It is a country house,
well built, with an outside staircase leading from the ground up to a terrace on
which there is a vine pergola, now bare of grapes and leaves. Only an odd yellow
leaf hangs swinging in the damp wind of a bad autumn day. Some doves are cooing
on the parapet of the house waiting for the rain which the overcast sky is
promising.
Jesus, followed by His apostles, pushes the little rustic gate of the low rubble
wall surrounding the house, and enters the yard, which we would rather call a
threshing-floor, where there is a well and a stone-oven in a corner. I suppose
that is what the little closet is, the walls of which are black with smoke,
which is coming out even now and is blown towards the ground by the wind.
Hearing the sound of footsteps a woman looks out of the closet and when she sees
Jesus she greets Him joyfully and runs to inform the people in the house.
An elderly stout man comes to the door of the house and hastens towards Jesus.
«It is a great honour, Master, to see You! » he exclaims greeting Him.
Jesus greets him: «Peace be with you » and adds: «It is getting dark and it is
about to rain. I beg you to give shelter and a piece of bread to Me and My
disciples.»
«Come in, Master. My house is Yours. The maid-servant is about to take the bread
out of the oven. I am happy to offer it to You with the cheese of my sheep and
the fruit of my fields. Come in, because the wind is cold and damp...» and he
kindly holds the door open and bows when Jesus passes. But he suddenly changes
tone addressing somebody he sees and he says wrathfully: «Are you still here? Go
away. There is nothing for you. Go away. Have you understood? There is no room
here for vagabonds...» And he mumbles: «...and perhaps thieves like you.»
A thin weeping voice replies: «Have mercy, sir. At least a piece of bread for my
little brother. We are hungry...»
Jesus, Who had gone into the large kitchen, which is cosy because of the big
fire which serves also as a light, comes to the threshold. His countenance has
already changed. With a severe and sad expression He asks, not the host, but in
general, He seems to be asking the silent yard, the bare fig-tree, the dark
well: «Who is it that is hungry? »
«I, sir. I and my brother. Just a piece of bread and we shall go away.»
Jesus is by now outside, where it is getting darker and darker because of the
twilight and the impending rain. «Come here » He says.
«I am afraid, sir! »
«Come, I tell you. Do not be afraid of Me.»
The poor girl appears from behind the corner of the house. Her little brother is
holding on to her shabby little tunic. They look timidly at Jesus and with fear
in their eyes at the landlord, who casts a nasty look at them and says: «They
are vagabonds, Master. And thieves. Only a little while ago I found her scraping
near the oil-mill. She certainly wanted to go and steal something. I wonder
where they come from. They do not belong to this area.»
Jesus pays little or no attention to him. He gazes at the little girl's
emaciated face and untidy plaits, two pigtails beside her ears, tied at the ends
with strips of a rag. But Jesus' countenance is not severe while He looks at the
poor wretch. He is sad, but He smiles to encourage her. «Is it true that you
wanted to steal? Tell Me the truth.»
«No, sir. I asked for a little bread, because I am hungry. They did not give me
any. I saw an oily crust over there, on the ground, near the oil-mill and I went
there to pick it up. I am hungry, sir. I was given only one piece of bread
yesterday and I kept it for Matthias... Why did they not put us into the grave
with our mother? » The little girl weeps desolately and her little brother imitates her.
«Do not weep.» Jesus comforts her caressing her and drawing her close to Himself. «Tell Me: where are you from? » «From the plain of Esdraelon.»
«And have you come so far? »
«Yes, sir.»
«Has your mother been dead long? Have you no father? »
«My father died killed by sunstroke at harvest time and my mother died last
month... and the baby she was giving birth to died with her...» She weeps more
and more.
«Have you no relative? »
«We come from so far! We were not poor... Then my father had to work as a
servant. But he is now dead and mother with him.»
«Who was his master? »
«Ishmael, the Pharisee.»
«Ishmael, the Pharisee! (it is not possible to describe how Jesus repeats that
name). Did you come away of your own will, or did he send you away? »
«He sent me away, sir. He said: "The street is the place for starving dogs".»
«And you, Jacob, why did you not give some bread to these children? Some bread,
a little milk and a handful of hay on which they might rest their tired
bodies?...»
«But... Master... I have just enough bread for myself... and there is only
little milk in the house... They are like stray animals. If you treat them
kindly, they will not go away any more...»
«And you have no room and food for these two unhappy children? Can you
truthfully say that? The rich crops, the plenty wine, the much oil and fruit
which made your estate famous this year, why did they come to you? Do you
remember? The previous year hail destroyed your crops and you were worried about
your future life... I came and I asked for some bread. You had heard Me speak
one day and you remained faithful to Me... and in your affliction you opened
your heart and your house to Me and you gave Me bread and shelter. And what did
I say to you going out the following morning? "Jacob, you have understood the
Truth. Be always merciful and you will receive mercy. Because of the bread you
gave the Son of man, these fields will give you rich crops and your olive-trees
will be laden with olives like the grains of sand on the sea shore and the
branches of your apple-trees will bend towards the ground". You received all
that and this year you are the richest man in the district. And you refuse two
children a piece of bread!...»
«But You were the Rabbi...»
«And because I was, I could have turned stones into bread. They cannot. I now
say to you: you shall see a new miracle and you shall regret it very sorely...
But beating your chest then say: "I deserved it".»
Jesus turns to the children: «Do not weep. Go to that tree and pick the fruit.»
«But it is bare, sir » objects the little girl.
«Go.»
The girl goes and comes back with her dress lifted up and full of beautiful red
apples.
«Eat of them and come with Me » and to the apostles: «Let us go and take these
two little ones to Johanna of Chuza. She remembers the benefits she received and
out of love she is merciful to those who were merciful to her. Let us go.»
The dumbfounded and mortified man endeavours to be forgiven: «It is night,
Master. It may rain while You are on the way. Come back into my house. There is
the maid-servant going to take the bread out of the oven... I will give You some
also for them.»
«It is not necessary. You would give it for fear of the punishment I promised
you, not out of love.»
«So is this not the miracle? » (and he points at the apples picked on the bare
tree and which the two starving children are eating greedily).
«No.» Jesus is most severe.
«Oh! Lord, have mercy on me! I understand. You want to punish me in the crops!
Have mercy, Lord! »
«Not all those who call Me "Lord" will have Me, because love and respect are not
testified by words, but by deeds. You will receive the mercy which you had.»
«I love You, my Lord.»
«That is not true. He loves Me who loves his neighbour. That is what I taught.
You love but yourself. When you love Me as I taught, the Lord will come back. I
am now going. My abode is to do good, to comfort the afflicted, to wipe the
tears of orphans. As a mother hen stretches its wings over the helpless chicks,
so I spread My power over those who suffer and are tormented. Come, children.
You will soon have a home and bread. Goodbye, Jacob.»
And not satisfied with going away, he orders the apostles to take up the tired
girl: Andrew takes her up in his arms and envelops her in his mantle, while
Jesus takes the little boy and they thus proceed along the path which is now
dark, with their pitiful loads which no longer weep.
Peter says: «Master! These children were very lucky that You arrived. But for
Jacob!... What will You do, Master? »
«Justice. He will not starve, because his granaries are well stocked for a long
time. But he will suffer shortage, because the seed he sows will yield no corn
and his olive and apple-trees will be covered with leaves only. These innocent
children have received bread and shelter from the Father, not from Me. Because
My Father is the Father of orphans also. And He gives nests and food to the
birds of forests. These children and all poor wretches with them, the poor
wretches who are His "innocent and loving children" can say that God put food in
their little hands and leads them with fatherly love to a hospitable home.»
The vision ends thus and I am left with a great peace.
--------------------------
Jesus says:
«This is just for you, o soul which weeps looking at the crosses of the past and
at the clouds of the future. The Father will always have bread to put in your
hand and a nest to shelter His weeping dove.
The lesson that I am the "Just Lord" applies to everybody. And I am not deceived
or adulated by false homage. He who closes his heart to his brother, closes it
to God and God to him.
Men, it is the first commandment: Love and love. He who does not love lies in
professing to be a Christian. It is useless to frequent the Sacraments and
rites, it is useless to pray if one lacks charity. They become formulae and even
sacrileges. How can you come to the eternal Bread and satisfy your hunger with
it, when you have denied a starving person a piece of bread? Is your bread more
precious than Mine? Is it more holy? O hypocrites! I put no limit in giving
Myself to your misery, and you, who are misery itself, have no pity on the
miseries which, in the eyes of God, are not so hideous as yours. Because those
are misfortunes, yours are sins. Too often you say to Me: "Lord, Lord", to have
Me propitious to your interests. But you do not say so for your neighbour's
sake. You do nothing for your neighbour in the name of the Lord. Look: what have
your false religion and true lack of charity given you, both with regard to your
community and to its individuals? To be abandoned by God. And the Lord will come
back when you learn to love as I taught.
But I say to you, little flock of good people who suffer: "You are never
orphans. You are never waifs. There would have to be no God, before His children
could lack Providence. Stretch out your hands: the Father will give you
everything, as a 'father', that is, with love which does not humiliate. Wipe
your tears. I will take you and lead you because I have pity on your languor".
Man is the best loved in creation. Can you doubt that the Father may be more
merciful to birds than to faithful men, since He is indulgent towards sinners
and gives them time and the opportunity to come to Him? Oh! if the world
understood what God is!
Go in peace, Mary. You are as dear to Me as the two little orphans you saw, and
you are even dearer. Go in peace. I am with you.»
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