JESUS SAid: « To prepare well, as you say, for My mission. Things well prepared for are
successful. You said so yourself. And My thing was not a trifle, a useless thing
which would glorify Me, the Servant of the Lord, but it was to make men
understand what the Lord is, and by means of such understanding, make Him
loved in the spirit of truth. The servant that is concerned with his own triumph,
and not with the Lord's, is a miserable man! The servant who is anxious to make
a profit, who dreams he will sit on a high throne built on the interests of God,
which have been lowered down to the earth, whereas they are celestial interests,
is also a miserable servant. He is no longer a servant, except in outer
appearance. He is a merchant, a trafficker, a deceitful person, who deceives
himself and men and would like to deceive also God… a wretched man who
believes he is a prince, whilst he is a slave. He belongs to the Evil One, his king
of falsehood. Here, in this cave, Christ for many days lived fasting and praying
to get ready for His mission. And where would you have suggested I should
have gone to prepare, Judas? »
Judas is puzzled and bewildered. Eventually he replies: « I would not know… I
was thinking… to a rabbi… or with the Essenes… I do not know. »
« And was it possible for Me to find a rabbi who would tell Me more than the
power and wisdom of God were telling Me? And could I – I the Eternal Word of
the Father, Who was present when the Father created man and am aware of the
immortal soul by which he is animated and of the power of free capable
judgement with which he was endowed by the Creator – would I have gone to
derive science and skill from those who deny the immortality of souls, final
resurrection and also the freedom of man to act, attributing virtues and vices,
holy and wicked deeds to a destiny, which they say is fated and uncontrollable?
Certainly not!
You have a destiny. In the mind of God Who creates you, there is a destiny for
you. It is the wish of the Father. And it is a destiny of love, of peace, of glory:
“the holiness of being His children.” That is the destiny that was present in the
divine mind when Adam was fashioned with dust and will be present until the
creation of the last soul of man.
But the Father does not denigrate you in your position of kings. If a king is a
prisoner, he is no longer a king: he is an outcast. You are kings because you are
free in your small individual kingdoms. In your “ego”. You can do what you
like and how you like. Before you and on the boundaries of your small kingdom
you have a friendly King and two enemy powers. The Friend shows you the
rules that He gives to make His followers happy. He shows them and says:
“Here they are. With them, your eternal victory is certain.” He, The Wise and
Holy One, shows them to you so that you may put them into practice, if you
want to, and thus receive eternal glory.
The two enemy powers are Satan and the flesh. By flesh I mean your flesh and
the world: they are, the pomps and enticements of the world, that is, the riches,
feasts, honors and powers which are obtained from the world and in the world,
but are not always obtained honestly and they are used even less honestly when
eventually a man reaches them. Satan, the master of the flesh and of the world,
speaks also on behalf of the world and of the flesh. He, too, has his rules… Oh!
He certainly has! And as your “ego” is enveloped in the flesh, and the flesh is
attracted by the flesh, as metal chips are attracted by a magnet, and the singing
of the Seducer is sweeter than the warble of a nightingale in love in the moon-
80.Jesus Returns to the Mountain Where He Fasted and to the Rock of Temptation. 255
light and among perfumed rose bushes, it is easier to follow those rules, and
incline towards those powers and say to them: “I consider you my friends. Come
in.” Come in… Have you ever seen an ally who remains honest forever, without
asking a hundredfold return for the help he has given? That is what those powers
do. They go in… And they become the masters. Masters? No: galley sergeants.
They tie you, men, to the galley bench, they fasten you with chains, they do not
allow you to raise your head from their yoke, and their lash leaves bleeding
marks on your backs if you attempt to escape. You either must bear to be torn to
pieces and become a heap of shattered flesh, so useless, as flesh, as to be
rejected and kicked aside by their cruel feet, or you must die under their blows.
If you can bear that martyrdom, then Mercy will come, the Only One who can
still have mercy on that revolting misery, which the world, one of the masters,
now loathes and at which the other master, Satan, throws the arrows of his
revenge. And Mercy, the Only One, passes by, bends down, picks it up, doctors
it, cures it and says: “Come. Do not be afraid. Do not look at yourself. Your
wounds are but scars, but they are so numerous that you would be horrified, as
they disfigure you. But I do not look at them. I look at your good will. Because
of your good will, you are marked. Therefore I say to you: I love you. Come
with Me.” And He takes it to His Country. You then understand that Mercy and
the friendly King are the same person. You find the rules He had shown to you
and you did not want to follow. Now you want them… and first you reach the
peace of your conscience, then the peace of God. Tell Me, now. Was that
destiny imposed by the Only One on everybody, or did each choose it for
himself? »
« It was chosen by each person. »
« You are right, Simon. Was it possible for Me to go to those who deny the
blessed resurrection and the gift of God, to be taught? I came here. I took My
soul of the Son of man and I gave it its finishing touches and I thus finished the
work of thirty years of humility and preparation in order to be perfect when
starting My mission. Now I ask you to stay with Me for a few days in this cave.
Our stay will be less depressing because we shall be four friends joining in our
efforts against sadness, fears, temptation and the desires of the flesh. I was by
Myself. It will be less painful, because it is now summer and up here, the
mountain winds lessen the heat. I came here at the end of the Tebeth moon and
the wind blowing down from the snowy tops was harsh. It will be less trying
because it will be shorter and also because we have the necessary food to satisfy
our hunger and in small leather flasks that I asked the shepherds to give you,
there is enough water to last us for the days of our stay. I… I must snatch two
souls from Satan. It can only be done by penance. I ask you to help Me. It will
be a training for you. You will learn how to snatch victims from Mammon: not
so much with words as with sacrifice… Words!… The satanic uproar prevents
one from hearing them… Every soul which is a prey of the Enemy is enveloped
in an eddy of infernal voices… Do you want to stay with Me? If you do not want
to, you may go and we will meet at Tekoah, near the market. »
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