speaks of You and also because the fame of Your miracles reached us, we wish to
make Your acquaintance. We have just listened to You and we have a question to
ask You.»
«Ask it. If you are disciples of John, you are already on the path of justice.»
«You said, speaking of the idolatries which are common amongst believers, that
there are people amongst us who come to compromise between the Law and those who
are out of the Law. But You also are a friend of theirs. We know that You do not
disdain the Romans. So? »
«I do not deny it. But can you say that I do it to make a profit? Can you say
that I caress them even to receive only their protection? »
«No, Master. And we are more than certain. But the world is not made only of us,
who want to believe only in the evil that we see and not in the evil we are told
about. Now tell us the convincing reason for approaching Gentiles, for our own
guidance and to defend You in the event of someone slandering You in our
presence.»
«It is evil to have contact when one does it for human purposes. It is not evil
when one approaches them to take them to the Lord our God. That is what I do. If
you were Gentiles, I could spend some time explaining to you how every man comes
from One God only. But you are Jews and disciples of John. You are therefore the
cream of Jews, and I need not explain that to you. You can therefore understand
and believe that it is My duty, as the Word of God, to take His word to all men,
the sons of the Universal Father.»
«But they are not His sons, they are pagans...»
«With regard to Grace they are not. Because of their erroneous faith, they are
not. That is true. But until I redeem you, man, also a Jew, will have lost
Grace, he will be deprived of it, because the Stain of Origin prevents the
ineffable ray of Grace from descending into men's hearts. But with regard to
creation, man is always a son. From Adam, the founder of the human family,
descend both the Jews and the Romans and Adam is the son of the Father Who gave
him His spiritual likeness.»
«That is true. Another question, Master. Why do John's disciples fast very
sternly and Yours do not? We do not mean that You should not eat. Also the
Prophet Daniel was holy in the eyes of God although he was a great man at the
court in Babylon, and You are greater than he. But they...»
«What very often is not achieved by rigorism, is achieved by cordiality. There
are people who would never come to the Master, and the Master must go to them.
There are others who would go to the Master, but are ashamed of going amongst
the crowd. The Master must go also to them. And since they say to Me: "Be my
guest that I may know You" I go, bearing in mind, not the pleasure of a rich
table, and of a conversation that sometimes is very painful for Me, but only and
always the interest of God. That is as far as I am concerned. And as often at
least one of the souls which I approach is converted to God, and every
conversion is a wedding feast for My soul, a great feast in which all the angels
in Heaven take part and which is blessed by the Eternal God. My disciples, the
friends of Me-the Spouse, rejoice with the Spouse and Friend. Would you like to
see My friends in pain while I rejoice? While I am with them? But the time will
come when they will no longer have Me. And then they will fast. New methods for
new times. Up to yesterday, in the days of the Baptist, there was the ash of
Penance. Today, in My days, there is the sweet manna of Redemption, of Mercy, of
Love. The old methods could not be engrafted into Mine, as My method could not
have been used then, not even yesterday. Because Mercy was not yet on the earth.
It is now. No longer the Prophet, but the Messiah, to Whom everything has been
entrusted by God, is on the earth. Each day has what is useful to it. Nobody
sews a new cloth on to an old garment, lest the new piece of cloth, particularly
when being washed, should shrink and thus tear the old cloth and the hole would
become bigger. Likewise no one puts new wine into old wineskins, otherwise the
new wine would burst the wineskins, which cannot stand the effervescence of the
new wine, and it would run out of the burst wineskins. But the old wine, which
has already been decanted several times, is put into old wineskins, and the new
wine into new ones. So that one force may be compensated by another equal one.
The same happens now. The force of the new doctrine suggests new methods to
divulge it. And I, Who am aware of it, make use of them.»
«Thank You, Lord. We are now happy. Pray for us. We are old wineskins. Will we
be able to restrain Your force? »
«Yes, because the Baptist shaped you and because his prayers and Mine will make
you capable of so much. Go with My peace and tell John that I bless him.»
«But... according to You, is it better for us to stay with the Baptist or with
You? »
«As long as there is old wine, drink it, if its flavour is agreeable. Later...
as the putrid water which is everywhere will disgust you, you will love the new
wine.»
«Do You think that the Baptist will be recaptured? »
«Yes, most certainly. I have already sent him a warning. Go now. Enjoy your John
as long as you can and make him happy. Afterwards you will love Me. And you will
find it hard... also because no one who has become used to old wine will all of
a sudden wish to have new wine. One says: "The old one was better". And in fact
I will have a different flavour, which will seem sour to you. But you will
relish its vital flavour day by day. Goodbye, friends. May God be with you.»
No comments:
Post a Comment