Jesus
sits down. He does not lie down. He sits as we do. And He says: « Now
that the old rite has been accomplished, I will celebrate the new one. I
have promised you a miracle of love. It is time to work it. That is why
I have longed for this Passover. From now on this is the Victim that
will be consumed in a perpetual rite of love. My beloved friends, I have
loved you throughout the whole life of the Earth. I have loved you for
the whole eternity, My children. And I want to love you till the end.
There is nothing greater than this. Bear that in mind. I am going away.
But we shall remain for ever united through the miracle that I will now
work. »
Jesus
takes a loaf still entire and places it on the chalice that has been
filled. He blesses and offers both, He then breaks the bread and takes
thirteen morsels of it, and gives one to each apostle saying:« Take this
and eat it. This is My Body. Do this in remembrance of Me, Who am going
away. » He gives the chalice and says: « Take this and drink it. This
is My Blood. This is the chalice of the new alliance in My Blood and
through My Blood, that will be shed for you, to remit your sins and give
you the Life. Do this in remembrance of Me. »
Jesus
is very sad. There is no smile, no trace of light, no colour on His
face. It is already an agonizing face. The apostles look at Him utterly
anguished.
Jesus stands up saying: « Do not move. I shall be back at once. »
lie takes the thirteenth morsel of bread and the chalice, and He goes out of the Supper-room.
« He is going to His Mother » whispers John.
And Judas Thaddeus says with a sigh: « Poor woman! »
Peter asks in a very low voice: « Do you think She knows? »
« She knows everything. She has always been aware of everything. »
They all speak in very low voices, as if they were in front of a corpse.
« But do you think that really… » asks Thomas, who does not want to believe yet.
« And do you doubt it? It is His hour » replies James of Zebedee.
« May God grant us strength to be faithful » says the Zealot.
« Oh! I… » says Peter who is about to speak. But John, who is on the look-out, says: « Silence! He is here. »
Jesus
comes back in. He has the empty chalice in His hands. Only at its
bottom there is a trace of wine, and in the light of the chandelier it
looks just like blood.
Judas
Iscariot, in front of whom is the chalice, looks at it as if he were
enchanted, then he averts his eyes. Jesus watches him and shudders, and
John, leaning as he is on His chest, feels it. « Why not say so! You are
shivering… » he exclaims.
« No.
I am not shivering because I am feverish… I have told you everything,
and I have given you everything. I could not have given you anything
else. I have given you Myself. »
He
makes His usual kind gesture with His hands, which, previously joined,
now separate and stretch out, while He bows His head as if He wished to
say: « Excuse Me if I cannot give you more. It is so. »
« I
have told you everything and I have given you everything. And I repeat.
The new rite has been accomplished. Do this in remembrance of Me. I
have washed your feet to teach you to be humble and pure like your
Master. Because I solemnly tell you that disciples must be like their
Master. Remember that, bear it in mind. Also when you are in high
offices, remember that. There is no disciple greater than his Master. As
I washed you, do the same to one another. That is, love one another
like brothers, helping and respecting one another, setting an example to
one another. And be pure, to be worthy of eating the living Bread that
descended from Heaven, and have the strength, in yourselves and through
It, to be My disciples in the hostile world that will hate you because
of My Name. But one of you is not pure. One of you will betray Me. My
Spirit is deeply perturbed by that… The hand of him who will betray Me
is here with Me on this table, and neither My love, nor My Body and
Blood, nor My word make him mend his ways and repent. I would forgive
him going to My death also on his behalf. »
The
disciples cast terrified glances at one another. They scrutinise one
another suspiciously. Peter stares at the Iscariot in a revival of all
his doubts. Judas Thaddeus in his turn jumps to his feet to look at the
Iscariot above Matthew's body.
But
the Iscariot is so sure of himself! In his turn he looks at Matthew, as
if he suspected him. He then looks fixedly at Jesus and smiling he
asks: « Is it I perhaps? » He seems to be the one who is most certain of
his honesty and to say so, not to let the conversation drop.
Jesus
repeats His gesture saying: « You are saying so, Judas of Simon, not I.
You are saying so. I have not mentioned your name. Why are you accusing
yourself?-Ask your internal warner, your conscience of a man, the
conscience that God the Father gave you that you might behave as a man,
and listen whether it accuses you. You will be the first to know. But if
it reassures you, why do you utter a word and speak of a deed that is
anathema even to mention or to think of as a joke? »
Jesus
is speaking calmly. He seems to be supporting a proposed thesis as a
learned man may do with his pupils. The confusion is great, but Jesus'
calm appeases it.
But
Peter, who is the most suspicious of Judas - perhaps Thaddeus also is
so, but he does not look so, disarmed as he is by the Iscariot's easy
manners - plucks John's sleeve, and when John, who has pressed against
Jesus upon hearing Him speak of betrayal, turns round, he whispers to
him: « Ask Him who it is. »
John
takes his previous position again, he only raises his head slightly, as
if he wanted to kiss Jesus, and in the meantime he whispers in His ear:
« Master, who is it? »
And
Jesus in a very low voice, kissing him, in His turn, on his head, says:
« It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread dipped in the dish. »
And
taking another entire loaf, not the remains of the one used for the
Eucharist, He detaches a large morsel, He dips it into the lamb's sauce
left in the tray, and says: « Take it, Judas. You like this. »
« Thank
You, Master. I do like it » and unaware of what that morsel is, he eats
it, while John, horrified, closes even his eyes not to see the horrid
smile of the Iscariot, as he bites the accusing bread with his strong
teeth.
« Well.
Now that I have made you happy, go » says Jesus to Judas. « Everything
has been accomplished, here (He lays much stress on the word). What is
still left to be done elsewhere, do it quickly, Judas of Simon. »
« I will obey You at once, Master. Then I will join You at Gethsemane. You are going there, are You not? As usual? »
« Yes… I am going there… as usual. »
« What has he got to do? » asks Peter. « Is he going by himself? »
« I am not a baby » says Judas scoffingly, as he puts on his mantle.
« Let him go. He and I know what must be done » says Jesus.
« Yes,
Master. » Peter is silent. Perhaps he thinks he has committed a sin
suspecting his companion. Resting his forehead on the palm of his hand,
he becomes pensive.
Jesus
presses John to His heart and whispers again through his hair: « Say
nothing to Peter for the time being. It would be a useless scandal. »
« Goodbye, Master. Goodbye, friends » says Judas greeting them.
« Goodbye » replies Jesus.
And Peter says: « Goodbye, boy. »
John, his head almost on Jesus' lap, whispers: « Satan! » Jesus alone hears him and sighs.
Everything
comes to an end here, but Jesus says: « I am interrupting the vision
out of pity for you. I will give you the end of the Supper later. »
--------------------
(the Supper continues)
There are a few moments of dead silence. Jesus has lowered His head, caressing John's fair hair mechanically.
Then
He rouses Himself. He raises His head, He looks around, and He smiles
in such a way that encourages the disciples. He says: « Let us leave the
table and sit all close to one another, like many children round their
father. »
They
take the couches that were behind the table (those of Jesus, John,
James, Peter, Simon, Andrew and His cousin James) and they put them on
the other side.
Jesus
sits on His own, still between James and John. But when He sees that
Andrew is about to sit in the place left by the Iscariot, He shouts:
« No, not there. » An impulsive shout, that His great prudence does not
succeed in preventing. He then modifies His expression saying: « We do
not need so much room. If we sit down, we can stay only on these. They
are enough. I want you to be very close to Me. »
Now,
with respect to the table, they are placed in a U shaped disposition,
with Jesus in the centre and the table, on which there are no victuals
now, and Judas' place in front of Him.
James of Zebedee calls Peter saying: « Sit here. I will sit on this little stool, at Jesus' feet. »
« May
God bless you, James! I wanted it so much! » says Peter and he presses
against his Master, Who is now squeezed by John and Peter, with James at
His feet.
Jesus
smiles and says: « I see that the word spoken earlier is beginning to
work. Good brothers love one another. James, I also say to you: "May God
bless you". Also this action of yours will not be forgotten by the Eternal, and you will find it up there.
I
can obtain everything I ask for. You have seen that. A desire of Mine
was sufficient for the Father to allow His Son to give Himself in Food
to man. The Son of man has been glorified by what has happened now,
because the miracle that is possible only to God's friends is a witness
of power. The greater the miracle, the surer and deeper is this divine
friendship. This is a miracle that, because of its form, duration and
nature, and of the extremes and limits it attains, is so great that a
greater one cannot possibly exist. I tell you: it is so powerful,
supernatural, inconceivable by proud men, that only very few will
understand it as it is to be understood, and many will deny it. So what
shall I say? Condemn them? No. I will say: have mercy on them!
But
the greater the miracle, the greater the glory of its author. It is God
Himself Who says: "See, My beloved wanted it, had it, and I granted it,
because great is His grace in My eyes". And here He says: "His grace
has no limits, as infinite is the miracle performed by Him". The glory
that from God comes to the author of the miracle is the same as the
glory that from the author returns to the Father. Because every
supernatural glory, as it comes from God, returns to its source. And the
glory of God, although it is already infinite, increases and shines
more and more through the glory of His saints. So I say: as the Son of
man has been glorified by God, so God has been glorified by the Son of
man. I have glorified God in Myself. In His turn, God will glorify His
Son in Himself. He will glorify Him shortly.
Exult,
o spiritual Essence of the Second Person, Who are going back to Your
See! Exult, o Body Who are going to ascend again after such a long exile
in degradation. And not Adam's Paradise, but the sublime Paradise of
the Father is about to be given to You as Your abode. If it has been
said that the amazing order of God, given through the lips of a man,
stopped the sun, what will happen among the stars when they see the
wonder of the Body of the Man ascend and sit at the right hand of the
Father in the Perfection of His glorified being?
My
little children, I will remain with you for a short time. And
afterwards you will be looking for Me as orphans look for their dead
parent. And weeping, you will go about speaking of Him and in vain you
will knock at His silent tomb, and you will also knock at the blue gates
of Heaven, with your souls elevated in suppliant search for love,
saying: "Where is our Jesus? We want Him. Without Him there is no more
light in the world, no joy, no love. Either give Him back to us, or let
us come in. We want to be where He is". But for the time being you
cannot come where I am going. To the Judaeans also I said: "Later you
will look for Me, but you cannot come where I am going". I say the same
to you.
Think
of My Mother… Neither can She come where I am going. And yet, I left
the Father to come to Her and become Jesus in Her immaculate womb. And
yet, I came from the Inviolate Woman in the bright ecstasy of My
Birthday. And I was nourished with Her love, that became milk. I am made
of purity and love, because Mary nourished Me with Her virginity
fecundated by the perfect Love Who lives in Heaven. And yet, I have
grown up through Her, costing Her fatigue and tears… And yet, I ask of
Her such heroism as no one has ever accomplished, and in comparison with
which the heroism of Judith and that of Jael are the heroisms of poor
women quarrelling with the rival at the village fountain. And yet, no
one loves Me as She does. And, notwithstanding all that, I will leave
Her and go where She will come only after a long time. The commandment I
give you: "Sanctify yourselves year by year, month by month, day by
day, hour by hour, to be able to come to Me when it is your hour" does
not apply to Her. She is full of grace and holiness. She is the creature
who has had everything and has given everything. There is nothing to be
added or to be taken away. She is the most holy witness of what God can
do.
But
in order to be sure that you are able to join Me and to forget the
grief in mourning the separation from your Jesus, I give you a new
commandment. And it is: love one another. As I have loved you, you must
love one another. By this love it will be known that you are My
disciples. When a father has many sons, how does one know that they are
such? Not so much by their physical appearance - because there are men
who are in everything like another man, with whom there is no blood-tie
and they are not even of the same country - as by their common love for
the family, for their father and for one another. And even when the
father dies, a good family does not break up, because one is their blood
and it is the same they had from the seed of their father, and it ties
in knots that not even death loosens, because love is stronger than
death. Now, if you love one another after I have left you, everybody
will acknowledge you as My children, and therefore as My disciples, and
as brothers to one another, having had only one father. »
« Lord, but where are You going? » asks Peter.
« I am going where at present you cannot follow Me. But you will follow Me later. »
« And
why not now? I have always followed You since You said to me: "Follow
Me". I left everything without regret… Now, to go away without Your poor
Simon, leaving me without You, Who are everything to me, after that for
Your sake I left the little property I had previously, is not fair or
nice of You. Are You going to Your death? All right. I will come as
well. We shall go to the next world together. But I will have defended
You before that. I am ready to give my life for You. »
« You
will give your life for Me? Now? Not now. I solemnly - oh! I do
solemnly tell you - before the cock crows, you will have disowned Me
three times. This is the first watch. Then the second will come… and
then the third. Before the cock crows loudly, you will have disowned
your Lord three times. »
« Impossible, Master! I believe everything You say, but not that. I am sure of myself. »
« Now,
at present you are sure. Because you still have Me. You have God with
you. Before long, the Incarnate God will be caught, and you will no
longer have Him. And Satan, after making you heavy - your very certainty
is a trick of Satan, ballast to weigh you down - will frighten you. He
will insinuate to you: "God does not exist. I do". And as you will still
be able to reason, although made dull by fear, you will understand
that, when Satan is the master of the hour, Good is dead and Evil is
active, the spirit is dejected and the human is triumphant. You will
then be like warriors without a leader, chased by the enemy, and in the
dismay of being defeated you will bow your necks to the conqueror, and
in order not to be killed you will disown the fallen hero. But, please
do not let your hearts be upset. Believe in God. And believe also in Me.
Believe in Me, against all appearances. Let him who remains and him who
runs away believe in My mercy and in the Father's. Both he who is
silent and he who moves his lips to say: "I do not know Him". And
likewise believe in My forgiveness. And believe that, whatever your
actions may be in future, in Good and in My Doctrine, consequently in My
Church, they will give you equal places in Heaven. In the house of My
Father there are many abodes. If it were not so, I would have told you.
Because I am going ahead, to prepare a place for you. Do good fathers
not do likewise when they have to take their little children elsewhere?
They go ahead, they prepare the house, the furnishings, the provisions.
They then go back to get their dearest ones. They do so out of love, so
that the little ones may lack nothing and may not be uncomfortable in
the new place. I do the same and for the same reason. I am going now.
And when I have prepared a place for each of you in the celestial
Jerusalem, I will come again and take you with Me so that you may be
where I am, where there is no death or mourning, no tears, no shouting,
no hunger, no pain, no darkness, no parching thirst, but only light,
peace, happiness and singing. Oh! song of the Highest Heavens when the
twelve chosen ones will sit on thrones with the twelve patriarchs of the
tribes of Israel and in the ardour of the fire of spiritual love,
standing upright over the sea of beatitude, they will sing the eternal
song accompanied by the arpeggio of the eternal alleluia of the
angelical host… I want you to be where I shall be. And you know where I
am going and you know the way. »
« But, Lord! We know nothing. You are not telling us where You are going. How can we know the way to be taken to come towards you and curtail the wait? » asks Thomas.
« I
am the Way, the Truth, the Life. You have heard Me say so and explain
it several times, and really some people, who did not even know that
there is a God, have walked ahead, along My way, and they are already
ahead of you. Oh! where are you, lost sheep of God, brought back to the
fold by Me? And where are you, whose soul has been raised? »
« Who?
Of whom are you speaking? Of Mary of Lazarus? She is in the other room,
with Your Mother. Do You want her? Or do You want Johanna? She is
certainly in her mansion, but if You wish so, we will go and call her
for You… »
« No.
Not them… I am thinking of the one who will be revealed only in Heaven…
and of Photinai… They found Me. And they have never left My way again.
To one I pointed out the Father as the true God and the Spirit as a
Levite in this individual adoration. To the other, who did not even know
she had a soul, I said: "My name is Saviour, I save whoever has the
good will to be saved. I am the One Who looks for those who are lost, I
give Life, Truth and Purity. Those who look for Me, will find Me". And
they both found God… I bless you, weak Eves who have become stronger
than Judith… I am coming, I am coming where you are… You comfort Me… May
you be blessed!… »
« Show us the Father, Lord, and we shall be equal to them » says Philip.
« I
have been with all of you for such a long time, and you, Philip, still
do not know Me? He who sees Me, sees the Father. So, how can you say:
"Let us see the Father"? Can you not believe that I am in the Father and
the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you, I do not say them by
Myself. It is the Father, living in Me, Who accomplishes all My work.
And do you, all of you, not believe that I am in the Father and He is in
Me? What must I say to make you believe? If you do not believe My
words, believe at least in My deeds. And I say to you and I truly say to
you: he who believes in Me will perform the deeds that I do, and will
perform even greater ones, because I am going to the Father. Whatever
you ask of the Father in My name, I will do it, so that the Father may
be glorified in His Son. And I will do anything you ask in behalf of My
Name. My Name is known for what it really is, only to Me and to the
Father Who generated Me and to the Spirit Who proceeds from our love.
And everything is possible to that Name. He who thinks of My Name with
love, loves Me and obtains. But it is not sufficient to love Me. It is
necessary to keep My commandments in order to have true love. Feelings
are testified by deeds. And because of your love I will pray the Father,
and He will give you another Comforter, so that He may remain with you
for ever, One against Whom Satan and
the World cannot act cruelly, the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world
cannot receive or strike, because it cannot see Him and does not know
Him. The world will deride Him, but He is so sublime that derision will
not be able to offend Him, while being so merciful as to exceed all
limits, He will always be with those who love Him, even if they are poor
and weak. You will know Him, because He already dwells with you and
will soon be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I have already told
you that I will come back to you. But I will come before it is time to
come to take You and go to My Kingdom. I will come to you. Before long
the world will no longer see Me. But you see Me and will see Me. Because
I live and you live. Because I will live and you will live. On that day
you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me and I in you.
Because he, who accepts My precepts and observes them, loves Me, and he
who loves Me will be loved by My Father and will possess God, because
God is love, and he who loves has God in himself. And I will love Him,
because I shall see God in him, and I will show Myself to him, making
him acquainted with the secrets of My love, of My wisdom, of My
Incarnate Divinity. They will be My returns among the children of man,
whom I love notwithstanding that they are weak and even hostile. But
these will be only weak. And I will fortify them; I will say to them:
"Rise!", I will say: "Come out!", I will say: "Follow Me", I will say:
"Listen", I will say: "Write"… and you are among them. »
« Why, Lord, are You showing Yourself to us and not to the world? » asks Judas Thaddeus.
« Because
you love Me and you keep My words. He who does that will be loved by My
Father, and we shall come to him and make our home with him, in him.
Whereas he who does not love Me, does not keep My words and acts
according to the flesh and the world. Now remember that what I said to
you is not the word of Jesus of Nazareth, but it is the word of the
Father, because I am the Word of the Father Who sent Me. I told you
these things, speaking to you thus, because I want to prepare you Myself
for the complete possession of the Truth and Wisdom. But you cannot yet
understand or remember. But when the Comforter, the Holy Spirit Whom
the Father will send to you in My name, comes to you, then you will be
able to understand, and He will teach you everything, and He will remind
you of what I told you.
I
leave you My peace. I give you My peace. I give it to you not as the
world gives it. And not even as I have given it to you so far: the
blessed greeting of the Blessed One to the blessed ones. The peace I am
giving you now is more profound. In this farewell I communicate Myself,
My Spirit of peace to you, as I communicated My Body and My Blood to
you, so that you may have strength for the imminent battle. Satan and
the world are stirring up a war against your
Jesus. It is their hour. Have Peace within you, My Spirit, which is
spirit of peace, because I am the King of peace. Have it so that you may
not be too forlorn. He who suffers with the peace of God within
himself, suffers, but does not blaspheme and does not despair.