Jesus is in the center of a wide square, quite beautiful, which extends into a very wide street (it is almost a continuation of the square, all the way to the seashore). One galley seems to have recently left the port and is sailing out to sea, driven by the wind and the oars, while another must be maneuvering to dock, as can be deduced from the fact that they are folding sails and that the oars are moving only on one side to turn the ship into the right position. The harbor, from the square, is not visible, but it must be close by. On the sides of the square there are a series of large houses, with the typical exterior walls almost free of openings; there is no commercial establishment.
-Where are we going now? You wanted to come here instead of going to the eastern side; this is a place of pagans, who do you think will listen to you? - says Peter in a disapproving tone.
-Let's go there, to that corner that opens out to the sea; I'm going to speak there. -To the waves.
-Even the waves were created by God.
And they go...
Now they are right in that corner. They see the harbor, where the galley seen before is slowly coming in. Now they tie her up in the place intended for her. Some sailor is idling along the breakwaters; some fruit seller ventures towards the Roman ship to sell his wares; nothing more.
Jesus, leaning back against a wall, really gives the impression that he is talking to the waves. The apostles, dissatisfied with the situation, are around Him, partly standing, partly sitting on stones placed here and there with the intention of serving as stools.
-The foolish man who, seeing himself powerful, healthy, happy, says: "Of whom do I have need, of whom? I have need of no one. I lack nothing, I am sufficient unto myself. The laws and decrees of God and morality are null and void for me. My law consists in doing what is in my hand, without worrying about whether it benefits or harms others".
One of the sellers turns at the sound of that sonorous voice and approaches Jesus, who continues saying:
-Thus speak the man and woman who have neither wisdom nor faith. By this they show their greater or lesser power, but they denounce their kinship with Evil.
Some men get out of the galley and other boats and go to Jesus.
-Man demonstrates, not by words but by deeds, that he is related to God and virtue when he considers that life is more changeable than the waves of the sea, now calm, tomorrow furious. In the same way, the well-being and power of today can be tomorrow misery and impotence. What will the man do then who does not live united to God? How many of those who are now in that galley one day lived happy and enjoyed power, and now they are slaves and are considered prisoners! Therefore, doubly slaves (of the human law, in vain mocked because it exists and punishes its transgressors, and of Satan, who forever takes possession of the guilty who do not come to hate their guilt).
-Hello, Master! How are you here? Do you know who I am?
-God be with you, Publius Quintilianus. See how I've come?
-And to the Roman quarter. I had no hope of seeing you again. I'm glad to hear from you.
-I'm glad too. -Are there many at the oars in that galley?
-Many. Most of them are prisoners of war. Are you interested in them?
-I'd like to get close to that ship.
-Come along. Make way for yourselves," he ordered the few who had approached and who immediately turned away, gibbering expletives.
-Let them pass, too. I'm used to being crowded by people.
-I can go this far, but no further. It's a military galley.
-That's enough for me. May God repay you.
Jesus resumes his speech. The Roman, truly splendid in the clothes he wears, seems to stand guard at his side.
-Slaves for a painful event, slaves only once, slaves as long as life lasts. Each of the tears that
falls on their chains, each of the blows discharged on their flesh for the written print of a pain, loosens the shackles, ornaments what does not die, opens for them at last the peace of God, who is the friend of his poor unhappy children, to whom he will give copious joy, since here pain abounded.
In the dead work of the galley are seen men of the crew, who have leaned out and stood listening. The galley slaves, of course, are not seen, but they hear through all the holes in the frames the powerful voice of Jesus, which spreads through the calm air of this hour of low tide. Publius Quintilianus has left at the request of a soldier.
-I want to tell these wretched loved ones of God to resign themselves to their pain, to make of it a flame that opens the chains of the galley and of life, consuming in the desire of God this poor day that is life, a dark, stormy day, full of fear and fatigue, to enter the day of God, luminous, serene, without fear or decay. It is enough that you, martyrs of a painful fate, know how to be good in your suffering, it is enough that you aspire to God, so that you may enter into the great peace, into the infinite freedom of Paradise.
At this, Publius Quintilianus returns with other soldiers; behind him some slaves bring a litter for which the soldiers get a place. "
-Who is God? I am speaking to Gentiles who do not know who God is, to children of subjugated peoples who do not know who God is. In your forests, you Gauls, Iberians, Thracians, Germans, Celts, you have only a semblance of God. The soul tends to worship, spontaneously, because it remembers Heaven. But you do not know how to find the true God who has put a soul in your bodies, a soul like ours, Israelites, like that of the mighty Romans who subjugated you, a soul that has the same duties and rights with respect to the Good and to which the Good, that is, the true God, will be faithful; be likewise so with respect to the Good. The god, or gods, whom you have hitherto adored, learning their name or names on your mother's knees; the god whom you may now no longer think of because you do not feel that he comforts you in any way in your sufferings, or whom you may even hate or curse in your desperate journeys, that is not the true God. The true God is Love and Mercy. Were these your gods? No. Rather, they manifested harshness, cruelty,
deceit, hypocrisy, vice, larceny... and now they have left you without that minimum consolation of the hope of being loved and the certainty of rest after so much suffering. This happens because your gods do not exist. However, God, the true God who is Love and Mercy, whose certain existence I declare to you, is the One who has made the heavens, the seas, mountains, forests, plants, flowers, animals... and man; He is the One who instills in the victorious man the mercy and love that He Himself is towards the poor of the earth.
And you the powerful, the dominators, think that you are all of one plant. Do not be angry with those whom misfortune has placed in your hands; be humane to those who for a crime are tied to the galley bench. Man sins many times. No one is exempt from faults more or less jealous. If you thought this, how good would you be to your brethren who, less fortunate than yourselves, have been punished for faults in which you have also incurred, and which have not been punished! Human justice is seriously lacking in exactitude when it judges, but if only divine justice were the same! There are some criminals who do not appear to be such, there are some innocent people who are judged to be criminals; let us not inquire why: would it be too serious an accusation for an unjust man, full of hatred towards his fellow man? There are those who are indeed defendants, but who committed the crime moved by imperious forces that, in part, alleviate the guilt. Be humane, therefore, you who have been placed at the head of the galleys. Above human justice there is a divine justice that is much higher: that of the true God, the Creator of the king and the slave, of the rock and the grain of sand. He looks upon you, both those of you who are at the oars and those of you who have the task of ruling them; woe to you if you are arbitrarily cruel; I, Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the true God, assure you that He, on the day of your death, will tie you to the bench of an eternal galley and will place in the hands of the demons the bloody whip and you will be tortured and scourged as you were tortured; because, although it is human law to punish the prisoner, it is necessary not to exceed the measure. Remember this. He who today is powerful tomorrow may be miserable; only God is eternal.
I would like to change your hearts and, above all, to break your chains, to give you back your lost freedom and homeland; but, brother galley slaves who do not see my face, brother galley slaves whose heart with all its wounds I know, for the earthly freedom and homeland that I cannot give you, oh, poor slaves of the powerful, I will give you a higher freedom and homeland. For you I have made myself a prisoner, absent I am from my homeland, for you I will give myself as a ransom; for you, yes, also for you, who are not the reproach of Earth as they call you, but a sign of shame to man who forgets the measure of the rigor of war and justice, I will make a new law on Earth and a sweet abode in Heaven.
Remember my Name, children of God who weep: it is the name of the Friend. Repeat it in the midst of your sufferings. Be sure that if you love me you will have me, even if we will never see each other on this Earth. I am Jesus Christ, the Savior, your Friend. In the name of the true God I comfort you. May peace descend upon you soon.
The people, mostly Romans, crowded around Jesus, whose new concepts produced the astonishment of all.
-By Jupiter, you have made me think of things I have never thought of before and which I feel to be true!
Publius Quintilianus looks at Jesus, thoughtful and captivated at the same time.
That's right, my friend. If man were to use his thoughts, he would not commit the crime.
-By Jove, by Jove, by Jove, what words! I must remember them! You said: "If man would use his thoughts..." ...He would not commit the crime.
-Of course, it's true! By Jupiter! You know that you're great!
-Every man who wanted to could be great like me, if he were entirely one with God.
The Roman continues his series of "by Jove", each one more exclamatory than the last.
Jesus, for his part, says to him:
-Could I give these galley slaves something to comfort them? I have money... Fruit, something to relieve them; so that they may know that I love them.
I love them.
-Give it to me. I can do that. Besides, there's a very powerful lady there. I'm going to ask her.
Publio approaches the bunk and speaks very close to the curtains in which barely a crack has been opened. He returns. -I have full powers for it. I will see to the distribution myself, so that the henchmen do not take abusive advantage. It will be the only time an imperial soldier exercises mercy with the war slaves.
-The first, not the only one. The day will come when there will be no slaves; but already before that my disciples will have descended to the galley slaves and slaves to call them brothers.
Another series of "By Jove!" runs through the calm atmosphere; meanwhile, Publius waits to have enough fruit and wine for the galley slaves. Then, before climbing into the galley, he says in Jesus' ear:
-In there is Claudia Procula. She would like to hear you speak some other time; now she wants to ask you something. Go. Jesus approaches the bunk.
-Hello, Master!
The curtain barely opens a little, revealing a beautiful woman in her thirties.
-May the desire for wisdom descend upon you.
-You said that the soul has a memory of Heaven. Is it eternal, then, this thing you say we possess?
-It is eternal. That is why it has a remembrance of God, of the God who created it.
-What is the soul?
-The soul is the true nobility of man. You are glorious because you belong to the Claudians; man is more so because he belongs to God. Through your veins runs the blood of the Claudians; a powerful family, but one that had its origin and will have an end. Within man, by reason of the soul, flows the blood of God, because the soul is the spiritual blood - God being the most pure Spirit - of the Creator of man: of God eternal, powerful, holy. Man is, therefore, eternal, powerful, holy, because of the soul that is in him and that lives as long as it is united to God.
-I am a pagan, therefore I have no soul....
-You have it, though in lethargy; awaken it to Truth and Life.
-Farewell, Master.
-May Justice conquer you. Farewell.
-As you have seen, I have also had an audience here," said Jesus to his disciples.
-Yes, but, except for the Romans, who understood you? They are barbarians!
-Who? All of them. They carry peace with them. They will remember me much more than others from Israel. Let's go to the house that offers us food.
-Master, that woman is the same one who spoke to me that day when you cured the sick man; I recognized her," said John. -I recognized her," said Juan. "So you see, there was someone waiting for us here too. But... I don't see you very happy. I will have done much
the day I have succeeded in persuading you that I have come not only for the Hebrews but for all peoples, and that I have prepared you for all of them. One thing I tell you: remember everything about your Master; there is no deed, however insignificant it may be, that is not called to be for you, one day, a rule in the apostolate.
No one responds. Jesus smiles - not without sadness - compassionately.