On that same night a part of the Apostles, at Jesus’ bidding, betook themselves to Bethania, while the rest set out for Jerusalem. The older disciples remained in Bethania to teach the younger and weaker in the Faith, which they did partly at the house of Lazarus and partly in the synagogue. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were staying at Lazarus’. The holy women were in a neighboring building surrounded by the same moat and courtyard that enclosed Lazarus’ house. It had an entrance on the street, and was formerly occupied by Magdalen and Martha.
The
Apostles went with a troop of disciples, among them Luke, in the
direction of Sichar. Peter said joyfully as they were setting out: “We
shall go to the sea and catch fish,” by which words he meant souls. They
separated and went different ways, teaching at the inns and in the
public places of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. This was a
preparation for the conversions of Pentecost.
They met together
again at the inn outside Thanath-Silo. Thomas also, with two disciples,
joined them as they were gathered at a meal prepared for them by
Silvan’s father, who had care of the inn. The Apostles told Thomas of
the apparition of the risen Saviour in their midst. But he raised his
hands to silence them, and said that he would not believe it until he
had touched His wounds. He did the same before the disciples when they
declared to him that they had seen the Lord. Thomas had kept a little
aloof from the followers of Jesus, and was thereby somewhat weakened in
faith.
Peter taught till late at night in the school of
Thanath-Silo. He spoke out quite freely of how the Jews had dealt with
Jesus. He related many things of His last predictions and teachings, of
His unspeakable love, of His prayer on Mount Olivet, and of Judas’
treachery and wretched end. The people were very much amazed and
troubled at all they heard, for they loved Judas, who in Jesus’ absence,
had assisted many by his readiness to serve them, and had even wrought
miracles. Peter did not spare himself. He recounted his flight and
denial with bitter tears. His hearers wept with him. Then with still
more vehement expressions of sorrow, he told of how cruelly the Jews had
treated Jesus, of His rising again on the third day, of His appearing
first to the women, then to some of the others, and lastly to all in
general, and he called upon all present that had seen Him to witness to
His words. Upwards of a hundred hands were raised in answer to his call.
Thomas, however, remained silent and responded by no sign. He could not
bring himself to believe. Peter then called upon the people to leave
all things, to join the new Community, and to follow Jesus. He invited
the less courageous to go to Jerusalem, where the Faithful would share
all they had with them. There was, he said, no reason to fear the Jews,
for they were now themselves afraid. All were very much impressed by
Peter’s words, and many were converted. They wanted the Apostles to
remain longer with them, but Peter said that they must go back to
Jerusalem.
The Apostles cured many sick persons in Thanath-Silo,
among whom were some lunatics and some possessed. They went about these
cures just as Jesus had done, that is, they breathed upon the sick, they
imposed hands while leaning over them. Some of these invalids Jesus had
passed without curing on the occasion of His last visit to the place.
The inhabitants of Thanath-Silo were very friendly toward the Apostles.
The disciples performed no cures, but they served the others, carrying,
lifting, and leading the sick. Luke, who was a physician, now became
quite a nurse.
I saw the Mother of God in Bethania. She was quiet
and grave, more deeply absorbed in feelings of holy awe than in natural
sorrow. Mary Cleophas was remarkably amiable and, of all the women, most
like Mary. I often saw her leaning over her gently and consoling her in
the most touching manner.
Magdalen, in her sorrow and love, was
above all fear. She was perfectly heroic and without a thought of
danger. She took no rest, but often left the house, hurried through the
streets with streaming hair, and wherever she found listeners, whether
in their homes or in public places, she accused them as the murderers of
the Lord, vehemently recounting all they had done to the Saviour, and
announcing to them His Resurrection. If she found no one to listen to
her, she wandered through the gardens and told it to the flowers, the
trees, and the fountains. Oftentimes a crowd gathered around her, some
compassionating her, others insulting her on account of her past life.
She was little esteemed by the crowd, for she had once given great
scandal. I saw that her present violent conduct scandalized some of the
Jews, and about five of them wanted to seize her, but she passed
straight through them and went on as before. She had lost sight of the
whole world, she sighed only after Jesus.
During the dispersion of
the disciples and the Passion of the Lord, Martha had a heavy duty to
ful-fill and she still discharged it. Though torn with grief, she had to
see to everything, to lend a help-ing hand everywhere. She had to feed
the dispersed and wandering, attend to their wants, provide nourishment
for all. Her assistant in all this, as well as in the cooking, was
Johanna Chusa, a widow whose husband had been a servant of Herod.
Simon of Cyrene was now in Bethania with the disciples, among whom he
found his two sons. He was a pious man from Cyrene who was accustomed to
sojourn in Jerusalem during the Paschal time, working for different
families that knew him, doing up gardens and cutting hedges. He took his
meals sometimes in this house, sometimes in that. He was perfectly
silent and upright. His sons were already some time among strangers and
with the disciples without his knowing it, as occasionally happens to
the children of the poor.
In those days, the emissaries of the High
Priests went throughout Jerusalem, visiting all the houses whose owners
kept up communication with Jesus and the disciples, discharging them
from whatever public employments they might happen to hold, and
arresting any of Jesus’ followers found there. Nicodemus and Joseph of
Arimathea had, since Christ’s burial, nothing more to do with the Jews.
Joseph of Arimathea was something like an Elder of a congregation. He
always stood among the Jews like a man who, by his unobtrusive merit and
multiplied good works modestly performed, had won the esteem of even
the wicked. What very much rejoiced me was to see how Veronica’s husband
condescended to her when she told him that she would rather separate
from him than from the crucified Jesus. I saw that he too was discharged
from his public office. But I was informed that he bore it more for
love of his wife than for love of Jesus. The Jews, moreover, caused the
ways and paths to the Holy Sepulcher on Mount Calvary to be obstructed
by ditches and hedges, because they had become a resort for many, and
diverse moving incidents and miracles took place in them.
Pilate’s
interior disquietude drove him from Jerusalem. Herod, a couple of days
previously, had gone to Machaerus, but finding no rest there, he
proceeded to Madian. Here, where they had once refused to receive the
Lord, they now opened the gates to the murderer.
I saw Jesus
appearing in many places during these days, and lastly in Galilee, in a
valley across the Jordan in which was a large school. Many people were
standing together, speaking about Him and expressing their doubts upon
the report of His Resurrection. He appeared among them, and vanished
again after some words. I saw Him appearing in this way in different
localities.
The Apostles very quickly returned from the region of
Sichar. They sent a messenger on ahead to Bethania, to announce their
return and to direct several of the disciples to go to Jerusalem for the
Sabbath. Others were commanded to celebrate it in Bethania, for they
already had a certain law and order. The Apostles only passed through
the different places on the road without stopping. Thaddeus, James the
Less, and Eliud went in their travelling dress, and ahead of the rest,
to see the Blessed Virgin and Mary Cleophas at John Mark’s. As they had
not seen the newcomers for a considerable time, the holy women were very
much rejoiced. I saw that James was carrying on his arm a priestly
vestment, a mantle, which the holy women in Bethania had made for Peter,
and which he was taking to the house of the Last Supper.
It was so
late when the Apostles assembled in the house of the Last Supper that
they could not partake of the meal prepared for them. They had to begin
the Sabbath solemnities. They at once put on their robes of ceremony,
preceded of course by the customary foot washing.
The lamps were lighted, and I already remarked some departure from the Jewish Sabbatical ceremonies. First, the curtains were opened in front of the Holy of Holies, and the seat upon which Jesus had reclined at table at the institution of the Holy Eucharist was placed before it. They spread a cover over it, and laid upon it their prayer rolls. Peter knelt before it, John and James a little in the rear, the rest of the Apostles behind them, and then came the disciples. When they knelt they bowed their heads to the ground, burying their faces in their hands. The cover was removed from the chalice, but the white linen cloth was still left hanging over it. Only those disciples were present who were already initiated into the mystery of the Blessed Sacrament, just as those chiefly had been taken on the journey to Sichar who had seen the Lord after His Resurrection that they might be able to attest the fact.
Peter, with John and James at his side, delivered a meditation, or
prayer, in which the holy Institution of the Lord and also His Passion
were considered, and an interior sacrifice of prayer was offered. After
that, standing under the lamp, they began the usual ceremonies of the
Sabbath. When all was over, they took a repast in the outer hall. In the
Supper Hall itself, I saw no more eating going on after the institution
of the Holy Eucharist, excepting perhaps the taking of bread and wine.
On the occasion of His apparition through the closed doors, Jesus had
taught the Apostles that addition to the service of the Sabbath which
relates to the Blessed Sacrament.
The Blessed Virgin was taken to
Jerusalem by Mary Marcus; and Veronica, who now went round with her
openly, accompanied them, along with Johanna Chusa from Bethania.
The Blessed Virgin liked to be in Jerusalem, for she could there go
alone in the twilight and dark-ness over the Way of Jesus’ Passion, pray
and meditate on the places upon which He had suffered or had fallen.
And as she could not reach them all, on account of the Jews’ having
hedged some of them in and filled others up, she made the Holy Way at
home, also, or in the open air, for she had all the distances and the
numbers connected with it deeply engraven in her soul, and thus she
constantly revived, in her compassionate contemplations, the whole of
that sorrowful journey of her Son.
It is a certainty that after the
death of her Son, the Blessed Virgin was the first to begin the
devo-tion of the Way of the Cross and the practice of meditating upon
the bitter Passion, a practice that she ever after continued.