Answers to God's Mysteries
By Cicily Sunny
(Continued)

Love towards Parents

Jesus loved his mother all the time in the same measure. We cannot find another man in the world who satisfied the mother with perfect love until he died. In the last days of his pain and discomfort, he found some solace in the caress and loving words of the mother and by sleeping on her lap. They looked like brother and sister. Jesus was fed on breast milk for long time, especially during their stay in Egypt, because of extreme poverty. Jesus loved his foster father, Joseph, with perfection.

Joseph trained him in carpentry, and Jesus helped him a lot. The death of Joseph created a big gap in the lives of Mary and Jesus even though Mary had no physical relationship with him and Jesus had no blood relationship with him. Several times Jesus emphasizes the duty of children to love their parents. In one of his preaching at Gerasa, Jesus says, "It is a duty and a pleasure to love one's parents. And there is no animal which does not love the mother which gave birth to it." (V. 3, Ch. 287, P. 77).

In another sermon at the temple Jesus says, "It is written: "Anyone who curses father and mother must die", and death is given not only by the executioner. A more severe death awaits those who sin against their parents: the eternal dreadful death." (V. 3, Ch. 372, P. 594).

Jesus and His Father

While teaching his apostles in the last days, Jesus says about the purpose of his Father in sending him down to the earth. He says' "My Father did not make me His servant only to revive the tribes of Jacob, to convert what is left of Israel: the remnants, but he gave me as light of the Nations, that I may be the "Savior" for all the earth. That is why, in these thirty three years of exile from Heaven and from my Father's bosom, I have continued to grow in grace and wisdom with God and with men, reaching the perfect age, and in these last three years, after burning my soul and my mind with the fire of love and tempering them with the ice of penance, I made "my mouth a sharp sword"….I am aware of the unknown torture awaiting me…the one that is given to the Son of Man not by means of lances and clubs, or by means of derision and blows, but by God Himself, and only few people will know how cruel it will be, and even fewer will accept it as possible. But in that torture, in which two will be the main tortures: God with His absence and you, demon, with your presence, the victim will have the Love with Him." (V. 5, Ch. 593, P. 435). 

During the time of his crucifixion, Jesus felt completely abandoned by God. After the vision of the agony and the arrest at Gethsemane, Jesus explains to the author the intensity of love between Father and Son and of the abandonment. He says, "And there has been no greater and more complete sorrow than mine. I was one with the Father. He had loved me from eternity as God alone can love. He had taken delight in me and had found His divine joy in me. And I had loved Him as a god alone can love, and in my union with Him I had found my divine joy. The ineffable relationship that ties the Father to the Son cannot be explained to you even by my Word, because while it is perfect, your intelligence is not, and you cannot understand and know what God is until you are with Him in Heaven….The more the hour of expiation approached, the more I felt the Father move away. The more I was separated from the Father, the less my humanity felt it was supported by the divinity of God. And because of that I suffered in every possible way."

"The separation from God brings fear, attachment to life, languor, tiredness and boredom. The deeper it is, the stronger are its consequences. When it is total, it leads to despair…. I experienced it. I had to know everything in order to be able to plead with the Father for everything in your favor….I experienced what it means to say: "I am alone. Everybody has betrayed and abandoned me. Even the Father, even God no longer assists me". And that is why I work mysterious wonders of grace in poor hearts overwhelmed by despair, and I ask my beloved ones to drink the cup of so bitter an experience, so that they, those who are shipwrecked in the sea of despair, may not decline to accept the cross that I offer as anchor and salvation, but they may grasp at it and I may take them to the blessed shore where only peace reigns." (V. 5, Ch. 599, P. 540-541). Jesus emphasizes how important is suffering in our life and how much he will bless those who suffer.

While explaining to his apostles about the last judgment, Jesus says about the difference between himself and the Father. He says, "I m willing to forgive, while I am among you, until judgment is passed, and as far as I am concerned, I wish to forgive. But the mind of the Father is different from mine because I am Mercy and He is Justice. I solemnly tell you that if a man listens to my words and does not comply with them, I will not judge him. I did not come to the world to judge it, but to save it. But if I do not judge, I solemnly tell you that there is who will judge you by your actions. My Father, who sent me, will judge those who reject His Word. Yes, he who despises me and does not acknowledge the word of God, and does not receive the words of the Word, well, he has who will judge him: the very word that I have announced will judge him on the last day." (V. 5, Ch. 596, P. 485).

Next Topic: Jesus at Gethsemane

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