WHO KILLED JESUS?

He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

THE PROMISE

IN a book of a rare violence, the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger, accuses the Christendom of past centuries of lies and homicide: «The massacre and persecution of Israel by pagans – we should rather say by pagano-Christians – are the test of their lies or of their feigned adoration of Christ...» (Jean-Marie Lustiger, “The Promise”, published by Parole et Silence, 2002, p. 74)

=============================

PROPHET AND PRECURSOR

According to this cardinal, Herod, in ordering the massacre of the children of Bethlehem after pretending to want to adore Christ, is a figure of Christians with pagan roots. «His feigned adoration of the Messiah is a lie. The massacre of the children of Bethlehem is the truth of Herod's lie. And in the same way it can be said that the practical attitude of the pagano-Christians with regard to the people of Israel is a symptom of their actual infidelity to Christ or of their deceitfulness in their pseudo-fidelity to Christ. It is the involuntary admission of their paganism and their sin.» (ibid.)

Whence the «mission» that Jean-Marie Lustiger today claims to be his, unhesitatingly comparing himself to Elijah, and even to John the Baptist, preaching a «repentance», as a Precursor of Pope John Paul II. His book can be divided into two parts. The first and most important part, entitled “Nineteen Seventy-Nine”, is a transcript of a retreat given that year to the Sisters of Saint Frances of Rome, a monastery twinned with that of Bec-Hellouin: «In 1979 I spoke as a priest and a friend to a community of Catholic nuns within the context of a private meditation.» The second part, entitled “Two Thousand and Two”, is a transcript of public conferences given in 1995 and 2002 «at the invitation of the most eminent Jewish organisations which, the cardinal informs us, had taken1 note of the work of John Paul II and had asked me to present it» at Tel-Aviv, Paris, Brussels and, last 8 May, before the American Jewish Committee in Washington.

In 1979, after the Sisters had piously recorded and typed out the Abbé Lustiger’s comments, he had asked them not to pass them on. Years went by: «Re-reading the transcripts of these talks, I was surprised at what I had said at that time – or rather at what this audience had permitted me to say by its trust and receptivity. I was surprised because, more than twenty years later, I discovered that many of the thoughts confided as though in a hushed voice, sometimes with passion, sometimes with hesitation, seemed to me to be a timid premonition of what the logic of the faith and the life of the Church was going to produce through John Paul II's initiative.» (p. 8)

This proves that the Abbé de Nantes, his former fellow seminarian, was right to choose Jean-Marie Lustiger in 1986 as the champion of the Error he was attacking in the Pope, «in an “ordeal” entirely inspired by the one organised by Elijah at Yahweh’s command on Mount Carmel.» (CCR no 297, June 97)

REPENTANCE

Like John the Baptist formerly calling the Jews to repentance, Jean-Marie today delivers a revelation on the «mystery of Israel», obscured till now by the attempt of the pagano-Christians «to make of Christian society a figure of the Kingdom of Heaven, whereas it is often nothing more than its infernal caricature.» (p. 112)

In an oracular style, the cardinal delivers what he calls «the revelation of a mission and the revelation of a sin». The sin of Christendom is that of “deicide”, but in an absolutely novel sense, and in a total inversion of the roles previously recognised: «If people have dared to speak of deicide in connection with Israel and Christ, they should also speak of deicide in connection with the so-called Christian peoples of the West and the fate they have reserved for the Jewish people...» For «the history of the persecutions against Israel has this in particular, that it does not fall under the crimes of which men are commonly guilty.» It is far worse, the height of abomination: «Here it is a matter of identifying the absolute victim», of which the child Jesus himself is but the «symbol», along with Joseph (p. 51). Israel is «the absolute victim» of a crime which «is therefore the sin.» (p. 75)

That is why Cardinal Lustiger invites Christians «to an examination of conscience that is, if not personal, at any rate historical, regarding the conduct of the pagan peoples who came to Christianity and who received the grace of the Messiah.» (p. 154)

For «the fate assigned to the Jews is a test of the manner in which these pagans converted to Christianity truly accept Christ. It is in truth the absolute criterion.»

Put to the test of this criterion, the entire history of the Church leads to a recognition of the necessity of a «conversion» of Christians, in order that they might «enter into the Passion of Christ and so take part in the passion of Israel» (p. 78). For example, «if a particular Christian theology cannot include in its vision of redemption and the mystery of the Cross the fact that Auschwitz also forms part of Christ’s suffering, then we are in the realms of total absurdity...» (p. 72) The cardinal has no hesitation in going further: in total «idolatry». (p. 101)

For «the Old Testament is neither a propaedeutic, nor a literary preparation, nor a collection of themes and symbols; it is a veritable path, necessary and real. Real, not through anecdotal parallels, but through communion and obedience to God; the spiritual reality of entry into the mystery of Election. If the pagans who have access to the Covenant in Christ do not take this path, it is likely that they will not truly be converted and will therefore despise Christ at the very moment when they believe they are honouring him. This is the permanent temptation of the pagano-Christian peoples.»

It is essential that we fully grasp the novelty introduced here by Cardinal Lustiger. In Saint Paul’s time, Christians who came over from Judaism claimed that one had to pass through the gate of the Law of Moses in order to reach Christ. Two thousand years later, Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger, who has himself come over from Judaism, goes even further: he maintains that it is necessary to pass through the gate of Christ to have access to the Law, the unique source of life! His reasoning is simple: through His Passion, Jesus totally fulfilled «the commandments», which are the clauses of the enduring Covenant contracted by God with the chosen people. Now God, in resurrecting Him, «does not allow His Just One to see corruption». Therefore the Law is the source of life!

THE LIBERTY OF THE GOSPEL

Here can be seen the “judgement of God” to which the Abbé de Nantes appealed some time ago. One has only to reread the Epistle to the Galatians to find this sentence by Saint Paul: the Law is not the source of any blessing, quite the contrary! «Those who rely on the keeping of the Law are under a curse» (Ga 3.10). So the cardinal’s case already stands judged.

Furthermore, his accusation against «pagano-Christians» is nothing new. Already Saint Paul’s detractors had whispered that the Apostle was prepared to water down the Gospel in order to have it more easily accepted by the pagans (Ga 1.10). But what was his reply to them? «The fact is, brothers, and I want you to realise this, the Good News I preached is not a human message that I was given by men, it is something I learnt only through a revelation of Jesus Christ.» (Ga 1.11-12) The only recommendation Saint Paul needed was Jesus Christ seen on the road to Damascus, «when He, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb, called me through His grace and chose to reveal His Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about Him to the pagans.» (Ga 1.16)

Twice he «went up» to Jerusalem in order to meet the Apostles (Ga 1.19; 2.1), and the second time specifically to win his case against the «intruders, these false brothers who have furtively crept in to spy on the liberty we enjoy in Christ Jesus, and want to reduce us all to slavery». Saint Paul declared that he had refused «even out of deference to yield to them for one moment, in order that the true meaning of the Gospel may be safeguarded for you» (Ga 2.4-5). Not “religious liberty”, but «the true meaning of the Gospel», the unique source of «the liberty that we enjoy in Christ Jesus».

Jesus alone! Outside of Him, there is nothing but slavery, as much among the Jews as among the pagans… and a fortiori among the Muslims! For, far from being born free, every man is born a slave, and the symbol of this servile condition is Mount Sinai. For it is situated in Arabia, and the Arabs are children of Hagar, Abraham’s slave woman (cf. Ga 4.24-25). Furthermore, the Apostle does not hesitate to make the Arabs a figure of the Jews themselves, because it was on the summit of Sinai that Moses received the Law, a kind of slavish subjection, a «yoke» based on fear.

Thus Saint Paul holds his Jewish background to be a «disadvantage», to be «rubbish», contrary to Mgr Lustiger who, on the day after the attack in la rue Copernic, in 1980, declared: «I am Jewish and will remain so, despite what certain people may think!» To be truthful, he should have said: «despite what Saint Paul may think!» For the Apostle goes even further:

«Yes, I will go further: because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For Him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in Him, no longer seeking the righteousness that comes from the Law, but the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, which is from God and is based on faith.» (Ph 3.8-9)

And it is through the same adherence to the faith that the pagans have access to the blessing poured out over all the nations of the earth by virtue of the promise made to Abraham: «All nations will be blessed in you.» (Ga 3.6-9; cf. Gn 12.3)

Far from delivering from sin, the Law, «coming four hundred and thirty years later» (Ga 3.17), simply forces the power of sin, lurking within every man from his birth, to exteriorise itself in the form of transgression. «It is only where there is no Law that it is possible to live without breaking the Law.» (Rm 4.15)

Thus the Law neither augments nor diminishes sin; it merely unmasks it, and forces man to turn towards Him who alone is capable of liberating him from it: Christ, who «redeemed us from this curse of the Law by being cursed for our sake – for it is written : “Cursed be anyone who is hanged on a tree” –, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the pagans, and that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.» (Ga 3.13-14; cf. Dt 21.23)

It is Christ to whom the blessing promised to Abraham and to his descendants is directed: «Scripture does not say “and to his descendants” in the plural; it uses the singular: “and to his posterity”, which is Christ.» (Ga 3.16; cf. Gn 12.7)

So what role did the Law play? For “us”, the Jews, says Saint Paul to these pagan Galatians, it played the role of a pedagogue: «Before faith came, we were allowed no freedom by the Law; we were being looked after till faith was revealed. The Law was to be our pedagogue until Christ came.» (Ga 3, 23-24)

For the Greeks, a “pedagogue” was a slave responsible for supervising children and putting a stop to their misbehaviour, and for taking them to the schoolmasters responsible for their education.

«It is a curious thing, remarked Socrates, to be commanded by a slave when one is a freeman.» And he asks Lysis: «In what way, then, does this pedagogue exercise authority over you?

– By taking me, he replies, to the schoolmaster’s house.» (Plato, Lysis, 208 c)

This is precisely what Saint Paul writes: «What I am saying is this : an heir, as long as he remains a child, is no different from a slave, even though he is the owner of all the property. He is under the control of guardians and administrators until he reaches the age fixed by his father.» (Ga 4.1-2)

At the moment fixed by the head of the family, the son’s subjection disappears: «But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as sons.» (Ga 4.4-5)

“We” the Jews, but also “you” the pagans: «For your are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. All baptised in Christ, you have all been clothed in Christ; there can be neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.» (Ga 3.26-28)

LIBERTY AND CHARITY

According to Saint Paul, there is no middle ground: either the slavery of the Law or the liberty of «faith working through charity.» (Ga 5.6)

«Faith» is submission to the truth which is Jesus Christ, to the mystery of His virginal birth, the sign of His divine generation and of our own filial adoption: «And the proof that you are sons is that God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of His Son which cries, ‘Abba, Father’, and so you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then, through God, an heir.» (Ga 4.6-7)

«Charity» is the essence of God’s law and is one and the same with the liberty of God’s children: «My brothers, you were called, as you know, to liberty; only do not use your liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but rather serve one another in works of charity.» (Ga 5.13)

The “flesh” (sarx) represents the lower instincts, always inclined to satisfy themselves “freely”, that is to say, without constraint, in self-love and egoism; to the flesh Paul opposes charity as an immense reciprocity of services, without distinction between Jew and “pagano-Christian”, of which He who came to serve offers both the example and the grace, giving us the strength to imitate Him: «For the whole Law is summarised in a single command: “Love your neighbour as yourself”.» (Ga 5.14)

The precept is taken from the Law of Moses, in which “neighbour” designates solely one’s Israelite fellow countryman, the «son of your people» (Lv 19.18). But Saint Paul had just written: «There can be neither Jew nor Greek», nor “pagano-Christian”; there is but «Christ Jesus» (Ga 3.28). So only one law remains: the liberty of love, and the love of Jesus. As Saint John Chrysostom says:

«He who has within himself a better principle of direction, what need does he have of a pedagogue? A philosopher has no need of a grammarian.»

The Epistle to the Galatians ends with practical recommendations concerning fraternal charity: zeal, spiritual and material assistance, and no boasting (Ga 6.1-6). Suddenly, from this most prosaic exhortation to mutual assistance, the Apostle ascends to the supreme motive dictating it: «Do not delude yourself; God is not to be fooled. For what a man sows, that also will he reap.» (Ga 6.7)

This perspective of Judgement reminds the Galatians that their eternal salvation is at stake. He who does works of mercy will himself obtain mercy. And Saint Paul seizes his secretary’s quill in order to write with his own hand in large characters: «As for me, the only thing I can boast about is the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!»

ISRAEL REJECTED

«The Jews are only true to their identity, the cardinal writes, insofar as they bear witness to the Election. Their rejection by Christians, whether voluntary or involuntary, is an abusive or blasphemous appropriation of the Election...» (p. 162)

If that is true, one must have the courage to say that Saint Paul is guilty of this blasphemy. Will the cardinal go this far? In the Epistle to the Galatians, Saint Paul recalls that Abraham had two wives: the first, Sara, was a freewoman; the other, Hagar, was a slave. Both of them gave him a son, the former, in accordance with the laws of nature, the latter, through a miracle, by virtue of the divine promise. Now, what became of the mothers and the sons? Did God most good decide to share the paternal heritage and to allow the children to live together? No. Scripture is categorical: such cohabitation would be detrimental to the legitimate son. In order to maintain him in all his rights, the son of the slave had to be driven out: «There is an allegory here» (Ga 4.24), and the lesson is clear: the Jews will not inherit. The new covenant, of which Sara, the freewoman, is the figure, is the only one which counts in God’s eyes. «The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.» (Ga 4.26) It is a woman, a city, it is the Church. Compared to the city of God’s free children, “present-day Jerusalem” is but a city of slaves. «So, brothers, we are the children not of the slave-girl but of the freewoman.» (Ga 4.31)

In Palestine, today, Hamas is sowing death. And once again, «present-day Jerusalem» finds itself the flashpoint of a fire that is threatening to set the whole world ablaze... as was the case nineteen centuries ago, at the time of the Jewish war which ended in the destruction of the Holy City and the burning of the Temple.

But the cardinal is hoping for a restoration of the Church of Jerusalem, «destroyed under the pressure of Byzantium» in the sixth century, according to him, when it «was composed solely of Jewish disciples of Jesus». Such an affirmation betrays an astonishing ignorance of history. For the Christians deserted Jerusalem at the beginning of the Jewish War (66-70 AD), following the advice given by Our Lord to the Christians of Palestine forty years earlier, that «those in Judaea should escape to the mountains». No, the destruction of Jerusalem did not wait for the Byzantium of the sixth century! And if the cardinal commits such an error, it is because he wants to lend substance to his utopia: if a «Church ex circumcisione», born of the circumcision, existed, it would, according to him, have a role to play today in reconciling Jews and Palestinians in Israel: «It could fulfil, in association with the Arab Christian communities, the mission that Jesus entrusted to his disciples.» (p. 172)

However, recent events have given the lie to the cardinal’s hopes. La Croix presented a report on Israel’s Christians: «At Abu Gosh, justice and peace embrace.» Abu Gosh is a Benedictine abbey, a daughter of Bec-Hellouin, «where cultures and religions meet». It is on this that Cardinal Lustiger bases all his hopes for the resurrection of a Church “born of the circumcision”.

Alas, eight days later, «the Christians of the Holy Land are divided. The award given by the Judaeo-Christian Friendship to the prior of Abu Gosh created an uproar among the Arab Christians of the Holy Land.» One can understand why! While the monks and nuns of the Benedictine Abbey, wearing their choir vestments, were ushered into the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, where they intoned a psalm in Hebrew, Bethlehem was under a military blockade and unable to celebrate Christmas! Now, to declare that The Promise made by God to Abraham to give him «a Land» is imprescriptible, as the cardinal does (p. 149; cf. Gn 12.7), is to take the side of Ariel Sharon... and to render the fratricidal struggle currently ravaging the Holy Land inexpiable.

And yet, he wonders, «between Judaism and Islam, between the Arab culture and Western culture, between contradictory political demands, who else should have the privilege of living this Beatitude: “Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called sons of God” ?»

MARY, THE PERSONIFICATION OF ISRAEL

Who indeed? Certainly not Christians who claim to be faithful to circumcision contrary to the faith and to the bimillenary practice of the one, holy, catholic, apostolic and Roman Church, but rather the children of Mary! For the entire «mystery of Israel» is enclosed in Her Immaculate Heart. «After Christ, we discover in Mary the purpose of the Law and the truth of the figures and oracles», writes Saint Pius X (Ad diem illum). This simple truth dispels Cardinal Lustiger’s error and restores our hope.

The Pope continues: «That it belongs to the Virgin, and to Her above all, to lead us to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, cannot be doubted when it is remembered that with Her alone of all others Jesus was for thirty years united, as a son is usually united with a mother, in the closest ties of intimacy and domestic life. Who could better than His Mother have an open knowledge of the admirable mysteries of the birth and childhood of Christ, and above all of the mystery of the Incarnation, which is the beginning and the foundation of faith?»

Commenting on chapters 1 and 2 of Saint Matthew, the cardinal writes: «Israel is symbolised in the child and Joseph.» The child, with a small c, is Jesus! And Mary? He did not give Her any thought!

No, Israel is not «symbolised in the child and Joseph.» Israel is personified in Mary. And the entire «mystery of Israel» is unveiled in Mary, daughter of Sion, as the Angelic Salutation indicates to Her: «Rejoice Mary.» (Lk 1.28; cf. Is 12.6; Zp 3.14-15; Jl 2.21-27; Zc 2.14; 9.9) The Beloved of the Song of Songs, the «Sulamite», «terrible as an army drawn up for battle» is Her! The perfect spouse who epitomises and encompasses the entire «mystery of Israel» is Mary!

In a fit of distraction that defies belief, Cardinal Lustiger “forgets” the Blessed Virgin. Presenting Jesus as an Israelite who perfectly fulfilled the commandments and helped His followers to do likewise, he quotes by way of example the commandment: «Honour your father and your mother» (p. 21). Jesus, he says, observes this commandment by showing Himself loyal to the patriarchs, by “honouring” Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the depositaries of “THE PROMISE”. It is thus that the cardinal thinks to give us, along with the desire to do likewise, the final word on the «mystery of Israel». But he has given no thought to the honour that Jesus renders to His Divine Mother!

Now, if there is one way to make peace reign between the children of Abraham, be they Arab, Israeli, French, American or Russian (e.g. between Catholics and the Orthodox in Russia), since there is now neither Jew nor Greek, it is to have them all turn towards the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

For She is the daughter of Abraham, the depositary of the merciful designs of the Most High, as She proclaimed in Her MAGNIFICAT on the day of Her Visitation to Her cousin Elizabeth (Lk 1.54-55).

In Her «we discover the truth of the figures and oracles» when She accompanies Her Son on the day of His Holy Sacrifice on Mount Calvary. For, having prepared the victim nourished with Her Virginal Blood for the salvation of men, «Hers also was the office of tending and nourishing that Victim, and at the appointed time of presenting Him for the sacrifice» (Saint Pius X, Ad diem illum), like Abraham long ago ascending Mount Moriah with his son Isaac to immolate him.

THE MYSTERY OF FAITH FROM ABRAHAM TO MELCHIZEDEK

Holy Hope, far from attaching us to a Land here below, the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us, is like an anchor secured to Heaven, «an anchor for our soul, as sure as it is firm, and reaching right through beyond the veil where Jesus has entered before us and on our behalf, to become a high priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.» (Hb 6.19-20).

Having undertaken a literal commentary of this Epistle1, we have discovered numerous indications that allow us to attribute it to Saint Paul, etiam contra murmurantes. We left off at the sixth chapter where Saint Paul explains to the Hebrews that it is impossible to stop «the elementary teaching about Christ», that is to say, with a Christian doctrine that cannot formally be distinguished from Judaism. In a process exactly the reverse of that adopted by Cardinal Lustiger, the Apostle declares the necessity of leaving all this behind, on pain of falling into apostasy. He who does not advance, retreats.

The nascent Church, whose growth is described in the first fifteen chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, continued to practice all that the Law prescribed, including the sacrificial liturgies in the Temple, after the example of James and in accordance with the Lord’s words: «Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them.» (Mt 5.17) As long as he was in this world, «the brother of the Lord» maintained the two ordo’s: the old one, that of Aaron, and the new one, that of Jesus Christ: «They went as a body to the Temple every day, but met in their houses for the breaking of bread.» (Ac 2.46) The «breaking of bread» designated the Blessed Eucharist.

The martyrdom of James in 62, put a brutal end to this dual membership by forcing the “Hebrew” Christians, the Judaizers, into a corner. They had to make a choice: either the “gate of Jesus” or the justice of the Law.

Saint Paul then took charge of the Christian Hebrews, with the same concern that he had shown towards the pagans. To defend them against any temptation to apostasy, he demonstrated to them the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus Christ over the priests born of Levi, basing himself on Psalm 110.

«This Melchizedek, he explains, king of Salem, a priest of God Most High, went to meet Abraham on his way back after defeating the kings, and blessed him; and Abraham gave him a tenth of all that he had. By the interpretation of his name, he is, first, “king of righteousness” and also “king of Salem”, that is, “king of peace”; he has no father, mother or ancestry, and his life has no beginning or ending; he is like the Son of God. He remains a priest for ever.» (Hb 7.1-3)

A written fragment discovered at Qumrân (11 Q Melch) reveals that, according to Israel’s best minds, Melchizedek was considered to be the leader of the good angels and was identified with Saint Michael, but at the same time was likened to God Himself. There was in fact, and still is, a degree of uncertainty attendant on apparitions of “the Angel of Yahweh” in the Old Testament.

The transcendence of the mysterious character of Melchizedek derives especially from a fact highlighted by Father Trinquet in the Bible of Osty: «Whereas, in Genesis, the sacred author carefully describes the origins of the patriarchs, giving the name of their father, their mother and their ancestors, he introduces Melchizedek into his account from out of the blue. He has him disappear just as abruptly, unlike the patriarchs whose death he always mentions. It is as though Melchizedek came from eternity and returned there immediately as “a priest of God Most High” for ever.» He is thus a “figure” of Jesus, the Son of God come from the Father for a brief stay «among us» (Jn 1.14), and reascending to Him (Jn 20.17). This is what Saint Paul is suggesting here: God showed to Abraham, two thousand years in advance, the fulfilment of the promises He had made to him. In the person of Melchizedek, a figure of Jesus Christ, Son of God, it is God Himself who intervenes from the very beginning, establishing in advance the superiority of the priesthood of His Son over that of Levi, and the imperfect and obsolete character of the Law of Moses. «Any change in the priesthood must mean a change in the Law as well.» (Hb 7.12)

Our Lord Himself, in His controversy with the Jews, presented Himself as Abraham’s contemporary, to their great fury: «Your father Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see my Day; he saw it and was glad.» (Jn 8.56)

Today, this argument ought to convert them. For the events of Fatima renew in the web of our contemporary history this patriarchal gesture. «I am the Angel of peace», says the Angel precursor of Our Lady to the children of Fatima in 1916 at his first apparition, and calling himself «the Guardian Angel of Portugal» at his second, in other words, Saint Michael! The parallel with Melchizedek, king of Salem, is unmistakable, for it is said that he «brought bread and wine» (Gn 14.18)… as did the Angel of Fatima also, at his third apparition: he brought the Bread of the Angels, a Host from which fell drops of Precious Blood into the chalice, a sign of the shedding of the Blood of Christ, poured out in remission of sins. And the Angel gave the Sacred Host to Lucy, and shared the Precious Blood between Francisco and Jacinta.

At Qumrân, it was thought that God had manifested Himself in visible form in the person of Melchizedek. At Fatima, Yahweh’s angel returns, showing clearly, this time, that he is but a creature. Yet God is there, for the Angel of Portugal holds in his left hand the Bread and the Wine of yore, consecrated, become the Body and the Blood of Christ, Son of God, God Himself!

The three shepherds find themselves playing the role of witnesses of a new Covenant, or rather of the eternal Covenant renewed by the Virgin come down from Heaven, preceded by the Angel of Peace sent to announce to the three seers that «the Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.»

One might think one was listening to the Angel Gabriel telling Zechariah: «Your prayer has been heard.» (Lk 1.13)

At the second apparition, the Angel says to the seers: «The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you.» Thus the mercy of God is at work throughout the centuries, exactly as the Blessed Virgin sings in Her Magnificat: «He has come to the help of Israel His servant, mindful of His mercy.» (Lk 1.54) Zechariah imitated the Blessed Virgin three months later, in his Benedictus: «Thus He shows mercy to our ancestors, thus He remembers His holy covenant, the oath He swore to our father Abraham that He would grant us, free from fear, to be delivered from the hands of our enemies, to serve Him in holiness and virtue in His presence, all our days.» (Lk 1.72-73)

The sacrament of this «Sacred Covenant», its visible sign, is the Body of Christ, Sovereign Priest in and on behalf of His Church, present hic et nunc, here today, among His own, to shed His Blood in remission of sins. The concluding stage of this Covenant took place for the first time at the Last Supper. It is reproduced at each Mass in the same manner by the sacramental communion of the holy members of the Christian assembly, in the mystical food and drink that are offered to them, this Bread and this Wine, the MYSTERY OF FAITH, the Body and Blood of the Lord immolated for the multitude. This communion, recommended at Pontevedra by Her who gave birth in the House of bread, unites Christians one to another and thus builds the Church in charity, preparing the eternal consummation of the union between Christ and the Church, in glory, when she will be presented by Him to the Father as a new creature, all justice and holiness.

We may, we must conclude with renewed certitude that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is telling the truth. Keeping his PROMISE, this Melchizedek, this angel of peace who appeared to Abraham four thousand years ago, returns at the end of the times to convert not only the Jews, but the Muslims, in order that the massacre in Palestine may end, and that, little by little, the whole earth may know «a certain time of peace».

But first we ourselves must be converted, we the Roman Catholic Church, from our cult of man set up to rival the cult of God and to replace the cult of God become man. We must make reparation for all the insults, sacrileges and indifference by which Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, is Himself offended. Ask Him, through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the conversion of poor sinners.

As a remedy for the blasphemous autolatry that exalts without limit man’s freedom of conscience, God wishes «to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. If what She requests is done:

1o the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, 2o the reparatory Communion of the Five First Saturdays of the month, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.» There we have it, “The Promise” which is still valid, the only one!

Brother Bruno of Jesus

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) The Epistle to the Hebrews... today! CCR no 319, May 1999, p. 17-24.