Chapter XXXI: THIRD PART OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: FROM THE SECOND PASSOVER TO THE THIRD PASSOVER.

1.As has already been stated at the end of the previous chapter, Jesus, on Friday the 3rd of April, accompanied by His Divine Mother, His disciples and some pious women, left Capharnaum for Jerusalem with the object of celebrating the Passover.He made this journey through the towns of Cana, Sephoris and Mageddo and, by-passing the pagan Caesarea Maritime, continued through Antipatris and Lydia.He also entered Modin, the town of the Machabees, where He visited the mausoleum of those invincible captains in order to honour their memory.He then headed towards Emmaus, and once in Jerusalem, went to Bethany, home of Lazarus and Martha, which He reached on Tuesday the 14th of April.He preached in the towns on the way, principally in the synagogues, cured many sick and baptized those who believed in Him.The Evangelist Saint John alludes to this journey of the Lord for the second Passover, saying: "After these things was the festival day of the Jews:and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" (John V, 1), that is, after the death of John the Baptist, since the Passover was close, Jesus went to celebrate the feast.

2.The eminent Doctor Anne Catherine Emmerich says that Jesus celebrated the Passover that year at the home of Lazarus and Martha in Bethany, this town being within the limits set by the law for fulfilling the rite of the Paschal Supper.We add that the ceremony commenced at sunset on Wednesday the 15th of April, on which in the year 32 the 15th of Nisan began.Present were the Mother of Jesus, the twelve principal disciples and several others, as well as the pious women who accompanied the Divine Mary, and of course Lazarus, Martha and members of their household.Once the legal supper was over, that is, the rite of the Paschal Lamb, there followed, as was the custom, the meal corresponding to the daily supper, now with greater formality because of the Passover.Afterwards Jesus retired to pray in the Garden of Olives, as He often did when in Jerusalem.During the Paschal week, accompanied by His disciples, He visited the Temple, where He taught the crowds and cured the sick.

3.In the course of His stay in Jerusalem there took place, according to our interpretation, the miracle of the curing of the paralytic narrated by the Evangelist Saint John (V, 2-9).This occurred at the Probatic Pool which, the Vulgate says, is called Bethsaida in Hebrew, and is known also as Bethesda and Bethzata.The Evangelist says that in the porches of the pool "lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered;waiting for the moving of the water.And an Angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pool and the water was moved.And he that went down first into the pool after the motion of the water, was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under" (John V, 3-4).To clarify this text we rely upon, in the first place, the Book of Machabees (2 Mach. I, 19-22), because it tells how, when the Jews were led captive to Babylon, the priests fearful of the Lord took the Sacred Fire that was on the altar of the Temple and hid it in a deep dried up well which was in a valley.After the Captivity, at the command of Nehemias it was removed from the well, now no longer in the form of fire, but as thickened water, and once more was placed in the Temple which was being rebuilt, miraculously taking the form of fire again.On the other hand, in Chapter VII of the present Treatise it has been defined that this Fire, which was used to light the wood for the sacrifices, was the Most Divine Soul of Christ under that form.The eminent Doctor Saint Anne Catherine Emmerich says as well that it was in the Pool of Bethesda that the Sacred Fire was hidden, and that the miraculous property of the water arose from the time the fire had been there; that, moreover, at the beginning the pious sick saw the Angel descend and move the waters, and that in later times they saw Him less frequently,- till there came the time when they no longer saw Him, but did see instead, from time to time, the movement of the waters.Harmonizing the three sources, we teach that the Angel of the Lord Who moved the waters of the pool was the Most Divine Soul of Christ, Who made Himself visible many times under bodily appearance, but Who, from the time of the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word, was no longer seen.However the sick waiting there for the opportunity to be healed, did see from time to time a miraculous movement of the waters.The spring that nourished the pool was not of natural origin, but issued miraculously out of the deep dried up well at the moment the Sacred Fire placed there was removed after the Babylonian Captivity to be borne to the Temple.From then on many sick were cured by those waters.This pool is the one known in Jerusalem under the name of Bethesda, beside the church of Saint Anne, close to the city gate called Saint Stephen's.

4.After relating the miracle of the paralytic of the pool of Bethesda (John V, 2-9), which we affirm was on Saturday the 18th of April, the Evangelist mentions the dialogue of the Jews with the infirm man who was cured (John V, 10-13) and the latter's meeting with Jesus in the Temple (John V, 14-15).He speaks also of the Jews' persecution of Christ for His having cured on the Sabbath, and the masterful reply He gave them (John V, 16-47), with respect to which we now make a brief commentary.In the first place, Jesus gives personal testimony of Himself, as is seen in verses 17-30 which follow.Jesus replies to the Jews: "My Father worked until now;and I work" (John V, 17) by which He indicates that the Heavenly Father, after having created all things in the beginning, continues without cease His creative work, and besides takes loving care of all His creatures, governing the universe with zealous affection; and that Jesus, His Only begotten, also works together with Him, since as God, He is consubstantial with Him; and as Man is, from the moment of the creation of His Most Divine Soul, the essential instrument of all His works.In addition, this lovingDivine providence towards His creatures does not cease even on the Sabbath.With this Jesus shows the Jews that they were not to take the Sabbath rest prescribed by the Law of Moses to the extreme of omitting the exercise of charity towards their neighbor, since precisely that day, the Sabbath,- dedicated especially to God -, was the most appropriate one for works of mercy, and with these the better to sanctify it.That is why Jesus, to teach the Jews how to respect the Sabbath, besides visiting the synagogues, also preached the Kingdom of God and more particularly cured the sick on that day, since all this was in conformity with the spirit of the Law.

5.With this teaching of Jesus, the Jews, seeing themselves disarmed, harassed Him with greater fury, now alleging that He had called Himself Son of God.That is why the Evangelist says that "hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He did not only break the Sabbath but also said God was His Father, making Himself equal to God" (John V, 18).Jesus, however, reaffirmed for them the Mystery of His Divine Person, adding: "Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do anything of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing: for what thing soever He doth, these the Son also doth in like manner.For the Father loveth the Son and showed Him all things which He Himself doth: and greater works than these will He shew Him, that you may wonder.For as the Father raiseth raise up the death and giveth life: so the Son also giveth life to whom He will" (John V, 19-21).With this Jesus wished to tell them that He, as God, is one sole understanding and will with the Father, and that, as Man, He does nothing that is not His Father's will; and, besides, that the Son, not only as God, but also as Man, knows the plans of His Father, Who reveals His world through the Son.Therefore the works that Jesus does in His Most Sacred Humanity, and other greater ones that He was to perform, are the works which the Father desires.Furthermore, that as the life of grace in souls comes essentially from the Father, in the same way does it come from the Son as God, since from both Divine Persons proceeds eternally the Life Giver, Who is the Great Supernatural Gift or Sanctifying Grace,- the Holy Ghost,- Who is consubstantial with Them.Besides, the Son as Man is also the Giver of the life of grace, being Infinite Holiness in virtue of the Hypostatic Union.

6.Once Jesus has manifested to the Jews by His Divine teaching that He is the Son of the Most High, and that, consequently, as God, He is equal to the Father and to the Holy Ghost, and that, as Man, all power is given to Him in Heaven and on earth, He tells them once more: "For neither doth the Father judge any man: but hath given all judgement to the Son, as they hounoreth not the Son honoured not the Father Who hath sent Him" (John V, 22-23).With this He points out to them that as Man, He has been constituted Supreme Judge with fullest power to reward those who honour Him as they honour the Father, and to punish those who despise Him, since in like manner will they act towards the Father.

7.Jesus goes on to say: "Amen, amen, I say unto you that he who heareth My words and believeth Him that sent Me hath life everlasting and cometh not into judgement, but is passed from death to life" (John V, 24), which confirms the doctrine explained in the previous chapter, that those who reach clinical death in the state of grace are assured of Eternal Happiness.The following verse says that "...the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John V, 25).We have here a twofold teaching: On the one hand, referring to the dead in the order of grace, Jesus says that if they hear His voice they will live, which is to say that if they accept His doctrine, they will be vivified by the Holy Ghost, either by Baptism, or by sincere repentance if already baptized.Moreover, it refers also to those who reach clinical death in mortal sin, since if they accept the discourse of the Divine Mary, they will live eternally, that is, they will receive the Drop of Her Most Pure Blood, which gives them the right to the joy of Eternal Happiness.He continues, saying: "For as the Father hath life in Himself, so He hath given to the Son also to have life in Himself" (John V, 26).This teaches us that Jesus, as Man, possesses the infinite Holiness of the Divine Word by virtue of the Hypostatic Union, that is, the same Holiness as the Father, since logically as God He holds everything in common with the Father, because He is eternal and consubstantial with Him.

8.Then, referring to the universal resurrection of the flesh He says: "Wonder not at this: for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God.And they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life: but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgement" (John V, 28-29).This teaches that the bodies of those who die in the state of grace will rise already glorious in Eternal Happiness, since on their being informed by their glorified souls, they will share, from the very instant of their resurrection, the essential glory of the same, and so all the saved will shine with joy in soul and in body in the Universal Judgement, being publicly recognized as just, with no appearance whatever of their possible offenses, all having been pardoned and atoned for.However, the bodies of those who die in mortal sin will rise already in Hell, since on their being informed by the dammed souls, they will share, from the very instant of their resurrection, the eternal pains suffered by the same, and so all the damned will be seen condemned in soul and body in the Universal Judgement, all their evil deeds being publicly uncovered, including those pardoned in life, for their greater shame and confusion,- which is why Jesus says that they will rise for judgement.

9.We further clarify this doctrine.In their most vehement hatred of God, those who reject the Divine Mary's discourse in the Particular Judgement, renew or recommit in desire, freely and willingly, all the sins of their past life, both pardoned and unpardoned, with their peculiarcharacteristics, in suchwise that they are identical, although now far more grievous due to the worsened disposition of the soul on renewing them.Moreover, they commit many other sins not committed before, and manifest too their fury at not having sinned much more, reproving all the good works that they have done during life.All of this, which occurs in but a moment, constitutes the rejection of the Divine Mary or sin against the Holy Ghost; and, in accordance with the hatred with which they reject salvation, which is in the measure of their capacity for evil, depends their eternal punishment.Besides, in the Particular Judgement, this capacity is immensely greater than on earth, since it is the soul alone with its powers which acts, that is, without the ties of the body, which is no longer animated by the soul.The reason why the condemned soul, from the moment of entering Hell, suffers the punishment inclusively of sins pardoned in life, is that on renewing, in the Particular Judgement, all the sins it has committed, it also reproves the absolution of the sins that have been pardoned it.And as God respects human liberty, He once more imposes the punishment due to them, revoking His pardon,- which is to say that the sins pardoned return once more to the soul that renews them, owing to the fact that in the Particular Judgement, by that rejection of the pardon granted, the damned soul withdraws from Calvary, and, therefore, from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,- where all the good and evil works of mankind are found,- -the possibility of its salvation, with the result that Christ now cannot apply His Deific Blood of Redemption to these sins, repentance therefore being impossible in the souls of the condemned.With the rejection of the Divine Mary in the Particular Judgement, there ends for the offending soul the possibility of any further personal acts of demerit, since the unfavourable sentence of Christ and true death occur immediately.Independently of the above, we assert that in each mortal sin committed during life, there are never renewed those committed beforehand and not pardoned, nor do those already pardoned return to the soul; rather, each sin is one more, and independent of others.

10.In the light of the doctrine explained above we also teach that those who accept the discourse of the Divine Mary in the Particular Judgement, in their most vehement love of God, renew or realize once more, in desire, freely and willingly, all the good works of their past life, with their past life, with their peculiar characteristics, in suchwise that they are identical, although now with a greater degree of merit, due to the better disposition of the soul on renewing them.Moreover, they are able to perform many good deeds not done before, and at the same time they disapprove their not having done them during life.They also reject all the errors and sins they have committed.And in accordance with the love with which they thus accept salvation, which is in the measure of their capacity for good, depends their eternal joy.Besides, in the Particular Judgement, this capacity is immensely greater than on earth, since it is the soul alone with its powers which acts, that is, without the ties of the body, which is no longer animated by the soul.With the supreme act of accepting theDivine Mary's discourse, by means of which the saved soul receives confirmation in grace, there ends the opportunity for it to perform further acts of merit, since the favourable sentence of Christ and true death occur immediately.We teach also that the degree of love with which salvation is accepted in the Particular Judgement, does not necessarily depend on the quantity or quality of good works done during life, because the saved soul, by a mysterious design of God, has the possibility of receiving a most special grace with which to surpass the love even of those who on earth have been outstanding for their great virtues.For example, a baptized child who dies before the use of reason is able, in the Particular Judgement, by a most special grace, to surpass in love, and consequently in eternal happiness, a great ascetic of recognized heroic virtue.

11.We amplify further the above-given doctrine: As we know, in order for an act to be supernaturally meritorious for eternal life, it must be performed in the state of Sanctifying Grace and with the right intention.But it is a fact that during life on earth, men deprived of Sanctifying Grace perform good deeds.These good deeds, although not supernaturally meritorious, do have natural merit; and God, Who is a just Rewarder, takes into account any good work done with the right intention, and leaves nothing unrewarded, be it in this life or in that to come.The right intention of these good deeds lacking supernatural merit comprises different grades which make them worthy of greater or lesser reward; for, an act of mere pity is not the same as one done at the same time with certain intent to please God, which is found not only amongst the members of the true Church, but also in an explicit or implicit way amongst those outside her,- since every man, by the Natural Law necessarily impressed on his soul, is aware of the existence of a Superior Being Who is good, powerful and rewarding; and, besides, by this same Natural Law, he knows that he has to do good and avoid evil.Bearing this doctrine in mind, we teach that in the Particular Judgement, all those naturally meritorious deeds,- that is to say, without supernatural merit -, performed by men during life acquire, at the moment they accept the discourse of the Divine Mary, supernatural meritorious value for eternal life through their renewal in desire.For, by the renewal also of the naturally meritorious deeds of those who have reached clinical death with the Drop of Blood of the Divine Mary, and therefore with a Sanctifying Grace, these acquire supernatural value.And by the renewal, with the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, of the acts also naturally meritorious of those who reach clinical death in mortal sin and who accept the discourse of the Divine Mary,- receiving as a result the Drop of Her Most Pure Blood -, these acts acquire supernatural merit; these souls, moreover, recover from the treasure of the Church, as is natural, all supernatural merit lost by mortal sin.Independently of the above, we teach also that every time Sanctifying Grace is recovered in the Sacrament of Penance, also recovered, whole and entire, that is, in the same number and grade, are the supernatural meritspossessed before sinning, at the same time as new merits are acquired through this repentance.Once in possession of the merit which were lost, the value of the latter go to benefit the future essential and accidental glory of those that are saved.

12.This Holy Council goes on to teach that to him who is saved, all the acts with supernatural and natural merit which he has been able to perform with the right intention during life will be of use to him, as well as those which he performs in the Particular Judgement,- all of them going to benefit his essential and accidental glory.On the contrary, to him who is condemned, none of the acts of supernatural or natural merit made with the right intention during life will be of use to him since he has received his reward for them on earth.However, being as they now are works of infinite value, God applies to the benefit of the whole Church all the good deeds which the condemned soul has been able to perform during life that have supernatural merit.Nonetheless, all the good works which the condemned soul has performed during life with the right intention and which have no supernatural merit, are of no use to the Church, since they have not been supernaturalized, owing to the lack of cooperation of the offending soul.We complete the above doctrine, saying that for those who reach clinical death with Sanctifying Grace, the acts which they perform until the moment of true death are always accompanied by supernatural merit.

13.In the light of the above-given doctrine, we also teach that all the good works bereft of supernatural merit performed with the right intention by all men who died before Calvary and who were saved, acquired supernatural value when Christ descended to the Bosom of Abraham and Purgatory, following His Death.These works were united to the Infinite Sacrifice of the Cross an hour later by Saint John.

14.We amplify the doctrine concerning clinical dead and the Particular Judgement, teaching that all this occurs, necessarily, at six different moments of time: That of clinical death; that of the discourse of Satan; that of the discourse of Mary; that of the acceptance or rejection of salvation by the soul with the self-determination of eternal destiny; that of the favourable or unfavourable sentence of Christ; and that of the separation or departure of the soul from the body by true death.

15.Having had occasion to treat newly of clinical death, of the Particular Judgement and of true death, we see here the opportunity to consider the following dogmatic teachings of His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII, which will help us better to understand the mysteries of eschatology:

The ego or human person consists of three elements:

1. The essential and invisible, which is the primogenial substance or essential spiritualized matter of thehuman body.

2. The essential, invisible and purely spiritual, which is the soul.

3. The accidental, visible and purely material, which is the corruptible body of man.

16.In order to fathom the mystery of the ego or human person, this being the image and likeness of God, we shall take as our basis the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.We consider the relation between the Father and the Person of the Divine Word: The Father, through understanding, sees Himself, understands Himself, expresses Himself, that is, He engenders eternally the idea of Himself, which idea is the person of the Word.However, the Most High wished to project outside of Himself,- that is, ad extra -, images and likenesses of His Divine Being.Therefore, consistent with the particular idea of each creature conceived in His Mind, and within the general idea of angelic and human beings, He created the Most Divine Soul of Christ, the Divine Soul of Mary, the angelic world, and finally man, in such a way that each of these creations in its corresponding degree might reflect, more than anything else, the Divinity.In accord with this doctrine we say that each human person is a particular image created by God in conformity with the idea that God has of the human being as a reflection of His Divinity, which is One and Three.This idea of man in God, to the image and likeness of Himself,- the human person -, is composed of soul, essential body and accidental body.The human person, that is, the image and likeness of God corresponding to each human being, is each one of the three elements that compose it, being equal and indivisible in three elements and in each one of them, in such a way that, although the elements separate one from another, the person remains equal and undivided in each one of them.

17.Let us see here how the human person is the image and likeness of the Unity and Trinity of God: We shall compare the human person to a triangle.One angle is the soul, another is the primogenial substance, and the third, the accidental body.The three elements are the human person, and the human person is each one of the elements, in suchwise that there is a unity in the trinity and a trinity in the unity.The unity is the human person; the trinity, the three elements that compose it.The soul is human person, the primogenial substance is human person, and the accidental body is human person.But there is only one human person.The unity and trinity in the human person continues to exist even after the death of each being, and where there is found each element of the person, there is found the person.Therefore, where the soul is, there is the person; where the primogenial substance is, there is the person; and where the remains of the accidental body are, there is the person.If, for example, one prays for the eternal repose of John's soul, one is praying for the person of John; if one thinks of theprimogenial substance of John, one is thinking of the person of John; and if one visits the remains of the accidental body of John, one is visiting the person of John.The person of John is dead, inasmuch as his accidental body is dead; the person of John is dead, inasmuch as his essential body is dead; but the person of John is alive, inasmuch as his soul is alive, for the soul is immortal.

18.We record that although the human person is equal and undivided, - that is, complete -, in the three elements that compose it and in each one of them, nonetheless its activity is complete, essentially and accidentally, when the three elements are united; and its activity is complete only essentially when the soul and the primogenial substance are united, although both are separated from the accidental body.However, the activity of the human person in soul is incomplete when the three elements are separated one from another.Of course, when the three elements are separated, the human person can work neither with the essential body, nor with the accidental body, being dead in both elements.

After having considered the human person as a whole, we shall now speak in more detail about the elements that compose it.

19.The primogenial substance or essential body of the human person originates at the same instant that the female ovum, which contains also primogenial substance of the mother, is fertilized by the male sperm, which contains also primogenial substance of the father.Consequently the primogenial substance of the child is a new one, heir, differing from and independent of those of the parents.All primogenial substance come uninterruptedly from those of Adam and Eve from generation to generation.The primogenial substance, or invisible corporeal form of each human body, contains in essence, from the very instant of conception, all the accidental parts of the body, perfectly formed, organized and developed, down to the smallest detail.Consequently the primogenial substance is, quite properly and essentially, the human body, - and as it is spiritualized matter, it is indestructible from the moment it begins to exist; that is to say, it remains unalterable, this being the meaning here of indestructible.Primogenial substance was created by God out of nothing and infused into the first man, Adam.But for the rest of the human race, with the exception of Eve, it is transmitted to them through procreation, each person having his own characteristics.

20.At the very instant of the conception of a new being, by virtue of the fertilization itself of the ovum by the sperm, the primogenial substance comes into existence with its essential bodily form, the model or structure for the formation of the accidental body.The human soul, at the very instant of its creation by God, is infused into the primogenial substance and the formless accidental body; and from that same instant the soul animates or informs both elements, that is to say, it gives them life, the only meaning of animate or inform,- impregnatingand enveloping them with the plenitude of its purely spiritual substance.The accidental body cannot be animated by the soul without the primogenial substance.The accidental body receives not only life from the soul, but also corporeal form, since as it animates it, the soul impels it to develop according to the form of the essential body, that is, the soul communicates to the accidental body in its shapeless beginning, the form of its model, the essential body; and without the latter, the soul is unable to shape the accidental body, being as it is pure spirit without structural form.As a consequence of original sin, however, the accidental body does not attain the perfect form of the essential body.

21.At the very instant of the clinical death of each human being, the soul and the primogenial substance united, leave the accidental body, and are able to return to it only by a miracle of God.In this manner, after clinical death, the activity of the human person in the Particular Judgement continues to be essentially complete, this being the meaning of Dogmatic Definition No. 312 of His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII: "Whilst the soul animates the primogenial substance, the human person exists complete in essence."Therefore clinical death is death of the accidental body, which thereby becomes subject to corruption.

22.At real death the soul separates from the primogenial substance, and consequently ceases to animate or inform it.The soul goes to its eternal destiny and the primogenial substance remains dead, in space, awaiting the resurrection of the flesh.Real death of the essential body, since this becomes lifeless, and consequently loses the impulse of the soul necessary to realize any function.However, since it is spiritualized matter it remains unalterable, that is to say, it remains in exactly the same state as when it was conceived.The essential body in no way participates in the glory or in the condemnation of the soul once it has separated from the latter by real death.

23.At the very instant of the resurrection of the flesh, the primogenial substance will reunite with the soul; and at that same instant, together with the latter, will mysteriously attract, as a magnet, all accidental parts of the body, although they be reduced to ashes, or, even, transformed into other elements.In other words, as the soul once more animates the primogenial substance, it animates the accidental body as well, impelling it instantly to be reconstituted in perfect conformity with its model, the essential body.From the moment of the resurrection of the flesh, both the primogenial substance and the accidental body will partake eternally of the happiness of Heaven or of the pains of Hell, according to the destiny of the soul.We teach that all human beings who die before birth, their accidental bodies imperfectly formed, will rise with all the necessary accidental elements they did not possess at death.In general, the accidental remains of human beings, whether they rise in the state of glory or in thedeplorable state of condemnation, will always have the shape of the accidental body in complete accord with its essential body, which from conception reunites, among its particular characteristics, the following common dimensions: Men, a height of 1 meter, 85 centimeters, that of Christ; women, a height of 1 meter 70 centimeters, that of Mary.All the risen will appear with the age of thirty three years, the age attained by Christ.

21.With regard to our first parents we teach that at the very instant God created the primogenial substance or essential body of Adam out of nothing, He created his soul out of nothing, and infused it into the primogenial substance.Both, thus united, He infused into clay.The clay, on being animated by the soul, was converted at the same instant into the accidental body of Adam, in perfect conformity with his essential body.And at the very instant that God extracted the rib from Adam, and which contained primogenial substance, He formed from it the primogenial substance or essential body of Eve, and into which he infused a soul created out of nothing; and both elements united He infused into that rib which, on being animated by the soul was converted into the accidental body of Eve, in perfect conformity with her essential body.We shall now explain the creation of Adam in a more comprehensible way: God took from the globe of the world, which symbolizes the womb, a portion of earth, symbol of woman's ovum, and mixed it with water, symbol of man's sperm.This mixture or amorphous clay He deposited in a place on this globe of the world called the Garden of Paradise.At the same time that He prepared clay, He created primogenial substance and also soul, and infused both these united into the said clay, which, on being animated by the soul and impelled to form the body, was instantly transformed into the accidental body of Adam, in perfect conformity with his essential body.

25.Before the fall of our first parents Adam and Eve, when God extracted from their bodies their respective biological elements, each of these contained corresponding primogenial substances in the state of glory; both elements were reserved also for the Immaculate Conception of the Divine Mary.The primogenial substance of both elements transformed, that is glorified, millennia later, the respective elements of Saint Anne and Saint Joachim in the sublime embrace beneath the Golden Gate.Consequently, at the very instant of the Immaculate Conception, the Divine Mary received from Her most holy parents the Primogenial Substance or Essential Body in the state of glory, together with the Accidental Body in the state of glory in most perfect conformity with Her Essential Body.

26.Being a Divine Person, Our Lord Jesus Christ received no primogenial substance from the Divine Mary at the Incarnation of the Word of God, for it is an element proper to the human person alone.The Body of Our Lord Jesus (Christ was therefore formed when the glorified accidental Body of Mary contained in the three Drops of Her Most Pure Blood,- in which was also sacramentalized Her Essential Body -, was convertedmiraculously into His Deific Flesh and Blood; that is, Mary's Accidental Body alone, and not Her primogenial substance, was the matter with which the Holy Ghost formed Jesus' adorable Body.And in this way Jesus is Son of Adam.The Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only one animated by His Most Divine Soul without primogenial substance, in virtue of His Divine Person.

27.As distinct from the human person, who possesses an essential body and an accidental body, the one only Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ is, by nature, in the state of glory.But to be able to suffer and die, He self-suspended some of its glorious qualities.Thus He appeared before men in a Body subject to suffering.Consequently the Most Holy Body of Christ, although one, possessed at the same time, during the greater part of His life on earth, a twofold state, His natural state of glory, as well as the passible state, which He assumed miraculously.Whereas in His passible state the Body of Christ was lacerated during His most sorrowful Passion, when Particles of His Flesh and Drops of His Blood were scattered, in His glorious state He remained unhurt and sound in all His Flesh and Blood.In virtue of the sacramentality of bodies in the state of glory, in each part of Christ He is present whole and entire.This means that the Flesh and Blood which were separated from the Body of Christ during His most sorrowful Passion remained in their dual state; and while His Flesh and Blood in the passible state were separated from the Body in that state, that same Flesh and that same Blood, in the state of glory, remained united to the Body in Its corresponding state.Moreover, at the same time as the Deific Body of Christ suffered in Its state of passibility during the greater part of His life, and much more intensely in His most sorrowful Passion, in Its glorious state It did not suffer in the slightest, since It partook uninterruptedly of the plenitude of joy of the beatific vision.This admirable mystery of the co-existence of joy and pain at the same time in the Body of Christ is founded on the fact that, during the greater part of His life on earth, Christ suspended the beatific vision in the lower part of His Soul and conserved it always in the higher part, so that in the latter He was always joyful and never suffered.Consequently, the higher part of His Soul communicated the joy of the beatific vision to His Body in Its state of glory, and this made that higher part of His Soul partake of Its own joy.However, as the beatific vision was veiled to Christ in the lower part of His Soul, this part of His Soul suffered and communicated Its suffering to His Body in Its state of passibility, and the latter made the lower part of His Soul partake of Its suffering.But this twofold state of the Body of Christ, of glory and of passibility, was always without mixture or confusion, and in perfect harmony, since the suffering of Christ in His passible state did not in any way diminish the joy of His glorified state; nor did the joy of His glorified state diminish in any way the suffering of His passible state.Therefore when Christ agonized on the Cross, His Body was joyful in the highest degree in Its state of glory and His Body suffered in the highest degree in Its state ofpassibility.The Body of Christ, for example, when It became transfigured, would be entirely in the state of glory, because the higher part of His Soul communicated the joy of the beatific vision to Its lower part, and the state of passibility of His Body disappeared.

28.In the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, Saint Paul speaks mysteriously of the ego or human person and of the three elements that comprise it: "And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you in all things: that your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thess. V, 23).When he says "And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you in all things", with the expression "in all things", he is referring to the human person in its indivisible unity.He goes on to speak of its triune nature when enumerating the elements that comprise it: Spirit,- primogenial substance, spiritualized matter, soul,- rational soul, purely spiritual; and body,- the accidental element.How marvellous to contemplate how Saint Paul establishes the doctrine of the unity and trinity of the ego or human person.

29.Also in the Epistle to the Hebrews (IV, 12), the Apostle Saint Paul fathoms the mystery of the ego or human person, not only numbering the elements that comprise it, but giving clear indications, too, of real death and even of clinical death: "For the word of God is living and effectual and more piercing than any two-edge sword and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow: and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. IV, 12).The two essential elements of the human person are expressed, respectively, in the words "spirit" and "soul", and the accidental element, in the expressions "joints" and "marrow".When he says "and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow" the Apostle refers in the first expression to real death, when the soul is separated from the primogenial substance; and in the second expression, to clinical death, when the accidental body becomes subject to its own disintegration or corruption, once the soul and the primogenial substance are separated from it.Yet more deeply does the Apostle penetrate the mystery of salvation when he says that the word of God is living and effectual and "more piercing than any two-edged sword", thus indicating that whoever hears it and puts it into practice is vivified by grace and taken up by God to the Kingdom of Eternal Happiness.And on the contrary, that whoever rejects the word of God, is taken as reprobate.Saint Paul also speaks of the Particular Judgement, since by saying that the word of God reaches "unto the division of the soul and the spirit", this being real death, he indicates that the discourse of the Divine Mary takes place before real death, as the final opportunity of salvation that God offers to man.But Saint Paul says as well that the word of God reaches even to the division of joints and marrow, whereby he indicates that for those who reach clinical death with the sin against the Holy Ghost in the highest degree there is ended all possibility of salvation, since even thoughthey then receive the discourse of the Divine Mary, it is rejected by them.Finally, Saint Paul says too that the word of God "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart", meaning that the discourse of the Divine Mary in the Particular Judgement enlightens the understanding of every man in such a way that it disposes him fully to discern truth and error.Thus he determines his own salvation or eternal condemnation, with full knowledge, and complete freedom of action.

30.Following the doctrine given above, we continue our interpretation of the text of the Evangelist Saint John which, as we know, refers to the dispute of the Jews with Christ for His having cured the paralytic at the probatic pool on the 18th of April in the year 32.In the following verse Jesus says: "I cannot of myself do anything.As I hear, so I judge.And My judgement is just: because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (John V, 30).With this He makes manifest that whatever He does in His Humanity, is in most perfect accord with His Divinity, so that His conduct as Man, as Supreme Judge, is infinitely just, for He knows the judgement of the Father, from Whom He has received the power to judge in His name, and He can do nothing that is not His will, to which He submits fully and freely.

31.Once Jesus has proved His Messianship by His own testimony, He makes the testimony of others serve in His favour (John V, 32-40), readily acceptable to men of good will, but not to those blinded by false prejudice since, although the testimony He has given of Himself is true, nevertheless it is not so considered by the Jews, for according to the popular judicial maxim and practice, no one is a good witness in his own cause, and this is the meaning of the words of Christ: "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true" (John V, 31).That is why He afterwards presents other testimonies that confirm His own, given either directly by His Father, or by other means, for thus is the following Gospel text to be understood: "There is another that beareth witness of Me: and I know that the witness which he witness of Me is true" (John V, 32).In the first place Jesus refers to that of John the Baptist, and reminds the Jews of what took place on the occasion of the embassy of priests and levites when the Precursor was baptizing on the banks of the Jordan, as is inferred from the Gospel text: "You sent to John: and he gave testimony to the truth" (John V, 33), to which Jesus adds: "But I receive not testimony from man: but I say these things, that ye may be saved" (John V, 34).That is to say that the proof that He is the Son of God did not necessarily depend on that testimony of the Precursor, since the teachings and works of Jesus were sufficient to prove His Messiahship.Nonetheless He reminds them of it so that it may serve them as light to recognize the truth.Jesus continues, saying of John the Baptist that "He was a burning and a shining light: and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light" (John IV, 35), whereby He affirms too that at the beginning of the Precursor's preaching many Jewsbelieved in his message, but on account of his moral demands he was abandoned by many of them shortly afterwards; also that the same as they had done with John they now were doing with Him.It also follows from the text that John had already died when Christ gave this discourse.

32.Jesus then presents a testimony greater than that of John: that of His own works as Messias.That is why He says: "But I have a greater testimony than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given Me to perfect, the works themselves which I do, give testimony of Me, that the Father hath sent Me" (John V, 36).And afterwards He reminds them also of the direct testimony that His Father gave of Him at His Baptism, when He said: "Thou art My beloved Son.In Thee I am well pleased" (Luke III, 22), for it is to this testimony that Jesus refers in the first part of the following verse: "And the Father Himself Who hath sent Me hath given testimony of Me: neither have you heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape" (John V, 37).With this latter part He meant that although this testimony was heard by all present at the Jordan, nonetheless, due to the hardness of their hearts, they rejected it and did not appreciate its value, and therefore neither did they see in Him,- that is, in Jesus -, the likeness of the Father.Furthermore, He tells them that the were still failing to recognize that testimony as they did not believe in the Messias sent, as is shown in verse 38: "And you have not His word abiding in you: for Whom He hath sent, Him you believe not" (John V, 38).

33.What is more, Jesus also refers them to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, since they considered them a guarantee of eternal life.It was therefore necessary that they penetrate them more deeply, in order thereby to see what they prophesied about Him, as is shown in the following text: "Search the scriptures: for you think in them to have life everlasting.And the same are they that give testimony of Me" (John V, 39).But as Jesus knows their bad faith, He also tells them: "And you will not come to Me that you may have life" (John V, 40), words with which He forewarns them that since they have cast aside the exigencies of the way of life He preached to them, even when they saw the truth in the prophecies, they would not accept it.

34.Jesus then reproaches the hypocrisy of those Jews who attacked Him as a blasphemer for putting Himself on the plane as God, and as a transgressor of the Law for curing on the Sabbath, and also for seeking the glory of men in His works.First He says to them: "I receive not glory from men" (John V, 41), affirming that the works He did were for the glory of His Father, and that He was glorified by His Father in them; and, besides, that it was foolish that they should think that He sought vainglory.He also tells them: "But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you" (John V, 42), by which He reproaches their pride, since they presumed themselves strict fulfillers of the Law, when in fact they lacked love of God,which is the first and greatest Commandment, thus being workers of iniquity.That is why Jesus goes on to say to them: "I am come in the name of My Father, and you receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive" (John V, 43), reproaching them thus for rejecting the true Envoy of God even after seeing Him, being as they were sons of Satan; and for receiving instead, when he shall come, the "Man of Iniquity" or Antichrist, posing as the expected Messias.

35.Jesus goes on to reproach the poor spiritual condition of those Jews, regarding their ability to believe, since among themselves they only sought their own glory, and not that of God, which is the principal objective of the Law.That is why He says to them: "How can you believe, who receive glory one from another: and the glory which is from God alone, you do not seek?"(John V, 44).And when, in order to attack Christ, the Jews often shielded themselves behind Moses, saying that God had indeed spoken to him, so that he was worthy of belief,- and when they added that therefore they were his followers, Jesus demolished their arguments telling them that they believed neither in Moses nor in his writings, for if they did so they would believe Him Who now spoke to them, of Whom Moses had prophesied: "I will raise them up a Prophet out of the midst of their brethren like to thee.And I will put My words in His mouth: and He shall speak to them all that I shall command Him" (Deut. XVIII, 18).In addition, Jesus tells them that on the day of Judgement, Moses will not recognize them as his disciples before the Father.He will, furthermore, denounce then as hypocrites, for they failed to practice the Commandments of the Law promulgated by him and did not wish, either, to follow Him Whom Moses in prophecy indicated as the Expected Messias, this being the doctrinal meaning of the following text: "Think not what I will accuse you to the Father.There is one that accuseth you, Moses, in whom you trust.For if you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe Me also: for he wrote of Me.But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (John V, 45-47).

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