171. The way taken by Jesus and those accompanying Him, from the Cenacle to the house of Lazarus, was first the route alongside the present-day, Church of Gallicantus. Of that route are preserved some steps of Macchabean origin by which, according to veridical tradition, Jesus descended to the Cedron Valley, which He reached after having crossed the ancient and now-vanished wall through the Gate of the Fountain, so--called because it was close to the pool of Siloe. Next He followed the Valley's course to the north of the city, and with the Golden Gate - through which days previously He had made His Triumphal Entry - to His left, Jesus re-entered Jerusalem by the ancient Sheep Gate and came to Lazarus' house. The disciples, holy women and others who had been present in the Cenacle had already taken the same route to the mansion. As it was already evening, and since many were following the route because of the festival of the Passover, Jesus and those with Him went unnoticed.

172. On the way from the Cenacle to Lazarus' house there took place what Saint Luke (XXII, 24-38) narrates: "And there was also a strife amongst them, which of them should seem to be the greater" (Luke XXII, 24). The fact that the Master, during the Institution of the Holy Mass, had displayed greater intimacy with Saint John than with the other Apostles, aroused some sadness in the majority of them, since they considered themselves slighted. When later on Jesus announced to Peter his triple denial of Him, the Apostles who previously had grieved at the signs of predilection for Saint John, in their simplicity deduced that that Apostle might occupy Peter's place, when the latter denied Jesus. In other words, their minds were darkened by those matters, a clear sign that Satan was tempting them. While they were together in the Cenacle there had been no opportunity for those anxieties to appear among them. However, once they had gone out they yielded to their natural impulse, so that an argument broke out amongst the Eleven for that reason. Jesus at first made as if to be unaware of what the Apostles discussed so heatedly, but later on felt obliged to intervene, saying: "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that have power over them are called benefactors" (Luke XXII, 25). Thus He wished to tell them that the kings of this world lord it over their vassals and demand of them servitude and honour. Despite the despotic power of kings, their vassals flatter them, showing their gratitude for the crumbs they receive. He then added: "But you not so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the least: and he that is the leader, as he that serveth. For who is greater, he that sitteth at table or he that serveth? Surely he that sitteth at table? But I am in the midst of you as he that serveth" (Luke XXII, 26-27). He thereby exhorted them, far from allowing foolish pretensions of superiority to prevail amongst them, to serve one another in imitation of Him, Who though King and Lord of the Universe, was amongst them as servant, which He had proved, for example, by washing their feet in the Cenacle. After these exhortations, Jesus went on to say: "And you are they who have continued with Me in My temptations: and I dispose to you, as My Father hath disposed to Me, a Kingdom; that you may eat and drink at My table, in My Kingdom: and may sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Luke XXII, 28-30). He thus endeavoured, on the one hand, to withdraw them from all vain pretensions; and on the other, to instil in them fresh hope of obtaining the Kingdom of Heaven, promised to those who persevere. For He gave them to understand that with His departure to the Father's Kingdom and the absolute and definitive glorification of His Most Sacred Humanity - since the expression "as My Father hath disposed to Me, a Kingdom" (Luke XXII, 29) must be understood thus - He would make possible their entry into that Kingdom. We see that the Gospel text literally says: "And may sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Luke XXII, 30). Here it must be understood that the eleven Apostles as well as the rest of the saved, on the day of the Universal Judgement will be constituted judges of all the reprobates, and therefore of the apostate Jewish People, which descended from the Twelve Tribes.

173. The argument amongst the Eleven most particularly disturbed the soul of Peter who, although he could not interiorly conceive the possibility of being unfaithful to Jesus, at the same time was distressed by the announcement He had made him of his triple denial. The Apostle thought, moreover, that that would entail the loss of the promised Primacy, which would pass to another, for example Saint John for whom Jesus had shown exceptional affection in the Cenacle. The Divine Master, however, seeing Peter's affliction and apprehension, desired, at the same time that He reproached his thoughtless presumption, to inspire him with confidence in divine mercy. Therefore He let him discern that, owing to a special assistance of grace, following his triple denial he would be converted and thus, through the Papacy, would confirm the others the more in the Faith. That is why the Lord said to him: "Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren" (Luke XXII, 31-32). As can be appreciated in the verses cited from Saint Luke, Jesus' harsh warning was also intended for the other Apostles, who would be thoroughly sifted and would even come to abandon the Master when put to the test. At the same time, with His words He let them perceive that they would quickly recover, in order afterwards to continue their mission strengthened by the unshakable Rock of the Prince of the Apostles.

174. It is now fitting to clarify the following words of the Gospel: "Behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" (Luke XXII, 31). That is to say, the Devil had requested permission of the Almighty to tempt them more seriously. However let us examine the meaning of that malignant petition. We know that God puts His elect to the test, since infinite justice requires it, for there can be no eternal reward without previous proof of personal virtue. What is more, the trial of the elect is also demanded by Satan's malice in his irresistible impulse to ruin men. This action of the Evil One implies a ceaseless and mysterious challenge to the divine power, in order that the Most High continue to permit new temptations, even with unusual violence, very particularly against those who are on the way to salvation. For according to the demon's arrogant mentality, if these serve God through grace it is because insufficient power is given to the Author of evil to drag them into his infernal servitude. And God, Who proves His elect in manifold ways, usually avails Himself of actions permitted the infernal spirits. At the same time He fortifies with divine assistance the weak resistance of one who is tempted so that he never lack the necessary grace, and through correspondence to grace he crush the head of the Dragon, with the resultant spiritual strengthening which victory over evil carries in its train. For, as Saint Paul says: "And God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation profit, that you may persevere" (1 Cor. X, 13). Despite the words which the Divine Master addressed to Simon Peter, and indirectly to the rest, the Prince of the Apostles, inflamed by his great love for Jesus, but allowing himself to be carried away by excessive self-confidence, did not think that under grievous temptation, and without correspondence with grace, he would succumb like any other. That is why, in an impulse of natural vehemence, he said: "Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to death" (Luke XXII, 33). It is then that Jesus, to humble the Apostle once more, made him the second announcement of his denials: "I say to thee, Peter the cock shall not crow this day, till thou thrice deniest that thou knowest Me" (Luke XXII, 34). The word "day" must be understood as <>. That is to say that the denials would take place within the 15th of Nisan, which had already commenced at sunset on that Thursday the 24th of March. However we teach that, according to the Christian calendar, they took place after Good Friday had begun.

175. Through Jesus' severe admonitions, the arrogance and bickering that was blinding the Apostles disappeared, since He had warned that Satan would cause them grievous havoc. Seeing them so extremely depressed He desired to speak to them of confidence in divine protection so that they bear it in mind in future misfortunes. That is why He first said: "When I sent you without purse and scrip and shoes, did you want anything? But they said: Nothing" (Luke (XXII, 35-36). In effect, when the Apostles were sent, some time previously, to preach in Galilee, they were well-received by the people, who provided them with all things necessary. That was because of the prestige the Master still enjoyed; for it was necessary that the terrain thus be made smooth, given the inexperience and weakness that still handicapped the Apostles in the performance of their mission. Jesus then made clear to them the future sufferings and persecutions they would have to endure for the Sake of the Gospel, wherefore very soon they would have to don spiritual armour with greater resoluteness, in order to confront the enemies of the Faith and gain the victory. Thus must be understood the following metaphorical words of Jesus, when He said: "But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a scrip; and he that hath not, let him sell his coat and buy a sword" (Luke XXII, 36). In this way He also gave them to understand the gravity of the approaching moment. For, just as He would be reputed among evil-doers in the sight of men when He took upon Himself the ignominious cross and died crucified thereon, with the apparent loss of prestige it would bring, so would they afterwards suffer the same fate as the Master. That is why He then said: "This too that is written must be fulfilled in Me: And He was reckoned with the transgressors. For all that refers to Me has its fulfillment" (Luke XXII, 37), referring to the imminence of His Passion and Death. Saint Luke goes on to say: "But they said: Lord, behold, here are two swords. And He said to them: It is enough" (Luke XXII, 38). We teach that, as the Apostles, misinterpreting Christ's words, thought that He spoke of the need to be supplied with arms of war when He said "and buy a sword", James and his brother John, with that natural impulse which earned for them the cognomen `sons of thunder' given them by the Master, both proudly showed Him, not exactly a sword, but a weapon rather like a machete, which all were accustomed to bear for personal use. That prompted the rest to display their own and to offer them also to the Lord for His and their defence. However, seeing the spontaneous candour of His Apostles, who to defend Him saw no other way than with the sword, not considering His infinite power, the Master put an end to the matter, cutting short the conversation. He did so hoping that they would soon understand the meaning of His words and of the need for His death, and therefore the uselessness of any means of defence to thwart the bloody immolation. For that reason He said: "It is enough", which has the meaning of `say no more'. When Jesus had cut short the conversation with His Apostles, as we have seen, He quickened His pace towards Lazarus' house. Thanks to their miraculous pace, He and all those accompanying Him covered the route in less than the usual time.

176. When in the house Jesus, the Divine Mary at His right and the Apostle Saint Peter at His left, began the second part of the Sermon of the Last Supper, which embraces all of Chapters XV, XVI and XVII of Saint John's Gospel, as we have already mentioned. Jesus resumed His teaching and related the most beautiful allegory of the mystical Vine, which He began with the words: "I am the true Vine: and my Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John XV, 1-2). Here we see, then, in a symbolic yet easily understandable manner, the doctrine of the necessary mediation of Christ, as well as the doctrine of His Mystical Body. The deific Vine set in this world by the Father to enable man to act supernaturally is Jesus' Most Sacred Humanity, substantially united to the Divine Word from Whom it has received the same infinite Sanctity. Thus has the Father, represented in the Husbandman, planted that vivifying mystical Vine capable of communicating to those who desire it the divine life-bearing sap, and of constituting with them the Mystical Body or Mystical Vine in its extensive invisible aspect. Furthermore the Father, as Owner of that mystical Vine and essential Cause of all existence and virtue, mysteriously cultivates the shoots that bud thereon, namely all men grafted in Christ by Baptism and incorporated into His Church in that way. Through that cultivation, the Supreme Husbandman purifies with utmost care the shoots that give fruits of good works through their correspondence with grace, in order for them to be strengthened more and more each day in the divine life. On the contrary, He prunes from that mystical Vine the sterile shoots which, having received the life-giving sap of grace, do not correspond. In other words, God denies His heavenly gifts to those who make bad use of them, thus depriving them of divine life, and even, if they do not make amends in time, of the disposition indispensable for its recovery. Christ is not only the mystical Vine. He is as well the mystical Husbandman, since He is also God and equal to the Father. That is why He said to all listening in Lazarus' house: "Now you are clean, by reason of the word which I have spoken to you" (John XV, 3); that is, because you have accepted My teaching, received Baptism and remain faithful to Me. Forthwith He exhorted them to remain in grace always, only possible by living united to Him. Therefore He added: "Abide in Me: and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the Vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me" (John XV, 4). Those words masterfully sum up the sublime mystery of the supernatural life of the faithful, which comes to them through the presence in them of Mary's Drop of Blood, deifying germ, bearer of the Deific Drop of Christ's Blood and, therefore, of the selfsame Divinity, One and Three. The words "and I in you" must be understood in that way. However, be it observed that Christ first said "Abide in Me", to teach us that only within His Mystical Body and in the state of grace, will He dwell in us.

177. Then with heightened emphasis Jesus reaffirmed what He had foretold in the allegory of the mystical Vine, now adding: "I am the Vine: you the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth, just as the branch, and shall wither: and they shall take him and cast him into the fire: and he shall burn" (John XV, 5-6). Here we see how Jesus, categorically and inflexibly, at the same time as He proclaimed Himself the indispensable Source of spiritual regeneration, reproached and penalized with eternal condemnation any posture deliberately contradicting His doctrine. He declared, on the one hand, that united to Him we shall bear fruit meritoriously, and on the other, the absolute impossibility of doing anything whatsoever in the supernatural life without His intervention. For He is the sap which communicates and maintains divine life in man, as Saint Paul well puts it: "For it is God Who worketh in you, both to desire and to accomplish, according to His good Will" (Philip. II, 13). In other words, with divine help man's free will is turned to the meritorious exercise of the virtues, and through their practice becomes ever more accustomed to doing good, urged on as the will is by grace. In suchwise that Saint Paul himself says: "And I live, not now I: but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. II, 20), which is to affirm that since the Apostle lived entirely for Christ, He filled and penetrated with His divine life the Apostle's thought and action. This we find most opportune to consider now, since it bears profound relationship with the following verse of Saint John from the Sermon of the Last Supper which we are interpreting: "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will: and it shall be done unto you" (John XV, 7). For, those who serve Christ loyally and transform His divine word into their own life, attain to so mysterious an interpenetration with Him that they ask and desire only what is pleasing to the divine Will, which grants everything at one with Itself.

178. Once the Master had declared to His Apostles and to all those listening the absolute necessity of yielding abundant fruits of virtue, He let them see the purpose He sought: "In this is My Father glorified: that you bring forth very much fruit and become My disciples" (John XV, 8). As we have already seen, in the life of the Blessed Trinity ad intra the Father is glorified in the Son, since the Son is the infinitely perfect idea or image engendered by the First Person. Also, in the divine life ad extra the Father is glorified in the Most Sacred Humanity of the Son, Whose human nature is the supreme and most perfect image or idea of the First Person, and in short of the August Trinity. However, the glorification of the Father by the Word made Man is not limited to the relationship ad intra and ad extra of both, but is extended, according to the divine plan, to every created being, and in a pre-eminent way to Angels and men since these are created, according to their nature, in the image and likeness of their Creator. In order that these intellectual creatures be fit to glorify the Father it was necessary, by His own decree, first the creation of two Beings most privileged for their singular perfections, the Souls of Christ and Mary; and later, the Incarnation of those Divine Souls, for both spiritual Parents of mankind to be most consummate models in all things. And only those who endeavour to imitate them in their virtues will be deemed disciples of the Master and co-glorifiers with Him of the Father.

179. We see how Jesus then reminded them once more of the conditions necessary for following Him: "As the Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love: as I also have kept My Father's commandments and do abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled" (John XV, 9-11). The foundation of our spiritual life is based essentially on the law of charity, to love God above all things, and one's neighbour as oneself. Without that twofold condition of supernatural love the works of this world are worthless. We know that God is charity in essence, that in the divine life ad intra the Father eternally loves the Son engendered by Him, and that the Son returns His love in identical measure, and that that reciprocal love is the Holy Ghost. However, to communicate outside the intratrinitary life the infinite love He bears the Son, the Father constituted the Man- Christ and Mary as most singular expressions of trinitarian love so as to be most perfect models for the rest of creatures. According to the divine plan, trinitarian love ad extra had to be manifested fundamentally in the Work of Reparation and Redemption, which entailed for both Divine Victims full acceptance and most faithful fulfillment of what the Father decreed to that end, which in turn implied for them a most bloody and painful commandment. That is why Jesus, according to our interpretation, presented Himself and His Divine Mother as most perfect models of fulfillment of the divine will, for which reason they were object of the love and good pleasure of the Father. Thus He categorically declared to those listening, that for them always to be the object of His, and therefore of His Father's love and good pleasure, they would have to persevere in the precepts of the Decalogue, now raised to evangelical perfection. In that way He would make them sharers, increasingly and in the measure possible in this world, of the heavenly joy that inundated His Most Divine Soul, in order afterwards to fill them, in Heaven eternally, with happiness according to their own merits. Then the Divine Master, tenderly and deeply moved, at the same time as He more perceptibly lavished the ineffable sweetness of His Deific Heart on those listening, penetrated them to the depths of true fraternal charity, with these words: "This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you" (John XV, 12). That all might understand how He loved them He added: "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John XV, 13), as if to say, `nobody has greater love than I'. A most beautiful sentence in which Jesus clearly revealed His peerless love for poor fallen mankind, since He was to give His life willingly, by a most bloody immolation, to redeem us. Thus He would leave to posterity the most sublime proof of brotherly love, example and model for our imitation. As faithful servants of Christ we must always be prepared to give our own lives for the eternal salvation of our brethren. This constitutes the most sublime proof of love for our neighbour. That is the supreme act of charity towards friends, about which Christ speaks to us.

180. As we have just seen, Jesus showed that no one has greater love than He, since He gives His life for His friends. He then went on to clarify the term "friends" used by Him, saying: "You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you" (John XV, 14). We know that Jesus, as proof of His infinite love, gave His life for all fallen mankind, that with His Death He officially destroyed the enmity between God and man and gave to all the opportunity to be saved. However, He said that He gave His life for His friends to emphasize that only those who avail themselves of His Most Precious Blood shed, the only means to acquire God's friendship, are His friends. Although it is true that Jesus died for all men, His bloody immolation is fruitful only for those who, docile to His teaching, avail themselves thereof, and therefore is fruitless for those who reject it and prefer Satan's friendship to God's.

181. Next Jesus, to let them understand what His friendship entailed, said: "I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things, whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you" (John XV, 15). He thus reaffirmed that those who serve Him loyally are deemed members of the divine family and partakers of His supernatural confidences, since the term "friends" here is equivalent to `children' and `brothers' of the same blood in the order of grace.

182. Moreover, so that the Apostles and the others listening might learn properly to esteem the ineffable love of their Master, He said: "You have not chosen Me: but I have chosen you" (John XV, 16). We teach that no one can love God without the help of grace. Therefore He always goes out to meet man and invite him to love and to follow Him. For that reason, although in the natural order usually it is the disciple who chooses his Master, in the supernatural order it is the Divine Master Who chooses the disciple, calling him with His word and interiorly drawing him through grace. However, this election entails grave and manifold obligations on the part of the one chosen, as is seen in the following words of Christ directed most particularly to His Apostles: "And I have appointed you, that you should go and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you" (John XV, 16). In that way He again insisted on what the exercise of their ministry would consist of, namely to extend the Kingdom of God everywhere by fruits of conversion; which, united to the practice of personal virtues, would also redound in a special way to their own spiritual benefit, with unsuspected merits which would earn for them before the Father, if they persevered, the imperishable crown of glory prepared for those faithful to Him. In the Gospel expression: "That whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you" (John XV, 16), we see, then, the doctrine of the finite and infinite value of sacrifices. Although it is true that without our own merits no divine reward is possible, that reward is granted to man essentially through the merits of Christ, Who gives our good works the infinite value necessary for them to attain suppliant power before the Father. We make clear that the evangelical expression "But I have chosen you" (John XV, 16), must be interpreted to mean that Christ, in choosing, among every one in the world, His Apostles and the others, called them to the Kingdom of God, each in his corresponding mission; for as we saw in another part of this Treatise, Jesus also said that many are called and few are chosen or elected, so as to make evident that one thing is His call to the Kingdom of God, and another is our correspondence with grace and final perseverance, since the saved are, in short, the truly chosen or elect. Hence when Christ, in the verse we have just interpreted, said: "But I have chosen you", it was merely to show them that He had singled them out with His call, but that salvation depended on their correspondence, as is also seen in that verse.

183. With renewed insistence, Jesus then said to them: "These things I command you, that you love one another" (John XV, 17). He thus exhorted them, first, to practice amongst themselves fraternal charity- - which must be exactly like what He had taught them by example - in order afterwards to speak to them of the immense tribulations they would have to endure owing to the hatred that awaited them from the lovers of the world. Wherefore they would have to be united in evangelical charity, in order the better to overcome such difficulties. But let us examine the sacred text: "If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember My word that I said to you: the servant is not greater than his Master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept My word, they will also keep yours" (John XV, 18-20). In the last of these verses we see reflected the path of the Church, who has always faithfully followed in the footsteps of the Divine Master. For in her have concurred the immense fruits of the apostolate together with the most terrible persecutions by her enemies, as are, amongst others, the members of dark sects, idolaters, schismatics and heretics.

184. Jesus went on to say: "But all these things they will do to you for My Name's sake: because they know not Him that sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin. He that hateth Me hateth My Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin: but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father" (John XV, 21-24). Jesus here alluded to the sin against the Holy Ghost which the Sanhedrin and the apostate Jewish People incurred in their deliberate and contumacious rejection of grace, refusing to acknowledge Jesus as the Saviour sent by God despite the unmistakable signs He had given with His teaching and portentous miracles. The sacred text is proof, categorical and irrefutable, that the deicide committed by the Jews was not due to ignorance on their part concerning the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Messianic work, but due to malicious rejection of the truth, sufficiently known by them for it to have been accepted without difficulty, as the following Gospel text also testifies: "But that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their Law: They hated Me without cause" (John XV, 25). In other words, they rejected the Lord unjustly and without cause, responding evilly to His most vehement desire to save them. That has occurred many times, and with its peculiar circumstances, in the history of the Church, above all in these last times with the apostasy of the Roman Church and her obstinate rejection of the saving work of El Palmar de Troya. We see how Jesus insisted on the principle that those who hated Him also hated His Fathers, making evident to all present that contempt for Jesus, in short, implied contempt of God, Who with justice rejects everything that does not come through His Envoy and the Church He founded.

185. Although Jesus' previous words were deeply heartrending for His Apostles, so bluntly did He point out the contempt of many for Him, and afterwards for them, yet He did not wish to spare them the bitter details, since it was necessary that they be prepared for the imminent and most painful events of the Passion and Death of their Master, Whom they would see nailed to a Cross, His most beautiful Body converted into that of a leper, apparently bereft of all power, and the object of the most sarcastic mockery and derision. Thus, when that came to pass on Calvary, far from being weakened in Faith, they would be more securely confirmed therein on beholding the complete fulfillment of the harsh announcements He had made shortly before. What is more, the Master endeavoured to make the Apostles even more aware of the manifold sufferings and contradictions that awaited them in their future apostolate, in which they, like Him, would be terribly persecuted. With those warnings and precautions alarm and discouragement once more gained hold of the Apostles, for they thought that if Jesus was so hated by the world after the numerous prodigies He had performed, what would become of them without their Master, since they could do nothing of themselves. That is why Jesus, to comfort them, said anew: "But when the Paraclete cometh, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, Who proceedeth from the Father, He shall give testimony of Me. And you shall give testimony, because you are with Me from the beginning" (John XV, 26-27). We deem those words of Jesus as promise not only of the apotheotic and visible first Pentecost over the Apostles and the others in the Cenacle, but also of the Holy Ghost's continuous and infallible assistance to the Church, as well as of the apotheotic and visible second Pentecost that will descend over the Palmarian Apostles in these last times, and in general of whatever other outpouring of the Paraclete of ordinary or extraordinary character. All those events, collectively or individually, have been and will continue to be most clear and irrefutable testimony in favour of the saving mission of Christ and of that of His Church.

186. Despite those consoling words of the Master to His Apostles, He continued to insist on how much they would suffer when He departed, that they might not be caught unprepared. That is why He first told them: "These things have I spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized. They will put you out of the synagogues" (John XVI, 1-2). We see here a mysterious allusion to the persecuted Church, especially that of the first centuries and that of the last or apocalyptic times. The early Christians, as a result of bloody persecutions by the apostate Jewish Church, were already forced to live in catacombs and were deprived of the sumptuous Temple of Jerusalem. Later on, in Rome, something similar befell them on the part of the idolatrous Roman emperors. In these last times the Palmarian Church finds herself again in the desert, despoiled of the magnificent churches which by apostolic succession belong to her and are now in the power, principally, of the apostate Roman Church that, craftily though not less cruelly than the Jewish Church of those early times, persecutes the children of the true Church, governed by His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII. We see how in all these persecutions the Church's enemies have endeavoured to justify their perverse behaviour to the world by deceitfully alleging that they act in the service of God. That is why Christ went on to say: "Yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth a service to God" (John XVI, 2). For the apostate Jewish Church calumniously accused Christ, and afterwards His Apostles, of attempting to demolish the Law of Moses. The idolaters of Imperial Rome accused the Christians, also unjustly, of horrendous crimes and of other perverse acts, claiming that they imperilled civilization and the peace of the Empire desired by the pagan gods. In like manner, in these last times, the apostate Roman Church, feigning service to God, fraudulently justifies its perverse action against the Palmarian Church, accusing her of opposing the true Faith and Holy Tradition, when the prevaricating hierarchy of the Roman Church are more than sufficiently aware that the Church One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Palmarian is the legitimate continuer of the very Church founded by Christ and, therefore, the sole bearer of the Treasure of Divine Revelation.

187. Jesus next teaches us the principal cause of persecutions against the true Church, saying: "And these things will they do to you; because they have not known the Father nor Me" (John XVI, 3); that is to say, because of their refusal to acknowledge the authority of Jesus Christ, Divine Founder of the Church, and the authority of the Pope, His legitimate representative; since nobody can possess God's friendship, and therefore serve Him, if he disregards the authority of His Envoy and that of His representative on earth. With that we do not deny the ignorance of some who have persecuted the Church out of a mistaken zeal for God, as with Saul, afterwards the Apostle Saint Paul, as he himself says: "I give Him thanks Who hath strengthened me, even to Christ Jesus Our Lord, for that He hath counted me faithful, putting me in the ministry; who before was a blasphemer and a persecuter and contumelious. But I obtained the mercy of God, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Tim. I, 13). From all this we gather that as long as the powers of darkness are not annihilated in the world, as will occur in the Messianic Kingdom, the Church will always suffer persecution.

188. The following text of Saint John clearly shows the melancholy and discouragement on the faces of the eleven Apostles and of many others listening to Jesus, as a result of His previous warnings concerning the sufferings and persecutions which they would have to confront in the near future. Let us consider the Master's words: "But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. But I told you not these things from the beginning, because I was with you. And now I go to Him that sent Me, and none of you asketh Me: Whither goest Thou? But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart" (John XVI, 4-6). Once more we see how Jesus vehemently desired His Apostles to understand how necessary were the harsh warnings He had just given, on the one hand in order that they be prepared, and on the other so that, when all would be fulfilled, they serve as proof of their Master's truthfulness and thus confirm their Faith during His absence. Also, Jesus deplored the melancholy of His Apostles, who as yet were unable to attribute to sufferings and persecutions their due grandeur; for by way of harsh trials they would be more identified with Him, through the reparative and redemptive value which, united to His Passion and Death, those trials imply. Besides, far from being dejected on account of the opposition to the future apostolate they were to carry out, they ought to take heart considering the promises He had so often made them of His personal assistance to the Church, of the sending of the Paraclete, as also of the continual help they would receive from His Divine Mother, Who for the purpose would remain for some time on earth after His departure to the Father, which leave-taking neither did they share with pleasure. That is why Jesus said: "And none of you asketh Me: Whither goest Thou?" (John XVI, 5). Thus He invited them to ask Him more about the Father, at the same time gently reproaching their egoism and lack of sympathy for the unspeakable joy He felt at the speedy consummation of the work of Reparation and Redemption, and at His return to the bosom of the Father, all of which they did not even want to discuss with Jesus due to the melancholy that His departure caused them.

189. With greater force and detail, the Divine Master then reaffirmed the indispensable need for His departure to the Father after culminating on Calvary the Work entrusted to Him as Messias. Therefore He first said to those listening in Lazarus' house in Jerusalem: "But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go. For if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send Him to you" (John XVI, 7). We teach that in those words of the Gospel, besides the promise of the sending of the Holy Ghost over the Church, in different manifestations and at various moments, there is contained the solemn announcement by Jesus of the official giving over of the Consoler which He would generously make on Calvary when the Paraclete was poured out in His Particle of Deific Heart and in Mary's Drop of Blood. The official outpouring of the Third Divine Person occurred in two phases: when Christ on expiring gave over to Saint John the Deific Particle of Heart, the Church was thus solemnly and officially conceived; and when at the moment of the lance-thrust Christ gave over to Saint John the Drop of Mary's Blood, the Birth of the Church then took place. In the first phase of the official giving over, the Paraclete was poured out over the Church conceived, without the Apostle's intervention. In the second phase of the official giving over, the Divine Spirit was poured out over the Church now born, from the mystical heart of the Evangelist.

190. In the light of the doctrine explained we teach that as Holy Mass is the perpetuation of Calvary, in it the Holy Ghost is also lavishly given in a very special way, above all in both phases of the sacrificial Communion. With immolation under the sacred species of bread, the Paraclete is superabundantly poured out in the Particle of Deific Heart which the celebrant receives for the Church, and therefore over the members of the Church in the state of grace, in virtue of the respective increases in the Particle of Deific Heart for those that already possess It, and in Mary's Drop of Blood. With immolation under the sacred species of wine, the Paraclete is profusely poured out in the Drop of Mary's Blood which the celebrant receives for the Church, and therefore over her members in the state of grace in virtue of the respective increases in Mary's Drop of Blood, and in the Particle of Deific Heart for those that possess It. In addition to those two most principal effusions of the Paraclete, in Holy Mass there takes place a continual and ceaseless outpouring of the Third Divine Person over the members of the Church in the state of grace, because the Eucharistic Sacrifice is in its entirely an essentially priestly act. Outside the Mass the Paraclete is also communicated, in every essentially priestly act, to those members, given the corresponding increases in them of the Particle of Deific Heart or of the Drop of Mary's Blood only, or of both Singular Sacraments simultaneously, as the case might be. The Paraclete is poured out in like manner over those who receive, through any of the seven Sacraments, the Drop of Mary's Blood or the Particle of Christ's Heart. With respect to the faithful of the Church who are in mortal sin, the Paraclete works through actual graces, to move them to sorrow for their sins. Moreover, as in Holy Mass Christ's salvific Blood is sprinkled over those outside the Church, in like manner the regenerating action of the Holy Ghost works in their souls through actual graces, principally at the Particular Judgement, and vivifies those who accept the Divine Mary's discourse.

191. This Holy Council teaches that one of the reasons why Christ, in the second part of the Sermon of the Last Supper, in Lazarus' house, announced once more and with solemnity the sending of the Holy Ghost after His proximate departure to the Father, was so that the disciples, holy women and other followers should come to know of so extraordinary a promise, since they had not been present at the announcement concerning it made by the Master to His Apostles in the Cenacle. It was necessary that all should know of the event, since they would enjoy the privilege of being gathered around the Divine Mary when the Holy Ghost descended in the solemn Pentecost of Jerusalem.

192. Following the repeated promise to the Apostles of the sending of the Holy Ghost, Who would manifest Himself to the Church in diverse ways, Jesus desired with great vehemence that they be strengthened even further with the encouraging hope of these happy events to come. For that reason He said to them: "And when He is come, He will convince the world of sin and of justice and of judgement. Of sin: because they believed not in Me. And of justice: because I go to the Father: and you shall see Me no longer. And of judgement: because the prince of this world is already judged" (John XVI, 8-11). With these words Christ strengthened in His Apostles the confidence they would need in the efficacious intervention of the Holy Ghost, Who, with His fiery and impetuous divine breath, would fill to overflowing with most abundant fruits the universal propagation of the Gospel. In that threefold announcement of Christ is summed up the Divine Paraclete's indefectible assistance to the Church and His regenerating action in souls. But let us consider the Gospel text. When Jesus said first that the Holy Ghost "will convince the world of sin ...Of sin: because they believed not in Me", it was to explain to His Apostles that the evangelization entrusted to them would, with the help of the Divine Consoler, give to the world the opportunity better to discern the malice of sin and the need for grace to be freed thereof. Therefore those who reject the Deific Blood of Christ poured out on the Cross would be victims and slaves of Satan, of the seductions of the world and of the concupiscences proper to fallen human nature. When Jesus then said that the Holy Ghost "will convince the world...of justice: because I go to the Father: and you shall see Me no longer", it was to let them understand that the Divine Paraclete, through His regenerating virtue, would obtain through conversions the justification of many who, on the strength of their words and of the example of their virtues, would give credible testimony to the Infinite Sanctity and Justice of Jesus Christ, Our Divine Saviour, which would redound to His greater glorification before men. Moreover, with the words "because I go to the Father: and you shall see Me no longer", Jesus wished to make evident to His Apostles the following paradoxical reality. Although for three years He had preached the Gospel to His People, and had given undeniable proofs of His messianic mission, without His evangelical work's producing in the majority the hoped for effect, since knowing Who He was they rejected Him, it would come to pass that following His departure to the Father, the Apostles, and in short the Church, through the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles, would convert countless souls to the true Faith. These souls, in their majority not witnesses of Christ's personal work, would believe in Him, and even more firmly than many of His contemporaries who had seen and heard Him; and all that would be through the virtue of the Holy Ghost poured out in His Deific Blood on Calvary. When, finally, the Master added that the Holy Ghost "will convince the world...of judgement", it was to confirm with His words that, on Calvary, through His Deific Blood poured out and the consequent effusion of the Divine Consoler over the Church, Satan and his underlings would be defeated and sentenced. In that way men would be enabled, through grace, to conquer the Evil One, his works and his pomps, which for the world would be the most evident proof of Christ's triumph over sin.

193. Jesus continued His transcendental Sermon with these words: "I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will teach you all Truth. For He shall not speak of Himself: but what things soever He shall hear, He shall speak. And the things that are to come, He shall show you. He shall glorify Me: because He shall receive of Mine and show it to you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine. Therefore I said that He shall receive of Mine and show it to you" (John XVI, 12-15). As is clear from the sacred text, Jesus did not consider opportune, for the time being, to speak to His Apostles of the mysteries which He Himself would reveal to them during the time He was to be with them after His glorious Resurrection, nor of those which the Holy Ghost would reveal in the Pentecost of Jerusalem, nor of those to be revealed to the Church in the centuries to come. In the Acts of the Apostles there is clear indication that the Master further perfected the formation of His Apostles and disciples prior to His Ascension, since the sacred text says: "For forty days appearing to them and speaking of the Kingdom of God" (Acts. I, 3). Afterwards the Holy Ghost would be entrusted with the mission of teaching the Church, either by extraordinary means as in the Pentecost of the Cenacle, or by ordinary means, through His divine inspirations, principally to the Popes. Councils and holy doctors, with the resultant clarification of sublime mysteries hidden in the Treasury of Divine Revelation - which has exceedingly enriched the Magisterium of the Church. In the text cited there is also contained the Holy Ghost's assistance to the Church through innumerable mystics and seers, over whom the Divine Spirit pours Himself so that through the gift of prophecy they be transmitters of doctrinal messages, and even of prophecies of things to come as the following words of the Gospel text in their application to mystics well confirm: "And the things that are to come, He shall show you" (John XVI, 13). Through the Divine Paraclete pours out the gift of prophecy when, how and upon whomsoever He please, nevertheless it must be the Church who, after first investigating, approves or condemns the various mystical-prophetic revelations, and it would be foolhardy to reject them a priori. For that reason Saint Paul says: "Extinguish not the Spirit. Despise not prophecies. But prove all things: hold fast that which is good" (1 Thess. V, 19- 21). Also, in that respect His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII masterfully teaches that <> (Doc. 11). From all this we conclude that the Divine Consoler, as Envoy of the Father and the Son, has the mission to confirm and to clarify the mystery of the Kingdom of God preached by Our Lord Jesus Christ. As there is one only intelligence in the Three August Persons, there is among them one same knowledge and work, which is the meaning of the following words of the Gospel text: "He shall not speak of Himself: but what things soever He shall hear, He shall speak ...All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine. Therefore I said that He shall receive of Mine" (John XVI, 13 and 15).

194. The explained doctrine gives us basis to delve more deeply into the sources of Divine Revelation. His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII has defined that to teach the truths of the Holy Faith, Catholic, Apostolic, now Palmarian, namely those of the true Church of all times, the Church in her infallible Magisterium bases herself on three sources - Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition and mystical-prophetic revelations. As we know, Holy Scripture is the Word of God written in the 72 canonical books of the Bible, 45 comprising the Old and 27 the New Testament. With respect to Holy Tradition we should remember that it is the Word of God transmitted orally by the Apostles and afterwards compiled in the writings of their successors. As regards mystical- prophetic revelations, these are the Word of God communicated to the various mystics and seers. Since God is the Author of the three sources of Divine Revelation nobody may lawfully, under pain of eternal condemnation, despise any of them. We see, then, that Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition and mystical-prophetic revelations are each and equally the authentic Word of God. However, it is an obvious fact that in the various versions of the Holy Bible there exist some errata, omissions and other defects as a result of translation and compilation. Those inaccuracies do not form part of the authentic sacred text. Neither do they constitute, therefore, a source of Divine Revelation. Also, owing to diverse causes, in the various writings of apostolic traditions and in mystical-prophetic revelations there are to be found quite a number of misconceptions and errors, which are neither Holy Tradition nor mystical-prophetic Revelation respectively. These defects do not constitute, therefore, a source of Divine Revelation. All the truths of Holy Tradition and of mystical-prophetic revelations are contained in Holy Scripture: in some cases explicitly; and in others implicitly, hidden under a sublime veil of tremendous obscurity. Thus must be understood the teaching of Pope Saint Pius X when he said that the Revelation which constitutes the object of Catholic Faith was completed with the Apostles. In other words, all the truths that constitute the Sacred Treasury of Divine Revelation are explicitly or implicitly distributed among the 72 Sacred Books which comprise the Old and New Testaments. Thanks to Holy Tradition and to mystical-prophetic revelations, many of the mysteries concealed in Holy Scripture have been duly clarified by the infallible Magisterium of the Church.

195. Following that exposition it behoves us to make the following clarifications. In Chapter XXVI of this Treatise we stated that the Sacred Treasure of Divine Revelation is all Revelation, past, present and future, contained in Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition, in the Dogmatic Definitions of the Popes and in those of the Holy Ecumenical Councils. Although we made no explicit mention there of mystical-prophetic revelations, we did so implicitly, since implicitly, at least, they are enclosed in Holy Scripture. Moreover, when we say past, present and future revelations contained in the Dogmatic Definitions of the Popes and of the Holy Ecumenical Councils, we are speaking of the infallible Magisterium of the Church, which in teaching truths of faith cannot exclude those mystical-prophetic revelations. The Dogmatic Definitions of the Popes and of the Holy Ecumenical Councils are the explicit and infallible formulation of many of the truths contained in the three sources which form the basis of the Magisterium of the Church. Thus we arrive at a clearer concept of the Sacred Treasury of Divine Revelation, which is all past, present and future Revelation contained in Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition and in mystical- prophetic revelations: truths all, which the infallible Magisterium of the Church, through the Dogmatic Defenitions of the Popes and of the Councils, has taught and clarified (past and present Revelations), or has yet to teach and clarify (future Revelations).

196. Continuing our interpretation of Chapter XVI of Saint John, we see how Jesus at once, without hiding from His Apostles and the others the bitter reality of His Passion and Death, ardently desired to give them a foretaste of their joy when they would see Him risen. That is why He first said: "A little while, and now you shall not see Me: and again a little while, and you shall see Me: because I go to the Father" (John XVI, 16). The day after speaking these mysterious words He would die and be buried, but on the third day, following His glorious Resurrection, He would appear to some of them, and afterwards to all. In the following verses (John XVI, 17-19)we observe that the majority of those listening did not grasp the meaning of the Master's words, so that they asked among themselves what He meant. As we read in the Gospel, "Jesus knew what they had a mind to ask Him. And He said to them: Of this do you inquire among yourselves, because I said: A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me" (John XVI, 19). To clarify the enigma that worried them, He then went on to add: "Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labour, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow: but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice. And your joy no man shall take from you. And in that day you shall not ask Me anything" (John XVI, 20-23). In the sacred text we discern Jesus' several objectives. First, He desired to forewarn his Apostles of the bitterness that the sight of His being brutally captured, subjected to an iniquitous judgement and crucified as if He were the vilest of criminals would cause them, all to the uproar and mockery of His thankless People. Furthermore, they, His Apostles, panic-stricken, would find themselves weak and disheartened, which would increase His immense affliction. Afterwards, however, they would rejoice exceedingly when they saw Him triumphant and glorious. Second, Jesus forewarned His Church of the countless afflictions awaiting her in the course of the centuries following in the footsteps of her Divine Founder, while the lovers of the world, seduced by Satan, would exult in their iniquities. However, having quitted this vale of tears the children of God would see their sufferings rewarded with an eternity of supreme happiness. Also in those expressions in which allusion is made, according to our interpretation, to the joy that the children of the Church would possess after their sufferings, we see reflected the promise of the heavenly jubilation that would inundate them, in the measure possible in this world, as foretaste of heavenly joy. For the life of grace, though necessarily marked with the cross of pain, is also filled with the happiness that accompanies fulfillment of the divine will. With the words: "And in that day you shall not ask Me anything" (verse 23), Jesus on the one hand reaffirmed for His Apostles that, with the Coming of the Holy Ghost, they would receive greater insight into the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, knowledge which would increase with successive inspirations of the Paraclete, without its' being necessary that He, their Master, remain to instruct them. On the other hand, Jesus alluded to the full knowledge of the sacred mysteries which the saved would receive according to their degree of merit, through the beatific vision. Studying more profoundly the allegory in verse 21 of the woman in labour, we see in the sacred text a very beautiful likeness to the Church's most painful labour and her most happy Birth on Calvary.

197. In the following verses of Chapter XVI of Saint John which we are analyzing, there is principally contained the doctrine of the efficacy of the ministerial priesthood, through the Holy Sacrifice of Mass: "If you ask the Father anything in My Name, He will give it to you. Hitherto, you have not asked anything in My Name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full" (John XVI, 23-24). As yet the Apostles had not had the opportunity to exercise their ministry as sacrificers. Jesus insisted that they make use of it with great diligence in the future. For through Holy Mass they would exercise before the Father the suppliant omnipotence which would come to them therefrom, with the resultant benefit for them and for the Church, and which would inundate them with unspeakable joy. Jesus went on to say: "These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father" (John XVI, 25). Although on other occasions He had exhorted them to petition the Father in His Name, He had not made sufficiently clear the importance or meaning of that petition. This they would better understand after His glorious Resurrection, when He would instruct them in greater detail on the value of Holy Mass, indispensable Sacrifice for the Father's accepting any petition at all. The Divine Master, with greater detail, again let the Apostles glimpse the scope of the priest's mediation in the exercise of his ministry. The priest, mystically transformed into another Christ, intercedes before the Father necessarily with infinite virtue, since in his ministry he is given the very power of Christ, Who binds Himself to act in the mystical state of the priest. This we interpret from the following text: "In that day, you shall ask in My Name: and I say not to you that I will ask the Father for you" (John XVI, 26). In the foregoing texts, as has already been mentioned when interpreting similar texts, there is also contained the doctrine of the efficacy of private prayer by virtue of the infinite value it attains through union with Holy Mass. Our Lord Jesus Christ then wished to make evident that the priest is His lawful representative as minister of the Church, which implies necessarily his espousal with her through profession of the true Faith, without which charity towards Him or His Father is impossible. For that reason He said to them: "For the Father Himself loveth you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father and am come into the world: again I leave the world and I go to the Father" (John XVI, 27-28). Here we have further proof of the preexistence of the Most Divine Soul of Christ. We teach that while uttering those words He was transfigured in the sight of all, revealing some of the gifts of the glorious state of His Body, at the same time as He filled them with inspirations. The Apostles, deeply moved and beside themselves at the prodigy, gave vent to exclamations like that which the Gospel cites: "Behold, now Thou speakest plainly and speakest no proverb. Now we know that Thou knowest all things and Thou needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou camest forth from God" (John XVI, 29-30). Far from putting in doubt the solid faith the Apostles always had in their Master, the text gives us a glimpse of the enthusiasm, albeit momentary, which encompassed their souls. Wherefore the Lord, at the sight of so human a reaction, replied: "Do you now believe?" (John XVI, 31), which was as if to say to them, `do you feel strengthened now?', and exhorted them to have the same steadfastness of soul when the moment of trial arrived. That is why He then asserted: "Behold, the hour cometh, and it is now come, that you shall be scattered every man to his own and shall leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (John XVI, 32). Thus He announced to them the panic that the spectacle of His capture in the Garden would occasion them, in which predicament they would desert Him. Jesus put the final touch to the various exhortations to His Apostles in Lazarus' house with these fresh words of encouragement: "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress. But have confidence. I have overcome the world" (John XVI, 33). He thereby assured them that as long as they remained faithful to their ministry they would be comforted with divine assistance, above all in great trials. Through confidence they would bravely and tirelessly battle against the world's perversities and their author Satan, defeated and sentenced through Calvary wherefrom, solely and exclusively, man derives true peace of spirit, even amidst the stormiest tribulations.

198. Chapter XVII of Saint John begins with these words: "These things Jesus spoke: and lifting up His eyes to heaven..." (John XVII, 1). As we interpret the chapter, Jesus crowned His majestic and transcendental Sermon of the Last Supper with His Sacerdotal Prayer, elevating to the Father, on the occasion of His departure from this world, a triple petition: for Himself, for the Apostles and the other members at that time constituting His Church, and for her future members. Moreover, we teach that during this intimate and sublime colloquy, His Most Divine Countenance was transfigured in the sight of all present, who in turn sensed the majestic presence of the Eternal Father Who, without appearing visibly, encompassed and inundated them with indescribable joy. Jesus began the prayer for Himself saying: "Father, the hour is come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee" (John XVII, 1). Our Lord Jesus Christ, in a sublime gesture of humility and deference to the Father, from Whom He as Man had received all that He was and had, firstly reaffirmed His unshakable and most vehement desire to consummate with His Passion and Death the Work of Reparation and Redemption, which is why He said "the hour is come". At the same time He prayed the Father to glorify Him more especially with an admirable fortitude for so bloody a work, with portentous prodigies at His Death, with the recovery in His Most Divine Soul of the plenitude of glory possessed before He took Flesh, with the Triumphant Resurrection and definitive cessation of the passible state of His Body, with His admirable Ascension to Heaven and the definitive reinstatement of His Most Sacred Humanity, now complete, at the right hand of the Father. In that admirable and edifying supplication Christ, through His human glorification, sought primarily the exaltation of the infinite greatness of the Father, Who would receive fitting reparation, glorified in the Son by way of these portentous events in His Most Sacred Humanity, trustworthy testimony to the world that He as well was a Divine Person, and therefore that His mission was the Father's work. Jesus, praying for Himself, also sought the salvation of poor sinful mankind, duly to be redeemed by Him on Calvary, in order that all who definitively availed themselves of His Deific Blood there shed would also share in His glorification. That is why Jesus also said of Himself in His Prayer to the Father: "As Thou has given Him power over all flesh, that He may give eternal life to all whom Thou hast given Him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent" (John XVII, 2- 3). Jesus, as Man, as Firstborn of creation and endowed with the fullness of grace and Infinite Sanctity, possesses supreme power to distribute amongst men the infinite riches which He has treasured up for them, in order for them to attain to eternal life and rejoice forever in the glory of the Father, Who will reward them thus for their recognizing His Most Beloved Onlybegotten.

199. Then Jesus, in His Prayer for Himself to the Father, manifested His jubilant satisfaction at having most perfectly fulfilled the mission of evangelization entrusted to Him, of which there only remained its culmination on Calvary in order completely to fulfil the Father's decree. That is why He said: "I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do" (John XVII, 4). He ended this exemplary prayer with the words: "And now glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had, before the world was, with Thee" (John XVII, 5), which we have already interpreted in Chapters XV and XXIV of this Treatise. We bring to a close the first part of the Sacerdotal Prayer of the Master, teaching that Christ had no need to request anything for Himself since as God He was equal to the Father. Nor had He as Man since He was endowed with the plenitude of gifts and graces, with most perfect harmony between His human will and the divine. And, inevitably would He be freed, without the need of any petition, from the passible state of His Soul and Body. However, Our Lord Jesus Christ, supplicating for Himself, wished in His Humanity to give us example of adoration and supplication to the Father, in order that His humility and deference to the divine plans thus be resplendent.

200. Then Our Lord Jesus Christ began the second part of His Sacerdotal Prayer, praying to the Father for the Apostles and the others who at that time constituted His Church. Firstly, He recommended them as deserving of His paternal solicitude, since they had remained faithful to Him, the Onlybegotten, to Whom they had listened and in Whom they had believed. Let us consider the Master's words: "I have manifested Thy Name to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world. Thine they were: and to Me Thou gavest them. And they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all things which Thou hast given Me are from Thee: Because the words which Thou gavest Me, I have given to them. And they have received them and have known in very deed that I came out from Thee: and they have believed that Thou didst send Me" (John XVII, 6-8). In truth the eleven Apostles, as well as the others listening to Jesus, and others who also had remained faithful to Him, had been taken out from amongst those of the world to enter the sheepfold of the Church. Since, even before being summoned by Him, the majority had been faithful members of the Jewish Church, and many also Essenes. For that reason, since they had belonged to the true Church of that time, they had already belonged to the Father, which is the meaning of "Thine they were". Then, invited by Christ to follow Him they had accepted, all passing, through Baptism, to form part of the New Church founded by Him. In her they had remained faithful, in order afterwards for many to be called to the religious life, some earlier and others later, to which vocation they corresponded generously. The Gospel expression "the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world...and to me Thou gavest them" (verse 6), indicates that all grace and virtue essentially comes to men from the Divinity, as Jesus had already stated on another occasion: "No man can come to Me, except the Father, Who hath sent Me, draw Him" (John VI, 44)

201. In the second part of His Sacerdotal Prayer to the Father, Our Lord Jesus Christ implored with affectionate solicitude the divine protection for those who had been entrusted to Him and remained faithful, and who were more over the basis and foundation of His Church. That is why the Master said: "I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me: because they are Thine. And all My things are Thine, and thine are Mine: and I am glorified in them" (John XVII, 9-10). Although this prayer of Jesus is made with all its suppliant force in favour of the Apostles and the others who remained faithful to Him, not on that account was it without profit for the world, that is to say, for those who, being outside the truth, afterwards would accept salvation. When He said: "I pray not for the world", it is in order to stress the legitimate and singular predilection for those who, owing to their divine sonship, are truly His, that is Christ's, and therefore the Father's, making them worthy of even greater gifts. For their testimony of faith and good works glorifies both the Father and the Son.

202. But let us consider another aspect of the second part of Jesus' Prayer: "And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name whom Thou hast given Me: that they may be one as We also are. While I was with them, I kept them in Thy Name. Those whom Thou gavest Me have I kept: and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture may be fulfilled" (John XVII, 11-12). Jesus' plea for His own cannot be more expressive. Although the Father had entrusted them to His assiduous care, in which He generously spent Himself, now that He was about to leave the world He commended them in a special way to the Father, thus to give them confidence that, with the same solicitude that He always had prayed for them on earth, and now more so than ever, He would continue doing so in Heaven as Supreme Mediator between God and mankind, and with even greater providence for those corresponding with grace. They had clear proof how Jesus, so that they might not lose faith in Him, had preserved them from the corruption of the world. Nevertheless, one of the Twelve, Judas Iscariot, had apostatized irremediably, not because he had lacked divine help but because he had despised it with treacherous ingratitude. This enormous crime had been foretold in the Scriptures (Ps. CVIII, 6-9; Zach. XI, 12-13), in order also to serve as a sign to the one who was to be the traitor, for him to correct himself in time. Studying profoundly Jesus' words: "That they may be one, as We also are" (v. 11), in them we see contained the doctrine of Christ's Mystical Body in its invisible aspect. Through the indwelling of Mary's Drop of Blood in its members, their reciprocal enthronement is made possible, so that all mystically form a single Body with a single Soul, a single Flesh and a single Blood. What Jesus requested of the Father was that His Apostles, disciples and the others, who on account of their life of grace already formed part of the Mystical Body, further strengthen the ties that bound them in charity, for them to be living images of the unity of the Father with the Onlybegotten as God and as Man. That Jesus in both verses used expressions as though He were no longer in the world, was to manifest that here below there only remained for Him to consummate His work on Calvary, which was imminent.

203. The Master continued to implore the Father for the Apostles and the others present: "And now I come to Thee: and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy filled in themselves" (John XVII, 13). The Apostles and the others present in Lazarus' house were greatly consoled while Jesus prayed so movingly for them. For the Father, exceedingly well pleased, allowed each to share the unspeakable joy of His Onlybegotten at the proximity of Calvary, where His Work would be culminated and He definitively glorified. Jesus implored the Father the more: "I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them: because they are not of the world, as I also am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil. They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world" (John XVII 14-16). The fidelity of the Apostles and the others to the Master's teaching would bring them the same hatred that the world showed Him. If as yet they had not suffered open and direct persecution, it was because Jesus was there as the object of all mockery. However, when the moment arrived for them to give open testimony before men of the evangelical truth against the perversity of the world, they would be the object of the same persecution suffered by their Master. That is why He asked the Father not to take them, for the moment, out of the world, in which they necessarily would have to live to propagate the Gospel, but to preserve them from its iniquities and to strengthen them for continued steadfastness in their mission. After requesting protection for the Apostles and the other members of His early Church, Jesus ended His Prayer entrusting their perfection to the Father: "Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world" (John XVII, 17-18). Jesus desired His Apostles and disciples to be worthy ministers of the preaching of His Gospel. To be so they would have to obtain the very greatest benefits from the same teaching they imparted to others, thus sanctifying themselves more and more through their ministry. Besides, the efficacy of the apostolate would depend largely on the degree of perfection with which it was carried out. That is why the Master beseeched the Father, in their presence, to sanctify them with the Truth, which is the divine word entrusted to His Onlybegotten in the Messianic Work which He in turn now confided to His Apostles and disciples. In order that the manner in which He confirmed the truth of His words by His works might shine more clearly, Jesus said: "And for them do I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth" (John XVII, 19). In other words, through His works He progressively revealed His Infinite Sanctity, most especially on Calvary. Thus by His example they would learn to transform into works of virtue the doctrine He had preached to them, and to sanctify themselves teaching it to the rest.

204. Finally Jesus began the third part of His Sacerdotal Prayer to the Father, praying for all those who in the future would form part of His Church. Wherefore He said: "And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in Me. That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to them: that they may be one, as We also are one. I in them, and Thou in Me: that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that Thou hast sent Me and hast loved them, as Thou hast also loved Me" (John XVII, 20-23). Jesus did not restrict Himself to praying for His Apostles and the other members of the early Church, but extended His prayer to the enormous number of faithful who would make it up in the future through the preaching of the Gospel. Hence we see in the text, duly interpreted, that Jesus greatly emphasized the need for the members of His Church to remain united, not only in the profession of Faith but also in charity, only possible with the life of grace or common glorification of wayfarers, and through which the members of the Church are united to her invisible Body through espousal with Christ, by way of Mary, and therefore with the Father. Thus is united the divine family, whose maximum union will be attained at the Nuptials of the Lamb. We know that in virtue of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost one shares in the Hypostatic Union, from which the Most Sacred Humanity of Christ received Infinite Sanctity and fullness of glorification. The supernatural life of the Mystical Body, in respect to its members, is precisely their interior vitality. The more intense it is, the greater the spiritual strength of the Body and the greater the Faith of its members. Hence the need for the faithful who constitute the true Church to be intimately united to her invisible Body, which is through charity. They must not reach the deplorable state of restricting, by sin, their union to the visible Body only, which is merely through profession of Faith, since lacking supernatural life it is easy to apostatize. In the above mentioned sacred text there is an implicit exhortation by Jesus to the members of His Church to have frequent recourse to the means of salvation - Mass, Sacraments, prayer, sacrifice, etc., in order always to live strong in charity and Faith and not to sever their ties with the Mystical Body. Thus their good example serves to convert the rest.

205. Having emphasized the true and necessary unity of the authentic Church, now the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Palmarian, we consider it most opportune yet again to condemn the perverse ecumenism which, intending a sinister concept of unity, has endeavoured to place the True Church and the false ones on the same level, thus coming to the conclusion that both the True Church and the false ones must renounce beliefs which impede so disastrous a union. However the True Church never has and never will renounce any truths of Faith. The false Churches are those that must abandon their errors if they wish to be incorporated or reincorporated, as the case may be, into the bosom of the True Church, sole bearer of Truth and ark of salvation.

206. We avail ourselves of the opportunity to repeat even more openly our condemnation of the so--called Vatican Council II. Although that Council was convoked by Pope Saint John XXIII, inspired by the Holy Ghost, shortly afterwards, due to the pressure and influence of a large number of masonic and progressivist Council Fathers, and through cowardice and human respect on the part of not a few traditionalists, the good purpose was thwarted and frankly erroneous and ambiguous conclusions reached, proof that the Holy Ghost had been expelled from the Council to make way for Satan. That is why Vatican Council II, in its unfolding and resolutions, is the work not of the Holy Ghost but of the devil. Though the records of the Council contain some true doctrine, it is mingled with frightening heresies and ambiguities. Thus camouflaging the evil, Masonry made the Council texts easier to accept by Catholics, and the Church's enemies could achieve their perverse ends more readily. If we examine the doctrinal documents of the various cursed reformers Luther, Calvin, etc., amongst heresies and corruption, we also find in them some truths of faith, which reveals the malicious tactic of making the necessity and legitimacy of those infernal reforms more readily believed. Vatican Council II, for its documents of heresies, ambiguities and perverse objectives to which it was led by the masons and progressivists, is illegitimate, sinister and abominable and therefore without any authority in the Church. With that we by no means blacken either the illustrious and infallible authority or good faith of Popes Saints John XXIII and Paul VI who governed the Church at the time of the Council. Regarding the first-named Pontiff, John XXIII, his enemies abused his excessive paternity, goodness and optimism, instead of using it for their conversion; regarding the second, Paul VI, we know that he was be victim of Vatican Masonry, which through drugs subjected him to repeated brainwashing, thereby compelling the stainless hand of the Pope at times to sign what he ought not, though in most cases they forged his signature. The small amount of documentation in the writings of Vatican II that records authentically traditional doctrine is doubtlessly due to the limited intervention of a few courageous Council Fathers. This Holy, Great and Dogmatic Palmarian Council declares null and void Vatican Council II, expunging it from the list of the Church's Holy Councils since it is to be reckoned among the illegitimate Councils.

207. The Evangelist Saint John ends his account of Christ's Sacerdotal Prayer at the Sermon of the Last Supper, with these words: "Father, I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me: That they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me, because Thou hast loved Me before the creation of the world. Just Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee. And these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have made known Thy Name to them and will make it known: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John XVII, 24-26). We teach that while Jesus, visibly moved, raised up that touching prayer to the Father, there burst forth from His Deific Heart luminous rays. These dispersed amongst those present and entered their hearts, inundating them with the divine virtue transmitted by those consoling rays. Thus their Faith was strengthened and their will better disposed for the future. With solicitous vehemence, Jesus implored the Father that those who had remained faithful to Him in His most difficult evangelical work, and who had consoled His Deific Heart so often afflicted by the manifold ingratitudes of His People, attain through perseverance the thrones of happiness prepared for them in Eternal Bliss, and there partake of essential glory or contemplation of the divine essence; as well as of accidental glory, namely the vision of the other ineffable mysteries, amongst which is resplendent in singular and peerless manner the Most Sacred Humanity of Christ, endowed with the plenitude of glory by the infinite Love of the Father Who, before making anything else, as must be understood "before the creation of the world" (John XVII, 24), created glorified the Most Divine Soul of His Onlybegotten. The prayer of Jesus, yearning for the eternal happiness of the Apostles and the others present in Lazarus' house, also embraced all those who, through correspondence to grace, were deserving of everlasting glory. Furthermore, in His most loving Prayer to the Father, Our Lord Jesus Christ presented before the throne of the august Divinity the most just reasons for the petition in favour of His own, namely that these, on accepting Him as the Onlybegotten Envoy, knew the One Who sent Him, the Father, to Whom they attributed the honour and glory that was His due as Eternal, Living and True God. That is why we read in the Gospel: "And I have made known Thy Name to them" (John XVII, 26); to which He added: "and will make it known: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John XVII, 26). In other words, through faith and charity, understanding of the mysteries of the Father through the Son would be, in this world, ever greater with the help of grace, until it attained its maximum degree in Heaven with the beatific vision. Knowledge of the Father because of the virtue of His Onlybegotten is necessarily the supernatural life of souls, which implies the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, Who is the mutual love of the Father and the Son.

208. Saint John continues his Gospel narrative with the words: "When Jesus had said these things..." (John XVIII, 1a), here referring to the Sacerdotal Prayer. Saint Matthew (XXVI, 30a)and Saint Mark (XIV, 26a) complete the first Evangelist with the expression: "And a Hymn being said...", alluding to a brief prayer in common which concluded everything. We teach that Jesus left Lazarus' house for the Mount of Olives at 11:30 in the evening of Thursday the 24th of March of the year 34, and that He was accompanied only by the eleven Apostles, as we interpret the following Gospel texts: "They went out unto Mount Olivet" (Matt. XXVI, 30b). "And going out, He went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives. And His disciples also followed Him" (Luke XXII, 39). "He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron" (John XVIII, 1b). That is to say, that after leaving Lazarus' house Jesus went with His Apostles to the gate in the walls of Jerusalem then known as the Sheep Gate, near the present-day Gate of Saint Stephen, and through it left the city in the direction of the Valley of Cedron or Josaphat; and after crossing the Valley He came to the foot of Mount Olivet. As for the the Divine Mary, She went to the Cenacle accompanied by Mary Cleophas, Mary Salome, Martha, Mary Magdalen, as well as by the spouses Obed and Mary and their son John Mark. However the disciples went with Agabus and Lazarus to Bethany, as did the rest of the holy women accompanied by Seraphia, and each community remained in prayer in its respective convent.

209. Before proceeding it is necessary to place on record that while in Lazarus' house in Jerusalem Jesus delivered the second part of the Sermon of the Last Supper, the secret disciples Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea and Gamaliel, who we know had remained in the Cenacle keeping watch over the Blessed Sacrament reserved under both species, were favoured with singular interior enlightenment concerning what Jesus was preaching in Lazarus' house, and also shared in the extraordinary mystical phenomena that there took place.

210. We continue our interpretation of the Gospel narrative stating that, during the journey of Jesus and His Apostles from Lazarus' house to the Mount of Olives, there took place what is related by Saint Matthew (XXVI, 31-35)and Saint Mark (XIV, 27-31), who almost literally coincide. But first it is necessary to teach that with the prodigies in Lazarus' house during the Master's Sacerdotal Prayer, the Apostles, exceedingly enthusiastic, even came to forget the many sufferings awaiting Jesus and fell into an excess of optimism. Seeing that they had passed from the previous state of extreme dejection to that of exaggerated jubilation, thus running great risk of being deceived by Satan, Jesus wished to remind them of the terrifying moments that approached, for them to distrust themselves and to seek the help of prayer in order not to be caught unawares. That is why He told them, according to Saint Matthew: "All you shall be scandalized in Me this night. For it is written: I will strike the shepherd: and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed" (Matt. XXVI, 31; Zach. XIII, 7). Jesus thus alluded to His bitter and sad abandonment by the Apostles when He would be seized in the Garden. From that flight Satan would be able further to benefit, for example through Peter's triple denial. Therefore they ought to remain vigilant in prayer. Since the warning overwhelmed and saddened the Eleven, Jesus encouraged them anew saying: "But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee" (Matt. XXVI, 32). Thus He let them discern that the flock, momentarily dispersed, would again be reunited to follow Him, which is how "I will go before you into Galilee" must be understood. For in that region Christ, when risen, would join His Apostles most frequently, and there would confer the Primacy on Saint Peter, endowing him with papal powers. Jesus' warning to His Apostles of the weakness they would suffer on the night of His capture particularly disconcerted the soul of Peter, who would not admit himself capable of such base conduct towards his most beloved Master. Thus he let himself be carried away by his fiery and unreflecting temperament, and rashly dared to say to Jesus: "Although all shall be scandalized in Thee, I will never be scandalized" (Matt. XXVI, 33). This, far from rejoicing Christ's Deific Heart, increased His pain, since Peter's boasting would be the cause of his subsequent weakness when confronted by the obligation to confess the Master. That is why Jesus told him, according to Saint Matthew: "Amen I say to thee that in this night before the cock crow thou wilt deny Me thrice" (Matt. XXVI, 34); or as Saint Mark puts it: "Amen I say to thee, today, even in this night before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny Me thrice" (Mark XIV, 30). To that harsh affirmation the foremost Apostle reacted with yet greater vehemence and self--assurance, saying: "Yea, though I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee" (Matt. XXVI, 35). These words prompted the other Apostles to support Peter's reaction, as is seen in the sacred text: "And in like manner said all the disciples." (Matt. XXVI, 35).

211. Having crossed the Cedron Valley and come to the foot of the Mount of Olives, Jesus went to the Garden of Olives, known as Gethsemani because in former times there had been an oil-press on the site, as has already been stated. Let us consider what the following Evangelists relate. Saint Matthew: "Then Jesus came with them into a country place which is called Gethsemani" (Matt. XXVI, 36a). Saint Mark: "And they came to a farm called Gethsemani" (Mark XIV, 32a). Saint John says as well: "Where there was a garden, into which He entered with His disciples" (John XVII, 1c). We teach that Jesus reached the Garden of Olives shortly before midnight, that is, before Friday the 25th of March had yet begun, and that He first went to where the virginal body of Most Holy Joseph lay buried. That spot is known today as the Sepulchre of the Virgin or Church of the Assumption, and as we know, was and continues to be found alongside and therefore outside the Garden. The Garden of Gethsemani is considered by Saint Matthew as a country estate and by Saint Mark as a farm, which implies that it was private property. The fact that Jesus frequented it as one of His most preferred places of prayer indicates that the owner had to be a very close friend of His. Hence we affirm that the country estate of the Olives belonged to Lazarus of Bethany, inherited from his parents.

212. Before closing this chapter it behoves us to amplify the doctrine on the human soul and the beatific vision, in the light of the dogmatic definitions of His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII. In dealing with the soul we have been using the terms `higher part' and `lowerpart'; since, of course, whenever we considered those two parts of the soul, we referred to distinct functions of that spiritual substance, one and indivisible. `Higher part' must be understood as `higher functions', meaning that the soul communicates with the essential body. `Lower part' must be understood as `lower functions', meaning that the soul communicates with the accidental body.

213. First we consider the soul in the wayfarer state as a mere natural entity. The soul, purely spiritual and immortal, has its own life and operates through its powers - intelligence, memory and will. However, since the soul has been created to inform and to work together with the two corporeal elements of the human person it, while united to these, realizes certain functions with them.

(a) Higher functions: these are the soul's communication with the essential body, and since the latter is spiritualized matter their communication is always in perfect harmony.

(b) Lower functions: these are the soul's communication with the accidental body, and there is not always complete harmony between them, owing to the natural disharmony between spirit and corruptible matter. There are also acts of the soul not outwardly expressed through the accidental body, like those properly internal. There are also organic functions of the accidental body in which the powers of the soul do not consciously or voluntarily intervene, like those that are unconscious, involuntary and indeliberate.

Hence in the human person there are those different functions of the soul, and there is always intercommunication between the three elements of the person. We must understand that intercommunication between the essential body and the accidental is not direct but always through the soul. To accomplish this the soul assumes first, according to its nature, what both have to be communicated, and communicates, with its own, that of the one to the other, which these assume according to their nature. We clarify this with the following example. Suffering of the soul is assumed by the essential body according to its own nature, thus making that suffering its own; which in turn is also assumed by the soul. Suffering of the soul is assumed by the accidental body according to its nature, thus making that suffering its own; which is at the same time assumed by the soul. Suffering of the essential body assumed by the soul is communicated by the latter to the accidental body, which in turn assumes it; and suffering of the accidental body assumed by the soul is communicated by the latter to the essential body, which in turn assumes it. In clinical death the lower functions of the soul cease, since the latter is separated from the accidental body. In real death the higher functions cease as well, since the soul is separated from the essential body.

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