“No, Simon, He does not hate you; He loves you.  Think of what He said to you just before.  That about the rock.  You know what Jesus is.  You know how He has to pour cold water so that the fire of love may not consume Him.  And you must have touched on something that He Himself finds difficult.  I’m sure of it.  I believe that He is suffering something that we know nothing about.  It is as though He saw it was the Father’s will that He should suffer and die.  He is young, He feels dismayed, and then you come and make the struggle harder for Him.  Stand up, brother; we must be strong and cheerful and a support to Him.”

And when they gathered together, prepared for further journeying, Jesus looked round the circle of His faithful adherents, and said, with solemn seriousness:  “In a short time you will see Me no more.  I go to the Father.  I build my Kingdom upon your faith, firm as rock, and give you all the keys of heaven.  With God, heaven and earth are one, and everything you do on earth is also done in heaven.”

That is what happened on one of the heights of Lebanon when Jesus rested there with His disciples.

And then He went again to His native place, not to stay there, but to see it once more.  After days of hardships which they scarcely felt, and of want which they never perceived, they came down into the fertile plains, and the soft air was filled with scent of roses and of almond blossoms.  They found themselves once again in their native land, where they were treated with such contempt that they had to avoid the high roads and take the side paths.  When they were passing through a ravine near Nazareth, they stopped under the scanty shade of some olive trees.  They were tired, and lay down under the trees.  Jesus went on a little farther, where He could obtain a view of the place.  He sat down on a stone, leaned His head on His hand, and looked thoughtfully out over the country.  Something strange and hostile seemed to pervade it.  But He had not come in anger.  Something else remained to be done.  It was clear to Him that He Himself must be the pledge of the truth of His good tidings.

A woman came toiling over the stones.  It was His mother.  She had heard how He had come down from the mountains with His disciples, and thought she would go through the ravine.  Now she stood before Him.  Her face, grown thin with grief, was in the shade, since to protect herself from the sun she had thrown her long upper garment over her head.  A tress of her dark hair fell over one cheek; she pushed it back with one finger, but it always fell down again.  She looked shyly at her son, who was resting on a stone.  She hesitated to speak to Him.  She advanced a step nearer, and as if nothing had ever separated them, said; “Your house is quite near, my child.  Why rest here in such discomfort?”

He looked at her calmly.  Then he answered:  “Woman, I would be alone.”