Chapter VI.
THE PRIESTHOOD OF JOSEPH,THE DESTINATION OF THE TRIPLE BENEDICTION,
CLARIFICATION OF THE SACRIFI-CE PERTAINING TO THE PRIESTHOOD OFTHE THREE
GREAT PATRIARCHS,AND THE SANCTIFICATION DURING HIS LIFETIME OF THE GREAT
LEADER MOSES.
1. Before the death of
Jacob the Triple Benediction passed to his son Joseph, according to our
clear interpretation of Genesis, (Chap. XLVII, 29-31).
Here Jacob, close to death, asks Joseph to swear solemnly not to
bury him in Egypt. Joseph
swears solemnly to his father, and at that very moment he receives the
Mystery or Sacrament. Let us
examine the text of the Vulgate, which reads: "And
as he was swearing, Israel adored God, turning to the bed-head."
The Greek text reads: "he adored turned towards the top of his rod."
And the Hebrew text, when supplied with the correct vowel points,
reads: "he adored towards the
top of the rod." Saint
Paul (Heb. XI, 22) expresses it thus: "By faith, Jacob, dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and
adored the top of his rod."
When these Scriptural texts are correctly inter-preted they do not
differ, since they coincide in that Jacob, now called Israel, adores God.
We wish however to disclose the enigma about the adoring of the top
of the rod, giving the interpre-tation that, the rod of Joseph flowered at
the very moment when the Sacred Deposit was transmitted to him.
The rod was the manifesta-tion of the Soul of Mary, and the flower,
that of the Soul of Christ,- prodigious antici-pation of the prophecy of
Isaias: "And there shall come
forth a rod out of the root of Jesse: and a flower shall rise up out of
his root." This
prodigy was later to be repeated in the rod of Aaron, and later again in
the Rod of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Virgin Mary.
2. Joseph received the
indwelling of the Holy Ghost through the Triple Benediction.
On his deathbed Jacob conferred on Joseph, son of predilection, the
Priesthood according to the Order of Melchisedech,-however not in its
fullness. For this reason it
was impossible to conti-nue to transmit that real and true Priesth-ood.
At the death of Joseph, the Chosen People lost that privile-ge,
which was to be renewed in full and supreme perfection through the
Institution of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the night before He suffered.
3. All this doctrine
on the Priesthood of Joseph is perfec-tly clear in Genesis, (Chapter XLIX,
verse 24 and those follow-ing), in the light of our clear interpretation.
The Sacred Text speaking here of Joseph says: "Thence
he came forth a pastor, rock of Israel",- that is not only to be
governor of the land, but also later to be pastor of souls.
Jacob, addresses Joseph, referring to the blessings of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob: "until the
desire of the everlasting hills should come.
May they (the blessings) be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the
crown of the Naza-rite among his brethren."
The Sacred Text thus indicates with perfect clarity, that Joseph,
in the presence of his
brethren, received the eternal Priesthood of Melchisedech, at the very
moment prior to the death of Jacob, through the Blessing of the First-born.
4. These two
ceremonies, the one of the Triple Benediction, the other of the Ordination
to the Priesthood, fulfil the two prophetic dreams that Joseph had in his
youth. In one of them he was
binding sheaves with his brethren in a field.
His sheave arose as it were, and stood; and those of his brethren,
standing about bowed down before the sheaf of Joseph.
In the other dream he saw the sun, the moon and eleven stars
worshipping him.
5. With the words of
Ecclesiasticus (XLIX, 17-18) we conclude our remarks on the Patriarch
Joseph, "who was a man born prince of his brethren, the support of his
people, ruler of his brethren, the stay of the nation.
And his bones were visited and after death they prophesied."
How clearly these words reveal the person and high mission of
Joseph, son of Jacob, as well as the abode of the Mystery or Sacrament
before it's removal,- since, according to the text, the bones of Joseph
formed the tabernacle of the Sacred Deposit, object of continual
veneration by the Chosen People and fortress of their faith.
6. Before we conclude
our remarks on the great Patri-archs, we have to demonstrate our
affirmation of the following: namely that Abra-ham, Isaac and Jacob, as
also his son Joseph, Priests all of the Order of Melchisedech, in their
sacrifices did not offer animal victims or any other oblation not proper
to their Order,- for that would have been re-pugnant to the dignity of
their real, true and eternal Priesthood, even though their sacrifices were
mere figures of the Mass. This
doctrine is based on the sacred texts themselves, in which we find no
sacrifice with animal victims, after the reception of the Priesthood.
There are only three passages that might cause confusion. However,
compar-ison of the Vulgate with the Greek and Hebrew texts, excludes all
doubt in two of the cases,- and, given the correct interpretation, in the
third as well.
7. Abraham offered as
holocaust a ram, substituted by God in place of Isaac.
Without the death and holocaust of this victim, the sa-crifice of
Isaac would not have been a vivid and complete figure of Cal-vary.
One of the necessary elements would have been missing,- the prefi-guration
of Saint John, and thus the Sacrifice of Isaac would have re-mained an
incomplete figure. Therefore, and solely in this case, for the reason
given, Abraham here offered an animal victim, even though he al-ready
possessed an eternal Priesthood. Furthermore
as we have explained, Isaac knew that he himself was the victim, and thus
he went willingly to his own sacrifice even though in Genesis he appears
unknowing.
8. Referring to a
sacrifice of Jacob, the Vulgate text of Gene-sis (XXXI, 54) says: "And
after the victims were immolated in the mountain, he called his brethren
to eat bread."
The Greek text says: "Jacob offered a sacrifice"; and the Hebrew text says: "and
Jacob slaughtered a victim".
There is an apparent contradiction among the three texts, in none
of which is clearly affirmed that he offered animal victims in sacrifice;
but there is rather affirmed that he slaughtered victims.
Furthermore the Vulgate having mentioned the immolation of victims,
says at once that he called his brethren to eat bread, which latter remark
contradicts the previous one. In the light of Palmarian doctrine and defini-tions, we
interpret that this sacrifice of Jacob was of "bread
and wine", and that it,was not of-fered until all had been
prepared for the family feast after the sacrifice, as is understood from
the text. It was logical to
slaughter or immolate animals on festive occasions for the banquet.
At the Last Supper of the Lord that preceded the sacrifice of the
Mass, there was a lamb on the table, but not for that reason can we affirm
that it had been offered in sacrifice.
9. In the other
passage of Genesis (XLVI, 1) the Vulgate and the Hebrew say: "and
killing victims to the God of his father Isaac."
The Greek text says: "having offered sacrifice", but does not mention victims.
The interpretation given in the previous case is to be applied here
as well.
10. We conclude this
chapter mentioning the reservation of the Sacrament or Triple Benediction,
when the Chosen People went out of Egypt.
On the night of departure, Moses took the remains of Joseph and
removed from them the Mystery or Triple Benediction.
This he deposited in the Chalice of Melchisedech, which he then
placed in the golden sarcophagus with the remains of Joseph.
11. We cannot however
omit to speak of the exalted figure of the holy leader Moses, so as to
make clear the question of his sancti-fication during life, that is, of
the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in his soul,- a question clearly revealed
in the Sacred Texts. In
Eccle-siasticus (XLV, 4) we read: "He
sanctified him in his faith and meekness and chose him out of all
flesh" Here it is obvious how clearly and pre-cisely the Sacred
Text treats the question. After
examining and com-paring the Sacred Texts with the revelations of Saint
Catherine Emmerick, we clearly see that Moses received Sanctifying Grace
at the moment when he extracted the Triple Benediction from the bones of
Joseph. It entered Moses,
sanctified him and emerged at one and the same instant.
Therefore, the Book of Wisdom (X, 16) refers to this moment in
these words: "She -- Wisdom - entered into the soul of the servant of God and
stood against dreadful kings in wonders and signs".
