CHRIST
 
ON

MATTHEW  24:34

"This Generation will not pass away..."


 


 

 

 


 

 

From the Mystical Revelations Given to Maria Valtorta –





 


 
— INTRODUCTORY  NOTE —
 
 
In Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Matthew, Christ tells His disciples and Apostles of the signs and upheavels that will  precede the end of the world and His 2nd coming at the Last Judgment.  In Verse 34 of this Apocalyptic discourse, He says: "Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place."

This has been a problematic text for Christians and Biblical scholars because, except for the invasion of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple, most of the phenomena foretold by Christ did not in fact occur before "this generation" passed away. Hence, it is one of the crux texts that for some scholars raises a question about the extent of Christ's "Consciousness" or self-knowledge of His own Nature and Mission1. Since most of the events He foretold apparently failed to occur, was He mistaken? in error? Did the Apostles and first-century Christians err, too, in believing that His return would occur before "this generation" passed away? But if Christ erred in this passage, then how could He be God as He claimed? And in what else had He erred? If He could be mistaken in this teaching, would it not call into question all the rest of His teachings, and thus open the door to private interpretation?

In positing Christ's error in this instance, we thus witness a revival in our day of the ancient Arian heresy which denied Christ's Divine Nature and equality with the Godhead, though according every honor to Him as a supreme prophet influenced by the Deity.

In the brief document translated here from Valtorta's recently published [2006] Quadernetti collection of revelations, Christ gives His intended meaning of "this generation will not pass away," and gently criticizes both the Apostles and disciples of then, as those of today,  for having misinterpreted—typically as men—His intended meaning.
 

— Trans.




[Oct. 3, 1948]2
 


 

"Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all this is accomplished."
 

                                                                                                                     — Mt. 24:34; Mk 13:30; Lk 21:32
 


Valtorta
:
 


Jesus speaks on the subject of Chapter 24 of St. Matthew, and especially in St. Mark 13:30, in St. Luke 21:32, a theme amply taken up again and treated in the epistles of the Apostles Peter, Paul and John.



 
JESUS :

 
I was not in error when I said: "This generation will not pass away before all this is accomplished" (the antichrist, signs in the heavens, signs of the times, end of the world, return of the Christ and the final Judgment), because I cannot err.

But it was those who heard Me who erred (the Apostles and disciples) in interpreting these My words. And by measuring and judging with human measures and judgment, they interpreted My words to mean that the generation of which I was speaking was the common human generation of a few years of life. Hence they believed that within a few years of My Death and Resurrection, all had to be accomplished.

And so they taught, unintentionally creating for those who do not believe in Me, or who are no longer living members of the Mystical Body, an argument to demonstrate that1- the Gospel is the work of men; 2- that those men never received teaching from a Divine Master; 3- that the double infusion of the Holy Spirit is a lie; 4- (and the ultimate blasphemy), that the Christ God-Man did not exist, that the Word was not made flesh and never taught; 5- that it is all a fable, created by a group of men; 6- that the Church as founded by Christ is a lie, a coterie and nothing more, a party, an association, but not the Church of Christ, not His Mystical Body, not the repository and Teacher of the truth; 7- that the primacy of Peter and the assistance of the Holy Spirit for the Vicar of Christ in matters of Faith and Morals, does not exist; 8- that the Sacraments are [only] figures, the Sacrifice of the Altar and every rite are simply choreography.

The Apostles were: men. As all the scholars are men who for twenty centuries read the Gospel without understanding certain key phrases.

The Apostles were men. Men even after the double infusion of the Holy Spirit, as they also are men who, even though having received the fullness of the Holy Spirit for their ministry as Shepherds,3  still do not understand the true meaning of My words.

The creature is always imperfect. And even if surrounded and penetrated by the splendors of Sapiential Light, the creature brings with it the clouds and heaviness of its nature: human and limited. And though [the creature] may emerge from a direct communication with God, its human thought and judgment spread like smoke or tighten like a noose on the truth it has heard, without having the will or capacity to destroy or hide [the truth]—because, in fact, My servant wants it to live and be revealed. But he maims and obscures the truth because of an inborn weakness in the creature's nature as man.

They, the Apostles, embraced the letter of My phrase, but did not understand its spirit. Hence, they believed that I was speaking of the generation of their time, and hence, too, they judged My return would be quick.

An error of irreparable and damaging consequences?  No.  It rather served, and serves through the ages, and will serve until the end of time to keep vigilant those spirits who can be compared to the wise virgins [Mt 25:1-13]. The others, even without this error—which they use as a pretext to combat the Truth—would have been, are, and ever will be against the Truth and God and the Church. Each one draws from the depths of his heart what he harbors there, and it is not what enters that kills, but what thrives there, finding a propitious terrain [cf. Mt 15:11-18; Lk 6:45].

But listen.  My phrase should be understood thus: "This generation (I was surrounded by the Apostles and disciples, that is, believers in Me) will not pass away, this generation of My sons, of the sons of God—because whoever believes in Me and welcomes Me is born in God and of God, and acquires the right to be a son of God, as was said by John in the beginning of his Gospel and in his first Epistle (Chaps. 4 & 5)—this generation will not pass away before the end of the world comes with all its foreshadowing and final signs."

Because if it is true that at the end of time there will be little faith, since few will have known how to persevere to the end by resisting the doctrines of the false prophets, of the antichrists or (if you prefer) the sons of Satan, it is also true that faith in Me will not die, and there will be those who believe in Me on every continent.

Therefore "this generation," Mine, that of the "sons of God", will not have passed away, died, or been destroyed, before I return.

 Thus was My phrase to be interpreted, and thus should it be interpreted in order to be understood in its truth. But be patient with him who understands it badly, even if he is an Apostle or Scholar, bearing in mind that even the Apostle and Scholar is still and always a man.

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NOTES

 

1. On this question of  Christ's Consciousness or Knowledge of Himself, see, e.g.,  Bertrand de Margerie,S.J. "The Double Consciousness of Christ", and also Fr. William Most's "The Consciousness of Christ".
2.
Maria Valtorta, Quadernetti (Edizioni Pisani / Centro Editoriale Valtortiano srl, Via Po 95, 03036 Isola del Liri (FR), Italia, 2006): 147-149
 
3. "...ministry as Shepherds..." —that is, the Bishops of the Church.