Another great collection of excerpts from the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich this time on the Apostle Judas Iscariot. Join Truth of the Spirit host Patti Brunner for “Judas Before the Betrayal”. Be sure to subscribe on YouTube with notification so you don’t miss the continuation on the next episode “Judas the Betrayer”. Please continue reading for video link, audio player and script.
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In the Gospel of John read on the 6th Sunday of Easter, Jesus was responding to a question by Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper. Today we turn to the visionary Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich to get a view of Judas before that night.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I am your host Patti Brunner. Judas Before the Betrayal includes passages from Books I, II, and III of Anne Catherine Emmerich’s The Lowly Life and Bitter Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother. We remind our listeners that her visions are private revelation and should be discerned based on the teachings of the Catholic Church.
In Book I Blessed Anne Catherine tells us: “Many of the disciples and most of the future Apostles were with John the Baptist, excepting Peter, who had already been baptized, and Judas the Traitor. (Judas however, had been at the fishery around Bethsaida making inquiries concerning Jesus and John.)
Jesus went to the synagogue and taught of John’s baptism, which was a baptism of penance, a preliminary purification, a preparatory action such as was prescribed in the Law. It was different from the Baptism of Him whom John heralded.
Judas Iscariot here heard Jesus preaching. He had come alone and not with the other disciples. After listening to His instructions for two days, and passing remarks on the same with the disaffected Pharisees, he departed for a neighboring village which did not bear a very good name. There he gave an account of what he had heard, talking with an air of importance to a pious man of the place. The latter in consequence invited Jesus to visit him. Judas carried on some kind of traffic. He was much occupied with writing, and held himself in readiness for general services of any kind. When Jesus and His disciples arrived at the aforenamed place, Judas had departed.
In Book II Blessed Anne Catherine told her visions about the The Forty Days Fast of Jesus: One day I saw Jesus prostrate on His face, praying. He was surrounded by light. Suddenly a sound from Heaven was heard, light streamed into the grotto, and myriads of angels appeared bearing with them all kinds of things. Colored bands of writing were like the summing up of all the pains that Jesus would have to endure in His mortal life, all His labors, all that the Apostles and others would cause Him to suffer. Then there appeared before Him, as in a procession, all those men through whom were to come the most keenly felt sufferings He would have to endure, the malice of the Pharisees, the treason of Judas, the insults of the Jews at His bitter and ignominious death. The angels arranged all, unfolded all before the Saviour, doing all with unspeakable reverence, like priests performing the holiest functions.
Blessed Anne later saw visions Judas’s ancestry and character and of Jesus receiving Judas Iscariot as a disciple: The town of Meroz had a bad name in Israel on account of the perfidy [the deceit or treachery] of its inhabitants. It had been peopled by the descendants of Asher and Gad, some of whom had intermarried with the Gentiles. The other tribes refused to acknowledge the offspring of these mixed marriages, and they were despised likewise on account of their faithlessness and perfidy. The town of Meroz, in consequence, became an isolated place, and its inhabitants, being thus cut off from much good, were likewise shielded from much evil. Their chief occupations consisted in dressing skins, making leather, and manufacturing leather items. They tanned the skins near Iscariot, a marshy region, a couple of hours to the west of Meroz. It was a desolate little place of only a few dwellings… Judas and his parents had for some time dwelt in this locality, hence the surname Iscariot.
Jesus was very joyfully received at some distance from their city by the poor citizens of Meroz. Toward evening He taught in the synagogue before a large audience, taking for His subject the slothful servant and the buried talent. By this parable Jesus designated the inhabitants themselves. …Jesus rebuked them also for their little love for their neighbor and their hatred of the Samaritans. …They rejoiced …at Jesus’ visit because their whole region seemed to lie forgotten by all the world, and no one ever came to help or instruct them in any way….. Judas Iscariot likewise had come with the disciples to Meroz. He did not, however, spend the evening with Jesus, but at a house in the city where he had often before stayed. Bartholomew and Simon spoke with Jesus of Judas. They said that they knew him to be an active, well-informed man, very willing to be of service, and very desirous of a place among the disciples. Jesus sighed as they spoke and appeared troubled. When they asked Him the cause of His sadness, He answered: “It is not yet time to speak, but only to think of it.” He taught during the whole meal, and all slept at the inn. …Judas, having met them at Naim, accompanied them to Meroz. Even at this early period, he was already known to all the disciples, and he had recently been in Cyprus. His manifold accounts of Jesus, of His miracles, of the various opinions formed of Him, namely, that some looked upon Him as the Son of David, others called Him the Christ, and the majority esteemed Him the greatest of the Prophets, had made the Jews and pagans of the island very inquisitive with regard to Him. They had heard, too, many wonderful things of His visit to Tyre and Sidon. The Cyprian pagan, the officer who visited Jesus in Ophra, was very much impressed by them. Judas had accompanied the officer back to Cyprus. …When Judas learned on the way back that Jesus was going into the region of Meroz, where he himself was well known, he went to seek Bartholomew in Debbaseth. He was already acquainted with him and he invited him to go with him to Meroz …. He begged them again to present him to Jesus as one desirous of becoming a disciple. They were well pleased to do so, for they took delight in his cleverness, his readiness to render service, and his courteous manner. Judas Iscariot may have been at that time twenty-five years old. He was of middle height and by no means ugly. His hair was of a deep black, his beard somewhat reddish. In his attire he was perfectly neat and more elegant than the majority of Jews. He was affable in address, obliging, and fond of making himself important. He talked with an air of confidence of the great or of persons renowned for holiness, affecting familiarity with such when he found himself among those that did not know him. But if anyone who knew better convicted him of untruth, he retired confused. He was avaricious of honors, distinctions, and money. He was always in pursuit of good luck, always longing for fame, rank, a high position, wealth; though not seeing clearly how all this was to come to him. The appearance of Jesus in public greatly encouraged him to hope for a realization of his dreams. The disciples were provided for; the wealthy Lazarus took part with Jesus, of whom everyone thought that He was about to establish a kingdom; He was spoken of on all sides as a King, as the Messiah, as the Prophet of Nazareth. His miracles and wisdom were on every tongue. Judas consequently conceived a great desire to be numbered as His disciple and to share His greatness which, he thought, was to be that of this world. For a long time previously he had picked up, wherever he could, information of Jesus and had in turn carried around tidings of Him. He had sought the acquaintance of several of the disciples, and was now nearing the object of his desires. The chief motive that influenced him to follow Jesus was the fact that he had no settled occupation and only a half-education. He had embarked in trade and commerce, but without success, and had squandered the fortune left him by his natural father. Lately he had been executing all kinds of commissions, carrying on all kinds of business and brokerage for other people. In the discharge of such affairs, he showed himself both zealous and intelligent.
A brother of Judas’ deceased father, named Simeon, was engaged in agriculture in Iscariot, the little place of about twenty houses that belonged to Meroz and from which it lay only a short distance toward the east. His parents had lived there a long time, and even after their death he had generally made it his home, hence his appellation of Iscariot. His parents at one time led a wandering life, for his mother was a public dancer and singer. …She was a poetess. She composed songs and anthems, which she sang with harp accompaniment. She taught young girls to dance, and carried with her from place to place all sorts of feminine finery and new fashions. Her husband, a Jew, was not with her; he lived at Pella. Judas was an illegitimate child whose father was an officer in the army near Damascus. He was born on one of his mother’s professional journeys… Shortly after his birth, he was abandoned on the water’s edge. But being found by some rich people with no children of their own, they cared for the child and bestowed upon him a liberal education. Later on, however, he turned out to be a bad boy and, through some kind of knavery, fell again to the care of his mother, who assumed the charge for pay. Blessed Anne Catherine recalled, “It is in my mind that the husband of his mother, becoming acquainted with the boy’s origin, had cursed him.” Judas received some wealth from his illegitimate father. He was possessed of much wit. After the death of his parents, he lived mostly in Iscariot with his Uncle Simeon, the tanner, and helped him in his business. He was not as yet a villain, but loquacious [a big talker], greedy for wealth and honor, and without stability. He was neither a profligate [spendthrift] nor a man without religion, for he adhered strictly to all the prescriptions of the Jewish Law. He comes before me [she said,] as a man that could be influenced as easily to the best things as to the worst. With all his cleverness, courteousness, and obligingness, there was a shade of darkness, of sadness, in the expression of his countenance, proceeding from his avarice, his ambition, his secret envy of even the virtues of others. He was not, however, exactly ugly. There was something bland and affable in his countenance, though at the same time, something abject and repulsive. His father had something good in him, and thence came that possessed by Judas. When as a boy he was returned to his mother, and she on his account was embroiled in a quarrel with her husband, she cursed him. Both she and her husband were jugglers. They practiced all kinds of tricks; they were sometimes in plenty and as often in want. The disciples in the beginning were favorably inclined toward Judas on account of his obliging ways, for he was ready even to clean their shoes. As he was an excellent walker, he made at first long journeys in the service of the little Community. [Anne Catherine said:] I never saw him work a miracle. He was always full of envy and jealousy and, toward the close of Jesus’ career, he had become weary of obedience, of the wandering life of the disciples, and of the – to him–inexplicable mystery that surrounded the Divine Master.
The town of Meroz, abandoned, despised, and helpless, possessed an astonishing number of sick, dropsical old people, paralytics, and sufferers of all kinds. Jesus, accompanied by the disciples, went into the city. …He sent the disciples up to the mountain where, after healing the lepers, He was to deliver an instruction. On the way the disciples were met by Judas Iscariot, and when Jesus again joined them, Bartholomew and Simon Zelotes presented him to Jesus with the words: “Master, here is Judas of whom we have spoken to Thee.” Jesus looked at him graciously, but with indescribable sorrow. Judas, bowing, said: “Master, I pray Thee allow me to share Thy instructions.” Jesus replied sweetly and in words full of prophetic meaning: “Thou mayst have a place among My disciples, unless thou dost prefer to leave it to another.” While on the mountain, Jesus had caused to be distributed to the poor, the money that the disciples had brought with them from Capharnaum. Judas regarded that distribution with a covetous eye. During the meal at the inn, Jesus continued His instructions, and indeed after it far into the night. Today, for the first time, Judas sat at table with the Saviour and spent the night under the same roof with Him.
On the following morning, before going again to the mountain, Jesus taught at the fountain in Meroz,…. After that He ascended the mountain and delivered an instruction similar to that known as the Sermon on the Mount. Judas’s uncle, Simeon of Iscariot, a devout, old man, dark complexioned and vigorous, entreated Jesus to go to Iscariot, and Jesus promised to do so. … Next morning Jesus left the inn with the disciples and journeyed eastward to Iscariot, distant not quite an hour. …The tanner’s trade, on account of the odors attending it, was held in detestation by the Jews. …In Iscariot no calling was carried on but tanning, and it seemed to me that most of the houses of this place belonged to old Simeon, the uncle of Judas. Judas was very dear and quite useful to his old uncle in his leather trade. Sometimes he dispatched him with asses to purchase raw hides, sometimes with prepared leather to the seaport towns, for he was a clever and cunning broker and commission merchant. Still he was not at this time a villain, and had he overcome himself in little things, he would not have fallen so low. …
Judas was, here in Iscariot, very obliging and ready to serve; he was perfectly at home. His uncle, the tanner Simeon, a very busy and active man, received Jesus and the disciples at some distance from the place, washed their feet, and offered the customary refreshments. Jesus and the disciples visited his house where were his family, consisting of his wife, his children, and his servants. …Jesus taught upon the parable of the sower and the different kinds of soil. He exhorted the people to let the instructions they had heard from Him on the mountain near Meroz find good soil in their hearts. Jesus afterward, with the disciples and Simeon’s family, took a little repast standing. During it old Simeon begged Him to admit Judas his nephew, whom he praised in many ways, to a participation in His teachings and His Kingdom. Jesus responded in pretty much the same terms as He had used toward Judas himself: “Everyone may have a share therein, provided he is resolved not to relinquish his portion to another.” Jesus and the disciples went from Iscariot back toward the west. …
After this Jesus left the city with several of His disciples, and descended into the valley that runs from south to northwest of Dothan. Issachar had distributed large alms in Dothan, and sent also to the inn of the little community asses with various necessaries. Judas Iscariot and many other disciples returned from Dothan to their own homes. Jesus kept with Him only nine, among whom were Thomas, James the Less, Jude Barsabas, Simon Thaddeus, little Cleophas (Nathanael), Manahem, and Saturnin.
After a journey of about five hours, …The disciples gathered wood and made a fire. On the way Jesus had had a long conversation with them, intended principally for the instruction of Thomas, Simon, Manahem, “Little Cleophas,” and the others newly received. He spoke of their following Him, and through the deep conviction of the worthlessness of earthly goods, of their leaving their relatives without regret and without looking back. He promised that what they had left should be restored to them in His Kingdom a thousand-fold. But they should reflect maturely whether or not they could break their earthly ties. To some of the disciples, and especially to Thomas, Judas Iscariot was not particularly pleasing. He [Thomas] did not hesitate to say plainly to Jesus that he did not like Judas Simonis, because he was too ready to say yes and no. Why, he asked, had He admitted that man among His disciples, since He had been so difficult to please in others. Jesus answered evasively that from eternity it was decreed by God for Judas, like all the others, to be of the number of His disciples. When the disciples had retired to rest, Jesus went alone into the mountains to pray.
We now turn to Book III.
Jesus again taught unmolested in the synagogue. …The streets were again filled with the sick. …Many of them had been there before, but had not been cured. They were weak, tepid, slothful souls, more difficult to convert than great sinners of more ardent nature. Magdalen was converted only after many struggles and relapses, but her last efforts were generous and final. Dina the Samaritan turned at once from her evil ways. All the great female sinners were very quickly and powerfully converted, as was also the sturdy Paul, to whom conversion came like a flash of lightning. Judas, on the contrary, was always vacillating, and at last fell into the abyss. It was the same with the great and most violent maladies which I saw Jesus, in His wisdom, cure at once. They that were afflicted with them, like the possessed, had no will whatever to remain in the state in which they were, or again, self-will was entirely overcome by the violence of the malady. But as to those that were less grievously affected, whose sufferings only opposed an obstacle to their sinning with more facility, and whose conversion was insincere, I saw that Jesus often sent them away with an admonition to reform their lives; or that He only alleviated without curing their bodily ills, that through their pressure the soul might be cured.
Jesus journeyed quickly with the disciples all the remainder of the day, pausing only now and again to rest a few moments and take some refreshment. He taught all along the way about the forsaking of temporal goods, and in parables instructed them upon the Kingdom of God. He told them that it was impossible to make all these things clear to them just then, but a time would come when they would, comprehend all. He spoke of giving up earthly care of food and raiment. They would soon see a hungry multitude with provisions far from sufficient for their wants. They, the disciples, would say to Him: “Whence shall we get bread?” and a superabundance should be given unto them. …Judas was very much rejoiced. He gave noisy expression to his satisfaction and said aloud in the hearing of all that he would not shirk labor, that he would do his share of the work. On hearing this, Jesus stood still and said: “We are not yet at the end of our mission. It will not always be as it is now. Ye will not always be well received and entertained, ye will not always have things in abundance. The time will come when they will persecute you and thrust you out, when ye will have neither shelter, nor food, nor clothing, nor shoes.” …He spoke likewise of two kingdoms opposed to each other. No one can serve two masters. Whoever desired to serve in His Kingdom must forsake the other.
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Jesus and all His Apostles rowed over to Bethsaida. Matthew had delivered the custom house to a man belonging to the fishery. Since his reception of John’s baptism, he had carried on his business in an altogether blameless manner. The other publicans also were honest in their dealings and very liberal men, who gave large alms to the poor. Judas is still good. He is uncommonly active and ready to render service, though in his distribution of alms somewhat close and calculating. …
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In the intervals of His public teaching and curing, Jesus, whenever He found Himself alone with His Apostles and disciples, prepared them for their mission. Today He led The Twelve to a retired spot near the lake, placed them in the order mentioned in the Gospel, and conferred upon them the power of healing and of casting out devils. … Jesus replied [said] that there were afflictions and hardships in store for them, and that evil would glide in among them. By these words He alluded to Judas.
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Near Gergesa [Gennesaret] Jesus cast the Legion of evil spirits of the two possessed men into the herd of swine. … After that they returned to the city. Judas Iscariot was particularly busy and active among the Gergeseans, for he was well-known in these parts. His mother had dwelt here with him for some time when he was still young, and just after he had run away from the family in which he had been secretly reared. The two possessed were acquaintances of his youth. The Jews rejoiced in secret over the loss sustained by the Gentiles in their swine, for they were very much oppressed by them and greatly scandalized on account of the unclean animals. Still there were many among them who lived on easy terms with the pagans and defiled themselves with their superstitious practices.
…Then Jesus taught on the bread of life. When the Jews questioned Him again, on His discourse of the preceding day, that on the Bread of Life, on the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood, He repeated His former instruction in strong and precise terms. Many of His disciples murmured and said: “This saying is hard, and who can hear it?”… Jesus predicted to them clearly that they would persecute Him, that even the most faithful among them would abandon Him and take to flight, and that He would fall into the arms of His enemies, who would put Him to death. But, He said, He would not abandon His unfaithful disciples; His Spirit would hover near them. Anne Catherine clarified the words, “He would run into the arms of His enemy,” were not exactly those used by Jesus. It was rather that He would embrace His enemy, or be embraced by him, but I no longer remember which. It referred to the kiss and perfidy of Judas.
Blessed Anne shared: As Jesus with the Apostles and disciples was making the journey from Capharnaum to Cana and Cydessa, I saw Him …revealing to each his own peculiar disposition and character. …Each heard his own thoughts and hopes revealed to him by Jesus, and all were strongly affected. Jesus delivered at the same time a lengthy discourse upon the hardships and sufferings that awaited them, and on this occasion He again made use of the expression: “Among you there is a devil….On this journey Jesus further instructed The Twelve and the disciples exactly how to proceed in the future when healing the sick and exorcising the possessed, as He Himself did in such cases. He imparted to them the power and the courage always to effect, by imposition of hands and anointing with oil, what He Himself could do. This communication of power took place without the imposition of hands, though not without a substantial transmission. They stood around Jesus, and I saw rays darting toward them of different colors, according to the nature of the gifts received and the peculiar disposition of each recipient. They exclaimed: “Lord, we feel ourselves endued with strength! Thy words are truth and life!” And now each knew just what he had to do in every case in order to effect a cure. …
Jesus sent several of His companions into the cities of the Land of Cabul, and Judas Iscariot with some disciples to Cana near Sidon. The disciples had resigned to the care of the Apostles, each to the one set over him as his Superior, whatever money or goods they might happen to have with them. To Judas alone, Jesus gave a sum for himself. Jesus knew his greed for money and would not expose him to the temptation of appropriating that of others. He had remarked his anxiety on the score of money, although Judas loved to boast of his frugality and strict observance of the law of poverty. On receiving the money, he asked Jesus how much he might daily spend. Jesus answered: “He that is conscious of being so strictly temperate, needs neither rule nor direction. He bears in himself his law.”
…[Later,] the Apostles and disciples were scattered throughout the country on missions. Judas was the last to set out. He went with his little troop to Cana the Greater.
…On an invitation from the Levites, Jesus accompanied them to Misael, a very ancient city… Judas, who loved to execute business commissions, and Thomas, whose family owned rafts in the port and who was well-known here, went with several disciples to Hepha to make arrangements for the expected Cypriotes.
…After about fifteen of the disciples had assembled in Capharnaum, Jesus took them with Him to the mountain near Bethsaida, where He had taught about the eating of His Flesh and the drinking of His Blood. On this occasion, His instruction turned upon their own mission and labors, and the fruit they were to bring forth. The holy women were present. In this instruction Jesus related the parable of the workmen in the vineyard. He praised and encouraged the disciples and blessed them in a body, His hands outstretched above their heads, and they were again filled with strength and courage… Judas was vehemently desirous of praise, though he had not the candor to let it appear. He was on his guard more, however, that he might not be put to shame than that he might not sin.
…One hour from Bethania, they entered the inn at which Jesus had taught so long before Lazarus’s resurrection and to which Magdalen had come forth to meet Him. The Blessed Virgin also was at the inn with other women, likewise five of the Apostles: Judas, Thomas, Simon, James the Less, Thaddeus, John Marc, and some others…The Apostles came out a part of the way to meet the Lord at a well, where they saluted Him and washed His feet, after which He gave an instruction which was followed by a meal. The women then went on to Bethania while Jesus remained at the inn with the rest of the party.
…Blessed Anne Catherine said: I saw Jesus afterward with the two disciples again in Bethabara and Ephron, where He celebrated the Sabbath. Andrew, Judas, Thomas, James the Less, Thaddeus, Zacheus, and seven other disciples were present, having come hither from Bethania to meet Jesus. When Judas was about leaving Bethania, I saw the Blessed Virgin earnestly exhorting him to be more moderate, to watch over himself, and not interfere in affairs as he did.
The Blessed Virgin very often warned him, but he was extremely vacillating. He was susceptible of very vehement, though not lasting repentance. His head was always running on the establishment of an earthly kingdom, and when he found that not likely to be fulfilled, he began to appropriate the money entrusted to his care. He was therefore greatly vexed that the worth of Magdalen’s ointment had not passed as alms through his hands. It was at the last Feast of Tabernacles in Jesus’ lifetime that Judas began to go to the bad. When he betrayed Jesus for money, he never dreamed of His being put to death. He thought his Master would soon be released; his only desire was to make a little money.
We will continue with the story of Judas from Book 4 of Blessed Anne Catherine’s visions in our next podcast, “Judas the Betrayer”. We remind our listeners that her visions are private revelation and should be discerned based on the teachings of the Catholic Church.
We will add this episode to our YouTube channel playlist. You can find the script of these excerpts of her diary on PatriarchMinistries.com/212. You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit and “Judas Before the Betrayal”. I am Patti Brunner. Be sure and come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more! Amen.
