The Sun shining through the drawn curtains of her hotel room, along with the muffled noise of the street traffic, woke up Miriam from her peaceful slumber. Feeling like staying in bed a bit more, she turned on her side, her back to the window and her head snuggling her pillow, and went back to sleep. Maybe half a hour later, Miriam finally decided to get up, having had plenty of sleep by now. Lazily going to the small bathroom of her room, she relieved herself, then brushed her teeth before going to the closet and choosing a red and gold Arabic robe and a pair of laced sandals. Dressing and then combing quickly her hair, she finally went down to the lobby of the hotel, her purse slung from one shoulder. Hanna Chomsky, coming out of the small kitchen of her hotel while carrying a basket of fresh croissants and bagels, smiled warmly to Miriam.
“Ah, final y awake, I see. Wil you have breakfast now, Miriam?”
One sniff of the smell from the still warm pastries was enough to decide Miriam.
“I sure will, Hanna.”
“Then, come sit in the lounge and let me serve you.”
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Taking place at one of the small tables of the hotel’s lounge, Miriam nodded politely to a young British couple sitting at the next table and munching on croissants and bread with jam and butter.
“Good morning!” she said softly to them in her good English. In truth, Miriam could speak a good nine languages, five of them thanks to the mnemotronic teaching techniques used by the Time Patrol and the Global Council. With mnemotronics, one could learn a new language in barely twenty minutes. The young couple returned her greeting, then continued their quiet conversation. A minute later, Miriam was also munching on pastries and sipping on a cup of hot coffee. Hanna brought her a newspaper after a couple more minutes.
“I thought that you may be interested in the front page titles of this morning’s paper, Miriam.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“Just read, friend!” replied Hanna with a grin before leaving the newspaper on Miriam’s table. Now frankly curious, Miriam grabbed the paper with one hand and read the top title while still holding her cup of coffee. She was soon smiling with glee while reading about the various curses which had hit the governments that had broken diplomatic relations with Palestine and with the Time Patrol. The misadventures of the Vatican in particular made her chuckle.
“The offices of the Inquisition drenched by a rain of blood from the ceilings. How appropriate a curse.” she said to herself, unconsciously speaking in Aramaic. Turning the front page to read more about the series of curses, Miriam nearly spilled her coffee when she saw her own face on page three: there was an article about her being thrown out of the Italian embassy. Reasoning that it must have been made by the press photographer she had met outside the embassy, she read that article with intense interest. Apart from being written to make it as sensational as one could, the article was basically accurate and didn’t twist what Miriam had said to the photographer. What really got her attention was a note from the newspaper’s editor at the bottom of the article, inviting her to come to the newspaper’s head offices for a detailed interview.
That note also contained the address and telephone number of the newspaper’s offices.
Miriam suddenly knew what she was going to do today.
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10:36 (Paris Time)
Head offices, newspaper ‘Le Figaro’
37 Rue du Louvre, Paris
Miriam, stepping out of her taxi after paying for her ride, looked upwards and examined briefly the narrow, seven story-high beige masonry building housing the offices of the newspaper ‘Le Figaro’. Two large signs, one vertical and the other one horizontal, left no doubt that she was at the right building, situated in downtown Paris near the Palace of The Louvre. With her large purse slung over her left shoulder and containing a copy of her manuscript about Yeshua, Miriam entered the building and found herself in a relatively small lobby. A reception counter sat near a wide staircase wrapped around an old elevator shaft. There were quite a few people present, going in and out of ground level offices or climbing up or down the stairs. Miriam went after a short hesitation to the reception counter and smiled to the young female receptionist, who wore large spectacles.
“Excuse me, miss. My name is Miriam of Magdala and I have an appointment with a Mister Raymond Aron.”
The young receptionist opened her eyes wide at those words and became visibly excited.
“You are Saint Mary Magdalene? Let me advise Mister Aron at once.”
The receptionist then picked up a telephone receiver and composed a number.
“Mister Aron? This is the reception desk: Saint Mary Magdalene is here to see you… Yes, right away, Mister Aron.”
Putting down the receiver, the young brunette looked back at Miriam, smiling warmly.
“Mister Aron’s office is on the third floor, Miss Magdalene. Turn left once out of the elevator, then go to the second door.”
“Thank you, miss.”
Miriam was about to walk towards the elevator when the receptionist quickly presented her a pen and a small card.
“Uh, could I ask you for an autograph, Miss Magdalene? I saw the Time Patrol documentary about Yeshua of Nazareth and found it so moving.”
“Why not?” replied Miriam, having grown somewhat accustomed to being a celebrity of sorts. She autographed the card in Aramaic and gave it back with the pen to the receptionist, who thanked her profusely. As she got in the elevator cage, Miriam
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couldn’t help think about what she represented to the average people of this time. Some treated her like an evil woman bent on destroying the Christian Church, while others adulated her for having been a close disciple of Yeshua. Yet, she felt herself to be no more than a simple Galilean woman who worked as a most mundane hairdresser while raising a teenage son. She didn’t feel to be extraordinary in the least way and held no special powers, contrary to what Nancy Laplante ‘A’ had been. More importantly, she didn’t have any wishes to become famous or important. The only thing she cared about was to spread the true words of Yeshua and correct all the falsehoods that had been said about him and his teachings.
She was soon knocking on a wood and glass door bearing a brass plaque with
‘Raymond Aron, Editor in Chief’ engraved on it.
“Come in!” said a male voice. Opening the door and entering a large office, Miriam closed the door behind her and walked to meet a thin, rather frail man in his fifties who had gotten up from behind a desk and was walking quickly to her. The man shook her hand gently while looking at her with gleaming eyes.
“Miss Miriam of Magdala, it is a true honor to be able to meet you. I am Raymond Aron, editor in chief at Le Figaro.”
“Pleased to meet you, Mister Aron. Are you Jewish, by chance?”
The editorialist nodded once his head at that.
“Yes! My family is from Alsace and is from old Jewish stock, but I am afraid that I practice religion very little.”
“That is not a negative point in my mind, Mister Aron: I myself practice religion much less now than thirteen years ago.”
“Oh? How so?” said Aron, clearly surprised. “You were a close disciple of Jesus for years.”
“I effectively was, but living close to Nancy Laplante, a Chosen of The One, showed me that good deeds and kindness are a lot more meaningful than periodic prayers and fasts. To a lesser degree, this was also the philosophy of Yeshua, who was trying to make the Jewish religion more open and tolerant, as well as more appealing to all.”
“I see already that our conversation will be a very interesting one, Miss Magdala.
Please sit down and make yourself comfortable. Would you like coffee or tea, or anything else?”
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Miriam gently shook her head while sitting down on the sofa designated by Aron.
“No, thank you. I had a late breakfast.”
Aron sat opposite her in a padded armchair positioned across from a low coffee table.
He then took out of a vest pocket a pack of cigarette and was extracting a cigarette when he noticed how Miriam’s expression suddenly became guarded.
“I’m sorry: I should have asked first. Does smoke disturbs you?”
“In truth,” replied Miriam cautiously, “I never got accustomed to tobacco smoke, Mister Aron. Tobacco was unknown in my original century and smoking is banned for health reasons in the society of the Global Council.”
“And, in the Time Patrol?” asked Aron while putting back the pack of cigarettes in his pocket with secret regret. “Is it also banned there?”
“It is.” answered Miriam, cautious about what she was saying now: the location and time period of the main base of the Time Patrol was a highly sensitive secret, for many reasons. “The members of the Time Patrol avoid smoking for mostly professional reasons, though: the smell of tobacco on their clothes or on their breath would attract attention on their field agents on missions in most periods of the past.”
“That is something I never realized before now, miss. It certainly makes a lot of sense. But let’s talk about you. I understand that you tried, without success, to go see the Pope in Rome in order to discuss with him the doctrine taught to you by Jesus Christ.”
“That is correct, Mister Aron. I have spent the last years writing down everything I could remember about the life and teachings of Yeshua. The Time Patrol historical archives also helped me fil in some gaps in my knowledge about Yeshua’s early life. I was anxious to show my manuscript to the Pope and discuss with him the discrepancies that exist in the official Church version of Yeshua’s teachings. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even obtain a visa to enter Italy and, when I went to the Paris Nunciature, they slammed the door in my face.”
“An impolite but not unexpected reaction on their part, miss.” said philosophically the French editorialist. “The Catholic Church always had a hard time adapting to others’
opinions. By the way, do you mind if I record this conversation, miss? It would save me from having to write constantly and would help us keep the conversation flowing.”
“Go right ahead, Mister Aron.”
The editorialist nodded, then pressed a button on the bulky tape recorder sitting on the coffee table. He next looked back at Miriam and smiled to her.
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“You went to the Nunciature yesterday, I suppose, miss?”
“Yes, I did!.”
“And now… what do you intend to do?”
“I’m not sure. It wil depend on how the Catholic Church reacts to the curse thrown on it and on the governments which broke diplomatic relations with Palestine and the Time Patrol. To be frank, I am wondering if the Church will ever listen in good faith to what I have to say. There are a lot of things in my gospel which contradict the official Bible. The Church may never accept to change significantly its doctrine.”
“Have you thought about the possibility of having your gospel published, thus bypassing the Catholic Church entirely, miss?”
“Until recently, no, but being spurned the way I was yesterday certainly makes that idea attractive to me now.”
“Then, if and when you do decide to try to publish your gospel, I would be most happy to make you meet with a well known publisher who is a good friend of mine. But, let’s talk now about your gospel. You said that there were a lot of things in it that contradicted the Bible. Could you tell me about the major points of contention in it?”
“Certainly!” replied Miriam, relaxing and laying back a bit in her sofa before continuing. “The main things that are misleading in the Bible and the Church doctrine in my mind are about women and tolerance towards other beliefs. First, the women.
Yeshua was, for his time, very tolerant of women and was more than happy to have female disciples around him. He in fact had at least as many female disciples than he had male ones. Unfortunately, the male disciples, starting with Shimon of Bethsaida, the one you would know as Saint Peter, were not as tolerant of women being active in the faith and did everything to erase our role and influence in Yeshua’s ministry. In fact, Shimon resented me deeply and was jealous of my influence on Yeshua. He was also resentful of Nava but was too afraid of her to dare be rude with her.”
“Nava? Who is that?”
“Nava was the name used by Nancy Laplante while she was following under a disguise Yeshua in order to document his life.”
“Oh, I see!” said Aron, smiling. “No wonder that your Shimon was intimidated by her. Did Yeshua know the true identity of Nava?”
“Not until close to the very end, and even then only part of it. He however always knew that she was a person with a very powerful psyche, as he was able to see the
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auras of the persons around him and saw that Nancy’s aura was so much brighter than anyone else’s aura.”
Aron nodded at that, digesting those words: Nancy Laplante was widely acknowledged today around the World as being the most powerful person alive, by far.
“Let’s go back to your role, miss. Very little is said about you in the Bible. In fact, you are all but absent from it except for a few quotes.”
“You can thank the early Christian Church for that, Mister Aron. It rewrote the scriptures and purged them in order to write a Bible that would reflect the ideas and prejudices of the Pope and of his clergy. That was also when women were demonized by the Church and basically made to be sinners and temptresses, mostly to affirm the powers of men over them. I was myself passed of as a sinner redeemed by Yeshua, all because in the year 591, Pope Gregory the First couldn’t make the difference between three women who bore the same name. In truth, Yeshua would be angry if he could see how a church that was founded in his name vilified the women he respected so much.
Other points he would disagree strongly with are about the ministry of women, or rather the lack of it today, and about the celibacy of priests.”
“Could you explain in detail those two points, Miss Magdala?”
“With pleasure. What is not reflected at all in the present Christian Bible is the true extent that the female disciples of Yeshua played in his ministry. Many of those women, including me, did a lot more than follow behind him and cook and wash for the male disciples. We also helped spread the preaching of Yeshua, talking with the women of the villages where we went through. Some, like me, also supported Yeshua financially. My family was wealthy and provided well for me, and I was in turn able to provide for Yeshua. In contrast, most of Yeshua’s male disciples were poor, mostly uneducated men who barely could support their own families. Being the best educated of the disciples and being able to write in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin, I also served as Yeshua’s scribe, who was himself only barely literate.”
“Please don’t take this bad, miss, but some today would say that you are painting yourself in the best possible light compared to Yeshua.” said cautiously Aron. He saw Miriam’s face become somber and she sat up straight while staring into his eyes. Her voice was calm but firm when she replied to him.
“Mister Aron, I was first the companion, then the legal wife of Yeshua and bore a child from him. He loved me and had total confidence in me. He also told me everything, something he didn’t do with any of his male disciples, and was quite happy to
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accept my help or advice when needed. I am not painting myself to look good: I am simply putting the record straight, a record that was grossly distorted by Yeshua’s male disciples after his death, a record that was then further distorted by the purges and rewrites made to the gospels by the early Christian Church.”
“Your point is well taken, miss. Now, what about the present celibacy of priests?”
Miriam scoffed at those words.
“Complete nonsense, that’s what it is. In Yeshua’s time, and even today stil , a Jewish rabbi was expected to marry and found a family. The Christian Church used its demonizing of women to justify its doctrine of priest celibacy, pretending that priests, apart from having to be male, had to stay pure by being celibate and devote themselves strictly to God. Well, I certainly don’t look at myself as being a demonizing influence and Yeshua sure didn’t look at me in that way. Also, celibacy simply goes against normal human nature and too often brings on deviant behavior. The Church is doing everything to hide the sexual scandals involving its clergy but you certainly know that there are plenty of cases today of priests abusing young boys or girls while the Church looks the other way.”
Aron nodded at that: the Overseer of Palestine had made sure during the past twelve years that such sexual abuses didn’t stay secret, lambasting the various churches for their hypocrisy and their disregard for the children being abused. Both the Catholic and various Protestant churches had been badly tainted publicly in recent years by horror stories of priests sexually abusing young boys or girls. The governments, police and medias, which at first had tended to close an eye and cover up such abuses in order to save the Church from scandal, had been gradually forced by public opinion to deal honestly with the problem. As a result, a number of priests and clergymen had been arrested in the past years, something previously unthinkable. That had also been one of the factors in the steady decline in the public popularity of the Christian churches during the past decade, which had been badly hurt financially as a result of the fall in Christian worship. In contrast, the informal religious philosophy preached by Nancy Laplante from Jerusalem, with its emphasis on practice of kindness and tolerance instead of formal praying and religious protocol, had gained tremendously in popularity around the World, and not only among Christians.
“I effectively know about such cases and, in fact, have written a number of editorials in the past about them. Are you thus advocating that priests should be allowed to marry, miss?”
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“Not only that, Mister Aron. I also say that women should be allowed to be priests as well, and so would Yeshua. The present doctrine of the Catholic Church on those subjects is in complete contradiction to the teachings of Yeshua.”
“That doctrine is one of the fundamental basis of the present church, Miss Magdala. The Vatican wil probably resist changing it to the bitter end.”
“Then, the Catholic Church wil meet a bitter end indeed.” pronounced firmly Miriam, well fired up by now. “The One has shown that it is running out of patience with the various Christian churches and the governments supporting those churches. If the Vatican has an ounce of common sense left, it will finally listen and adapt, or it will shrivel away as a financially and morally bankrupt institution. The word of God will prevail over the word of men pretending to speak for God.”
Aron nearly sucked in air at the hard conviction evident in Miriam’s voice and words: she was sounding pretty much like Nancy Laplante in Jerusalem, a woman who now had the ear of many people around the World, be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists.
“The Church could say that Nancy Laplante is one person pretending to speak for God, miss.” replied Aron, playing the Devil’s advocate. In return, Miriam stared calmly at him, stating calmly what was obviously for her a fact beyond doubt.
“Mister Aron, when Nancy Laplante performed mass healings, or when she produced a burst of anti-racist energy in Alabama, she was effectively one with The One.
In those instants, Nancy became an integral part of The One or, like when she addressed the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, even became The One temporarily. How else could anyone explain how powerful she can be, Mister Aron?”
Aron had to nod quietly at that, unable to counter that point.
The interview went on further for a good extra half hour, with many crucial points of religious faith debated between them. At the end of it, and with now enough materiel to produce one very powerful and controversial editorial, Aron thanked Miriam and arranged with her a meeting with an editor friend of his, so that Miriam could get her gospel published. Aron then escorted Miriam all the way down to the reception lobby, shaking her hand one last time as she was about to leave.
“Again, thank you for coming, Miss Magdala. It was a fascinating conversation. I wish you the best of luck in publishing your gospel. Don’t hesitate to call me if you further wish to discuss the subject of Yeshua in the future.”
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“And I thank you for listening to me, Mister Aron. Unfortunately, that is something too few people are ready to do these days. Shelama, Mister Aron.”
“Shalom, Miriam.”
Miriam then walked out of the building, followed thoughtfully by Aron’s eyes. While apparently a simple young woman, the last hour had shown to Aron that Miriam of Magdala was a woman of strong character with a bright mind. He had no doubt that her gospel was going to shake the Catholic Church to its very foundations.
In the days that followed, Raymond Aron and his newspaper were kept very busy indeed, covering and commenting the many Earth-shattering news breaking out around the World. First, in the afternoon of the same day Aron interviewed Miriam, the United States announced that it was resuming diplomatic relations with both Palestine and the Time Patrol and also canceling its embargo against Palestine. Most of the countries which had broken relations with Palestine did the same the next day, with Spain and Italy holding out for one more day before giving up under the pressure from the curses bedeviling them. Only the Vatican and the seat of the Greek Orthodox Church held on stubbornly to their stance. That however cost them more disillusioned worshipers who were not ready anymore to believe without question their old churches. After a week of resisting despite all odds, the Catholic and Orthodox churches were left with only a core of hard-line followers and with finances even more precarious than before. Pope Pius XII then aggravated his situation even further by launching a vitriolic verbal attack against Nancy Laplante and those who followed her, going to the point of publicly excommunicating all the Catholics who now supported the Overseer of Palestine. That only resulted in convincing the few hesitant, moderate Catholics left in fleeing their church. In the United States the Baptist Church, which had a huge African-American following, one very conscious of the past efforts by Nancy Laplante to eradicate racism and segregation, openly sided with her and Miriam in the theological dispute. With passionate sermons by such reverends as Martin Luther King in support of Miriam’s calls for church reform, many Americans left the formal teachings of their old churches and embraced what was starting to be called the ‘Reform Christian Movement’. Al the while, the Muslim world watched on with muted fascination but didn’t interfere in the Christian theological clashes. Nancy Laplante’s views were already well known to Muslims, as many of them went periodically to visit Jerusalem and as Nancy had been invited to The Mecca a number of times in the past by top Muslim leaders. Also, the new teachings
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about Yeshua didn’t clash with the broad beliefs of Islam, except maybe on the subject of the treatment and position of women. Most Muslims were however much more ready than the average Christian to obey what appeared clearly to them to be direct commands from God, given through a Chosen and the wife of a prophet.
Miriam’s gospel was then published in mid-October, just as the Vatican was on the verge of financial collapse. Launched in Paris in the midst of a media frenzy, Miriam’s book was an immediate literary success, selling by the tens of thousands in its first week of publication in France alone. An English translation followed in a mere week and took at once the United States and England by storm. Miriam’s simple, factual and unassuming style of writing did a lot to win over potential readers and the faithful. One French socialist-leaning bishop in the South of France then declared himself a new convert of the Reform Christian Movement and officially adopted Miriam’s gospel as the basis for his theology, also succeeding in assembling reform-minded priests around him.
His cathedral at once filled back with worshipers, who had been deserting it for years in a steady drain. The bishop’s next move was to ordain on his own authority a number of nuns as priests and to declare his priests and priestesses free to marry, something that earned him an immediate sentence of excommunication from the Pope. The bishop simply ignored that sentence and invited Miriam to come preach the next Sunday in his cathedral, which she did with enthusiasm in front of crowded pews. That Sunday was a true watershed, with a number of European bishops and even one archbishop converting to the new reformed church and adopting Miriam’s gospel in the following week. The first reformed church to operate under Miriam’s gospel in the United States was the one led by Reverend Martin Luther King and it opened to a full house in Montgomery, Alabama. From there, reformed churches spread out like wildfire, first through the Deep South and the New England states, then through the rest of the country, attracting Catholics and Protestants alike. While few male clergy members acknowledged it at first, the more open-minded political analysts around quickly pointed out that much of the success of the reformed religion was due to the renewed fervor of female faithfuls, who were at last treated as full equals of men in the eyes of the new faith. The much simplified theology, emphasized around the practice of compassion, kindness and tolerance, also did a lot to appeal to many, especially in poor countries with largely uneducated populations. By contrast, the clergy of the traditional churches in those same countries was often the most resistant to change. However, it only
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succeeded in falling harder when the floor gave way under the popular demands for reform. Many hardline Catholic priests and bishops around South America and Africa suddenly found themselves run out of their churches by crowds of ex-worshipers tired of being lectured to like retarded children by priests who were often European or American Caucasian missionaries. From there, young native priests took over, adopting Miriam’s gospel and following the counsels of the Overseer of Palestine.
By the end of November, the Vatican was reduced to a hollow shell with very little real authority left, while the Pope’s words now meant next to nothing. The various Christian Orthodox churches survived a bit longer, through intimidation of its followers and censorship against Miriam’s book. Natai, acting officially as Nancy Laplante, however gave the coup de grace to the Orthodox Church by paying a few judicious visits directly to local worshipers in Eastern Europe and Greece and spreading herself the new theology. Some not too bright Orthodox leaders tried to keep their flocks in line by enlisting the strong arm help of the local mafia, which often in the past had a profitable relationship with the Orthodox Church. The mafia men stupid enough to come to the help of the Orthodox Church however ended up in ashes, incinerated very publicly by Nancy Laplante as an object lesson to their masters. After that, even the dumbest criminals refused to approach the Orthodox Church, even with a ten-foot pole. Now totally discredited, the leaders of the Orthodox Church who had enough money stashed away after their years in power took an early retirement and were soon forgotten. Then, the true problem became that of finding replacements for the discredited clergymen.
Because of the rigid mentality of most of the Orthodox priests and, too often as well, their notoriously corrupt ways, very few Orthodox clergymen were willing or worthy of spreading the Reform Christian Movement in Eastern Europe. That was when the head nun of a convent in Leningrad took a bold leap and led the local conversion movement despite all the threats she received from hardline clergymen and believers. Within a month, and practically by default, most positions of leadership in the churches of Eastern Europe were taken over by nuns, who now became officially priestesses. By the time that the Christmas season of 1955 came, the religious face of the World was nearly unrecognizable.
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CHAPTER 4 – MATRIARCH OF THE FAITH
13:44 (Jerusalem Time)
Friday, December 23, 1955 ‘B’
Office of the Overseer, government palace
Jerusalem, Holy Land of Palestine
Natai was already up from behind her work desk when Miriam of Magdala walked in her office. Walking quickly around her desk and meeting Miriam in the middle of the office, Natai kissed her on both cheeks and invited her to sit in a sofa set in front of a low coffee table.
“It is a pleasure to see you, Miriam. Please, have a seat. How are you and David doing?”
“Fine, Nancy.” timidly said Miriam, stil intimidated by the true nature of Natai. “I came to seek your counsel.”
“And I wil be happy to help you as much as I can, friend. What is it about?”
Even though Miriam suspected strongly that Natai, and The One, already knew what she had in mind, she answered after sitting down.
“Wel , as you know, my gospel is now the official basic document of the Reform Christian Movement and I am constantly invited to churches around the World in order to give sermons and discuss Yeshua’s preaching. In that, I am too happy to help.
However, I never thought that I would become so central a figure to the new faith and being designated as a leader of the church somewhat scares me. After all, I am just a simple woman and was never interested in holding a position of power. Yet, the bishops of our faith have approached me and asked me to become in essence their pope. What shal I do?”
Natai gave her a thoughtful look and replied with a question of her own.
“Do you feel that what you already do is enough to support adequately the new faith, Miriam?”
“Uh, I believe so. The basic tenets of the new faith are simple enough and we did away with most of the convoluted rites and rules of the Catholic Church.”
“And what would you do if you found out one day that a particular priest or bishop of the new faith is imposing on his followers new rites of his own making?”
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“I would probably go see him and try to convince him to keep to the basic faith.”
“And why do you think that he will listen to you or obey your words, Miriam?”
Natai’s question somewhat put Miriam off.
“Uh, maybe because I knew Yeshua and his teachings better than anyone else and was close to him. The Reform Christian Movement emulates Yeshua’s teachings after all.”
Natai then grinned and pointed an index at Miriam.
“Exactly! Yet, you have no official title inside the new faith, apart from that of companion and disciple of Yeshua. You do not need any new title in order to be respected by your followers. In that, have no doubt: all those who converted to the Reform Christian Movement did it thanks to your words about Yeshua, as told in your gospel. The new faith is more like a philosophy than a religion and can function without a heavy central administration like the one the Vatican had. If anything, the simpler the faith stays, the better. The only thing it needs is a person who can mediate any dispute within the faith, the way Yeshua mediated between his disciples. As the matriarch of the movement, you do not need any formal title or position in order to help guide it.”
“Matriarch of the faith…” said softly Miriam while thinking about the accuracy of Natai’s analysis. “I could live with that title.”
“So, what wil you tell those bishops, Miriam?”
“That we do not need a pope, but that I wil be available to help in case of any dispute within the movement.”
“Good! Do you intend to move permanently to this century, then?”
“I suppose that I wil have to, if I want to be available to my followers. My mind is on moving to Paris and live there. I love that city very much.”
“And your son David?”
Miriam hesitated before answering that one.
“I am not sure about that. He is still studying back at the Time Patrol main base and has many good friends there. I would hate to move him out and place him in a position where he could be hounded like a celebrity.”
“You could live a dual life, like many members of the Time Patrol do. You did benefit from the genetic longevity treatment given by the Global Council, didn’t you?”
“I did. Those weeks in Paris without David wil feel long to me, though.”
“Which is only normal for a caring mother like you. You however now have a new and very large family to take care of. They need you as much as David does.”
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Miriam shrank into her sofa at those words.
“God, I don’t know if I wil be worthy of them.”
Natai bent forward and patted gently her shoulder.
“You will be, Miriam. Of that I am certain.”
Miriam, still a bit overwhelmed, then got up on her feet and smiled to Natai.
“Thank you for your counsel, Natai. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“You would manage just fine by yourself, Miriam. Don’t sell yourself short.”
The angel then kissed Miriam on her cheeks again and hugged her warmly.
“I wish the best to you and David, Miriam. Have a good trip back to Paris.”
Miriam returned her kiss and bowed her head to Natai, then turned around and walked out of the large office. Her mind was still in turmoil when she started climbing down the main staircase of the Overseer’s palace.
“Matriarch of the faith…” whispered Miriam to herself. “If Yeshua could see me now.”
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ANCIENT ROMAN MAP OF NORTHERN ISRAEL
(Locations and landmarks known to Romans superimposed onto a modern physical map) Bethlehem
Cana
