According to the Spirit Humberto de Campos in the book “Boa Nova” (Good News), through the mediumship of our beloved medium Chico Xavier, Joanna of Chuza was someone who had real faith. She was one of Jesus’ disciples from the very beginning.
Source: "A Veneranda Joanna de Ângelis", from Celeste Santos and Divaldo Pereira Franco, Editora LEAL.
The author estates: "Amongst the masses that were always following JESUS when he would preach at the lake, there was a woman with rare dedication and very noble character. This was Joanna; the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod Antipas, king of the Jews from 4 BC to 39 BC.”
Her husband was had an important role at Herod’s administration; he didn’t share the same spiritual values his wife had. He actually could not tolerate the doctrine Joanna would follow with dedication and passion, from the Master Jesus Christ.
After having received a grace or a healing from the Master and having known his teachings by listening discreetly to his preaching, she tried to follow him. She was then advised by Jesus not to do so but to stay at home and, through her words and behavior, help the evolution of the husband who had been trusted to her in that life. Jesus worked out a plan of conduct which would help her to live with resignation for the rest of her life.
Soon later, she became a mother.
When her son was born, she dedicated her body and her soul to his upbringing and moral education, with the same zeal and love she had for her husband. Following Jesus from a distance, as much as her occupation as zealous mother and dedicated wife would allow, she was one of the women who provided financial help to Jesus and his disciples.
After Jesus’ martyrdom, Joanna joined other women and went to the tomb with spices and ointments to wrap up the dead body of the Master. Arriving there, they found the empty tomb, thus being able to testify the survival of the Spirit after the death of the body, as Jesus had taught them.
After her husband passed away, she was left with no resources and a son to educate. She bravely decided to look for work. She forgot about ‘the comfort of the material aristocracy; she dedicated her time to children from other mothers and devoted herself to the maintenance of her family.’ She worked for other families to raise her son, something she did with dignity until she was old.
During one of the many persecutions suffered by the early Christians, Joanna was imprisoned with her son and other followers of Jesus and taken to the circus in Rome. There on August 27, year 68, she was sacrificed by being burnt on a pyre stake together with her son and several other martyrs who refused to renounce their faith. She gave her testimony of her love for JESUS, the Master who enlightened her life giving her hope for a happier future.
Humberto de Campos’s description of the last moments of Joanna contains additional information that interests us in a particular way. Humberto de Campos tells us that when the flames had already started to touch Joanna’s body, she serenely lived those painful moments with her mind focused on Jesus. Then she was interrogated by an executioner, who asked her:
- Renounce him! – The executioner screams out loud with a cruel and dark look.
The old disciple contemplates the sky; she doesn’t deny or complain at any point in time. Then the executioner whips the seminude young man who cries out in tears: - "Renounce JESUS, my mother! Can’t you see we lost?! Please renounce him! ... For me; I am your son! ..."
This was the first time the martyr started to cry. Her child’s supplication was just like swords that would shred her heart into small pieces.
She then recalled her entire existence and said to him:
"- Hold your tongue, my son! Jesus was pure and didn’t deny the sacrifice. Let’s learn to suffer at this painful time because it’s necessary to be loyal to God, which is beyond all the transitional happiness of the world!"
Then she was asked by an executioner:
- Has your Christ only taught you how to die?
To what she placidly replied:
- Not only how to die, but also how to love you! ...
Soon later the fire consumed her physical body, freeing her to reunite with her Master; the one she was able to follow and learn the sublime love from. Under the tremendous emotional and mental dilemma of having to choose between keeping faithful to Jesus or betraying him in order to save her life and that of her son, she found the strength to discipline her mind and restrain her emotions. On that supreme moment she proved to have learned in the deepest of herself how to love even her executioners.
Xavier, Francisco Cândido. Boa Nova (Good News). Dictated by Spirit Humberto de Campos. FEB. Rio de Janeiro, 2002.
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