into His presence, hungering for the living word on
which to feed their starving souls. John said to them: "His teaching
is nourishment. His word is flesh. Who eats of His flesh and drinks
of His blood will not die."

They wondered at those words. How were they to understand what was
meant by eating His flesh and drinking His blood?

Then John; "The word is like flesh, it nourishes the soul. Manna was
sent from Heaven for our ancestors, yet they died. His word is bread
from heaven which makes us immortal." They remembered another saying:
"His flesh is food indeed!" And they explained that a man's body is
destined to be consumed by the spirit, like tallow and wick by flame.
So man, in order to become divine, must attain the divine life through
the medium of humanity.

They remained with Him day and night in their thousands, and were
satisfied. And many entreated Him to pour water over their heads as a
token that they were His adherents and desired to be pure.

It was a starry night in the desert, one of those nights when the stars
shine down in sparkling brilliance and envelop the rocks in a bluish
shimmer and vapour, so that it seems like a resurrection of glorified
souls. One of the disciples looked up at the stars shining in the sky
in holy stillness, and said: "Brother, this infinitude of space makes
me afraid."

The other disciple: "I rejoice over that infinite space."

"My terror causes me to flee to my Heavenly Father."

"I take my joy to my Heavenly Father."

They were all lying on the ground in a wide circle round Jesus. They
wished to rest, but the night was too beautiful for sleep.

And one of them began to say softly: "This is like the Kingdom of God."

Another lifted his head, which had been resting on his arm, and said:
"Do you know, then, what the Kingdom of God is like?"

The first speaker was silent for a space, and then replied: "No,
indeed, I don't know, but I like to think about it. He speaks so often
of the Kingdom of Heaven, I should like to know something more definite
about it."

"Shall we ask Him?"

"You ask Him."

"I dare not."

"Let us ask John. He knows Him best, and possibly can tell us
something."

John was lying on the sand with his head on a stone. His soft hair was
his pillow. But he was not asleep. They crept up to him, and boldly
asked him where the Kingdom of Heaven was, of which the Master so often
spoke. Was it under the earth or above the sun?