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The life of Saint Issa
Soon after, a wonderful child-was born in the land of Israel; God Himself spoke by the mouth of this child of the insignificance of body, and the grandeur of soul.
The parents of this child were poor people, belonging by birth to a family distinguished for their piety, who had forgotten their ancient grandeur on earth, in celebrating the name of the Creator and thanking Him for the misfortunes with which He was pleased to try them.
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To reward this family for remaining firm in the path of truth, God blessed their first-born child and elected him to go forth and uplift those that had fallen in evil and to cure those that were suffering.
8 The divine child, to whom they gave the name of Issa, began to speak, while yet a child, of the one indivisible God, exhorting the erring souls to repent and to purify themselves from those sins, of which they were guilty.
People came from all parts to listen to him and they marvelled at the words of wisdom which issued from his childish mouth; all the Israelites affirmed that in this child dwelt the Eternal Spirit.
10 When Issa reached the age of thirteen years, the time when an Israelite should take a wife,
The house where his parents earned a livelihood by means of modest labour, began to be a place of meeting for the rich and
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