Confidence in the Virgin Mary

But now, how could I tell him that I was a Mother? I endeavoured to find suitable words to give him the news. A difficult task, as I did not want to boast of God’s gift and on the other hand there was no way of justifying My maternity without saying: “The Lord has loved Me amongst all women and has made Me, His servant, His Bride”. Neither did I wish to deceive him by concealing My condition from him.

And while I was praying, the Spirit of Whom I was full, said to Me: “Be silent. Entrust Me with the task of justifying You with Your spouse”. When? How? I did not ask. I had always relied upon God, and I had always allowed Myself to be led by Him exactly as a flower is led away by running water. The Eternal Father had never abandoned Me without His help. His hand had always supported, protected and guided Me so far. It would do so also now.

18.9 O My daughter, how beautiful and comforting is faith in our Eternal Good God! He holds us in His arms as in a cradle, like a boat He steers us into the bright harbour of Goodness, He warms our hearts, comforts and nourishes us, He bestows rest and happiness, light and guidance on us. Reliance in God is everything, and God grants everything to those who trust in Him: He gives Himself.

That evening I elevated to perfection My reliance as a creature. Now I was able to do so, because God was in Me. Before I had the confidence of a poor creature, such as I was: a mere nothing, even if I was so much loved as to be the Faultless One. But now I had a divine confidence, because God was Mine: My Spouse, My Son! Oh! What a joy! To be One with God. Not for My own glory, but to love Him with a total union and say to Him: “You, only You are in Me: please assist Me with Your Divine perfection in everything I do”.

If He had not said to Me: “Be silent!”, I would probably have dared say to Joseph, with My face bowed to the ground: “The Spirit has penetrated Me and now the Embryo of God is in Me”, and he would have believed Me, because he held Me in high esteem and because like those who never lie, he could not believe that others lied. Yes, to avoid hurting his feelings in the future, I would have overcome My reluctance to praise Myself. But I obeyed the divine command. And for months after that moment, I felt the first wound pierce My heart.

It was the first pain in My destiny of Co-Redeemer. I offered and suffered it to repair and to give you guidance for similar circumstances in life, when it is necessary to suffer in silence for an event that casts a bad light on you in relation to those who love you.

18.10 Entrust God with the protection of your reputation and affections. If you deserve God’s protection with a holy life, you can proceed safely. Even if the whole world is against you, He will defend you with regard to those who love you and will cause the truth to be known.

Now rest, My dear, and be more and more My dear daughter.»

• Annunciation
• Confidence in the Virgin Mary
• Holy Spirit
• Humility of the Virgin Mary
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Motherhood of the Virgin Mary
• Obedience to the Virgin Mary
• Passion of the Virgin Mary and Joseph
• Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary - Co-Redemptrix

«Oh, how I will love My Child! My Son! Also Joseph will love Him.»

«But You will have to tell Joseph.»

Mary’s face darkens, and She sighs. «Yes, I will have to tell him… I wish Heaven would tell him, because it is so difficult to tell.»

«Shall I tell him? We will ask him to come for John’s circumcision…»

«No. I have entrusted God with the task of informing him of his happy destiny of putative father of the Son of God, and He will do so. The Spirit said to Me that evening: ‘Be silent. Entrust Me with the task of justifying You’. And He will do so. God never lies. It is a great trial, but with the help of the Eternal Father, it will be overcome. No one must learn from My mouth what the goodness of the Lord has done. Certainly you are the exception, because the Spirit revealed it to you.»

• Confidence in the Virgin Mary
• Incarnation
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Motherhood of the Virgin Mary
• Passion of the Virgin Mary and Joseph

«They have posted an edict on the synagogue door. It orders the census of all Palestinians. And everybody must go and register in his place of origin. We must go to Bethlehem…»

27.3 «Oh!» exclaims Mary, interrupting him and putting one hand on Her bosom.

«It’s a shock, isn’t it? And a sad one. I know!»

«No, Joseph. That’s not it. I am thinking… I am thinking of the Holy Scriptures: Rachel, Benjamin’s mother and Jacob’s wife of whom the Star will be born: the Saviour. Rachel buried in Bethlehem, of which it is said: ‘But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, out of you will be born the Ruler’. The Ruler who was promised to the House of David. He will be born there…»

«Do You… do You think it is already the time?… Oh! What shall we do?» Joseph is completely dismayed. He looks at Mary with two pitiful eyes.

She realises this and smiles. But She smiles more at Herself than at him. A smile that seems to say: «He is a man, a just man, but a man. And he sees as a man. He thinks as a man. Have pity on him, o soul of Mine, and guide him so that he may see as a spirit.» But Her kindness induces Her to reassure him. She is not untruthful. She simply diverts his anxiety. «I do not know, Joseph. My time is very close. But could the Lord not delay it to relieve you from this worry? He can do everything. Don’t fear.»

«But the journey!… Think of the crowds. Shall we find good lodgings? Shall we be in time to come back? And if… if You are to become a Mother there, what will we do? We have no home there… We do not know anybody anymore.»

«Don’t be afraid. Everything will be alright. God finds a shelter for the animal about to give birth. Do you think He will not find one for His Messiah? We trust in Him, don’t we? We always trust in Him. The harder the trial, the more we trust. Like two children we put our hands in His fatherly ones. He is our guide. We rely entirely on Him. Consider how He has led us with love so far. A father, even the best of fathers, could not do it with greater care. We are His children and His servants. We fulfil His will. No harm can befall us. Also this edict is His will. What is Caesar after all? An instrument in the hands of God. Since the time when the Father decided to forgive man, He pre-arranged the events so that His Christ may be born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, the smallest town in Judah, did not yet exist and its glory was already destined. And there… a powerful man has risen, very far from here, and he conquered us, and now he wants to know all his subjects, now, while the world is in peace… so that the glory of Bethlehem may be accomplished and the word of God may not be belied, — as it would be if the Messiah were to be born elsewhere. Oh! What is our small trouble if we consider the beauty of this moment of peace? Just think, Joseph: a period of time when there is no hatred in the world! Can there be a happier hour for the rising of the ‘Star’, the light of which is divine and its influence is redemption? Oh! Do not be afraid, Joseph. If the roads are not safe, if the crowds will make the journey a difficult one, the angels will defend and protect us. Not us: but their King. If we find no accomodation, their wings will be our tents. No mishap will befall us. It cannot: God is with us.»

• Confidence in the Virgin Mary

28.3 They take to the road again. A wider valley can be seen from the crest they have climbed over. In the valley, up and down the soft slopes surrounding it, there are many houses. It is Bethlehem.

«Here we are in David’s land, Mary. Now You will be able to rest. You look so tired…»

«No. I was thinking… I think…» Mary gets hold of Joseph’s hand and says to him with a blissful smile: «I really think that the time has come.»

«O Lord of mercy! What shall we do?»

«Don’t be afraid, Joseph. Be steady. See how calm I am?»

«But You must be suffering a lot.»

«Oh! No. I am full of joy. Such a joy, so great, so beautiful, so uncontainable, that My heart is thumping and thumping and it is whispering to Me: ‘He is coming! He is coming!’ It says so at each beat. It is My Child knocking at My heart and saying: ‘Mother, I am here and I am coming to give You the kiss of God’. Oh! What a joy, My dear Joseph!»

But Joseph is not joyful. He is thinking of the urgent need to find a shelter and he quickens his pace. He goes from door to door asking for a room. Nothing. They are all full. They reach the hotel. Even the rustic porches surrounding the large inner yard are full of campers.

Joseph leaves Mary on the donkey inside the yard and he goes out looking in other houses. He comes back thoroughly disheartened. He has not found anything. The fast winter twilight is beginning to spread its shadows. Joseph implores the hotel-keeper. He implores also some of the travellers. He points out that they are all healthy men, that there is a woman about to give birth to a child. He begs them to have mercy. Nothing.

There is a rich Pharisee who looks at them with obvious contempt and when Mary goes near him, he steps aside as if he had been approached by a leper. Joseph looks at him and his face blushes with disdain. Mary lays Her hand on his wrist to calm him and says: «Don’t insist. Let us go. God will provide.»

• Confidence in the Virgin Mary
• Words of the Virgin Mary

• Annunciation
• Charity of the Virgin Mary
• Confidence in the Virgin Mary
• Elizabeth of Hebron (mother of John the Baptist)
• God the Father
• Holy Spirit
• Holy Trinity
• Humility of the Virgin Mary
• Incarnation
• Jean-Baptiste
• Jesus Christ
• Kingship of Jesus Christ - Christ-King
• Name of Jesus Christ
• Obedience to the Virgin Mary
• Rosary
• Saint Gabriel Archangel
• Sauveur
• The Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary - Full of Grace
• Virginity of the Virgin Mary
• Words of the Virgin Mary
• Zacharie (father of John the Baptist)

«But the day after? And then later?» many ask, amongst them the two Maries.

«The following day? Oh! very simple! I was the mother who nurses her baby, washes him and swaddles him, as every mother does. I used to warm the water of the stream on a fire lit out there, so that the smoke would not hurt His little blue eyes, and then in the most sheltered corner in an old tub I washed My Child and put fresh swaddling clothes on Him. I washed His napkins in the stream and hung them out in the sun… and then — and it was My greatest joy — I suckled Him and He sucked and became rosier and happier… On the first day, at the warmest hour of the day, I sat out there to see Him properly. The light glimmers in here, it does not come in direct and the lamp and the flame of the fire made things look strange. I went out there, in the sun… and I looked at the Incarnate Word. The Mother then became acquainted with Her Son and the handmaid of God with Her Lord. And I was a woman and a worshipper… Then Anna’s house… the days near Your cradle, Your first steps, Your first word… But that happened later, in due course… And nothing, nothing was equal to the hour of Your birth… Only when I return to God I will find that fullness once again…»

«But… why set out at the last moment! How unwary of You! Why not wait? The decree provided for an extension for special cases such as birth or disease. Alphaeus said so…» says Mary of Alphaeus.

«Wait? Oh! no! That evening, when Joseph brought the news, You and I, Son, leapt for joy. It was the call… because You were to be born here, and nowhere else, as the Prophets had foretold[2], and that sudden decree was as if merciful Heaven wanted Joseph to erase even the memory of his suspicion. It was what I was waiting for, for You, for him, for the Judaic world and for the future world, forever and ever. We decided. And we acted accordingly. Wait! Can the bride delay her nuptial dream? Why wait?»

«Well… anything might have happened…» says Mary of Alphaeus once again.

«I was not afraid of anything. I rested in God.»

«But did You know that everything would happen thus?»

«Nobody told Me. And I never thought of it, so much so that to encourage Joseph, I let him and you doubt that there was still time for the birth. But I knew, I really knew that the Light of the World was to be born during the feast of the Dedication.»

«And you, mother, why did you not go with Mary? And why did father not think of it? After all you were both going to come here! Did we not all come?» asks Judas Thaddeus sternly.

«Your father had decided to come after the Dedication and he told his brother. But Joseph would not wait.»

«But at least you…» insists Thaddeus.

«Do not reproach her, Judas. By mutual consent we decided it was just to lay a veil on the mystery of this birth.»

«Did Joseph know that it was to take place with those signs? If You did not know, how could he have known?»

«We knew nothing, except that He was to be born.»

«So?»

«So divine Wisdom guided us, as it was right that it should. Jesus’ birth and His presence in the world were to appear devoid of uncommon features, which might arouse Satan… And you are aware that the present bitter hatred of Bethlehem people towards the Messiah is a consequence of Christ’s first epiphany. Demoniacal hatred made use of the revelation to cause bloodshed, and thereby intensify hatred.»

• Alphée de Jacob (father of James and Jude d'Alphée and uncle of Jesus)
• Anne of Bethlehem
• Biblical prophecies
• Confidence in the Virgin Mary
• Edict of Bethlehem
• Jude of Alphée (apostle)
• Marie Salomé (mother of James and John of Zebedee)
• Marie d'Alphée (Mary of Cleophas)
• Prescience of the Virgin Mary