Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)

2.1I see the inside of a house. In it there is an elderly woman sitting at a loom. Noting that her hair, which formerly was definitely jet black, is now quite grey and her face, though not wrinkled, has the seriousness that comes with age, I would say that she must be fifty-five years old. Not more.

In estimating a woman’s age, I base my calculations upon my mother’s face, whose image is more than ever present to me in these times which remind me of her final days at my bedside… The day after tomorrow it will be a year since I had my last look at her… My mother had a very youthful face, but was prematurely grey. When she was fifty she was as grey as at the end of her life. But, apart from the maturity of her appearance, nothing betrayed her age. I could therefore be mistaken in estimating the age of an elderly woman.

The woman I see weaving in a room, bright with the light coming from a door wide open onto a large garden — a small holding I would call it because it smoothly extends up and down a green slope — the woman is beautiful in her definite Jewish features. Her eyes are black and deep and while I do not know why, they remind me of the Baptist’s. But, although they are as proud as the eyes of a queen, they are also sweet, as if a veil of blue had been laid on the flash of an eagle: sweet and somewhat sad, as of a person who thinks of and regrets lost things. Her skin is brown, but not excessively so. Her mouth, slightly large, is well formed and is motionless in an austere setting, which, however, is not a hard one. Her nose is long and thin, slightly drooping, an aquiline nose, which suits her eyes. She is well built, but not fat, well proportioned and I think tall, judging her by the position in which she is sitting.

I think she is weaving a curtain or a carpet. The many coloured spools move fast along the brown coloured weft, and what has already been woven shows a vague plaited work of Greek frets and rosettes in which green, yellow, red and deep blue interweave and blend as in a mosaic.

The woman is wearing a very plain dark dress, a red violet colour, the hue of a kind of of pansy.

2.2She stands up when she hears someone knocking at the door. She is actually quite tall. She opens the door.

A woman asks her: «Anne, will you give me your amphora? I will fill it for you.»

The woman has a lovely five year old child with her, who at once clings to Anne’s dress, and she caresses him while going into another room, and returns with a beautiful copper amphora which she hands to the woman saying: «You are always good to old Anne, indeed you are. May God reward you with this son and the other children you will have, you fortunate one!» Anne sighs.

The woman looks at her and does not know what to say in the circumstances. To divert attention from the distressing situation of which she is aware, she remarks: «I am leaving Alphaeus with you, if you do not mind, so that I will be quicker and I will fill many jars and jugs for you.»

Alphaeus is very pleased to stay and the reason is clear. As soon as his mother is gone, Anne picks him up and takes him into the orchard, lifts him up to a pergola of grapes as golden as a topaz and says to him: «Eat, eat, because they are good», and she kisses him on his little face soiled with the juice of the grapes which the child eats avidly. Then she laughs heartily and at once looks younger on account of the lovely set of teeth she displays, and the joy that shines on her face, dispelling her years, as the child asks: «And what are you going to give me now?» and he gazes at her with large wide open eyes of a deep grey-blue colour. She laughs and plays with him bending on her knees and goes on: «What will you give me if I give you?… if I give you?… guess!» And the child, clapping his little hands, with a big smile responds: «Kisses, kisses I will give you, nice Anne, good Anne, mamma Anne!…»

Anne, when she hears him say: «mamma Anne», lets out a real cry of joyful love and cuddles the little one declaring: «My darling! Dear! Dear! Dear!» At each «dear» a kiss descends upon the rosy cheeks.

Then they go to a cupboard and from a plate she takes some honey cakes. «I made them for you, darling of poor Anne, because you love me. But tell me, how much do you love me?» And the child, thinking of what has impressed him most, says: «As much as the Temple of the Lord.» Anne kisses him again on his lively little eyes, his little red lips and the child cuddles against her like a kitten.

His mother goes back and forth with a full jar and smiles without saying anything. She leaves them to their enjoyment.

2.3An elderly man comes in from the orchard. He is a little smaller than Anne, and his thick hair is completely white. His face is of a clear complexion with a squarely cut beard; his eyes are like blue turquoises and his eyelashes are light brown, almost fair. His robe is dark brown.

Anne does not see him because her back is turned to the door and he approaches her from behind questioning: «And nothing for me?» Anne turns round and says: «O Joachim! Have you finished your work?» At the same time little Alphaeus runs to the elderly man’s knees exclaiming: «And to you, and to you.» And when the man bends down to kiss him, the child clings to his neck, ruffling his beard with his little hands and his kisses.

Joachim also has his gift. He brings his left hand from behind his back and offers the child such a beautiful apple, that it seems made of the finest porcelain. Smiling he says to the child who is holding his hands out eagerly: «Wait, I will cut it for you! You cannot take it as it is. It is bigger than you!» With a small pruning knife, which he carries on his belt, he cuts the fruit into small slices. He seems to be feeding a nestling, such is the care with which he puts the morsels into the little wide open mouth that munches and chews.

«Look at his eyes, Joachim! Don’t they look like two little waves of the Sea of Galilee when the evening wind draws a veil of cloud over the sky?» Anne is speaking, resting one hand on her husband’s shoulder, and she is also leaning slightly on him: an attitude revealing the deep love of a wife, a love still perfect after many years of marriage.

And Joachim looks at her lovingly and agrees, saying: «Very beautiful! And his curls? Aren’t they the colour of crops dried in the sun? Look: in them there is a mixture of gold and copper.»

2.4«Ah! If we had had a child, I would have liked him thus: with these eyes and this hair…» Anne bends down, in fact she is on her knees and with a deep sigh she kisses the two large grey-blue eyes.

Joachim, too, sighs. But he wishes to comfort her. He puts his hand on her thick curly grey hair and whispers to her: «We must continue to hope. God can do everything. While we are alive, the miracle may happen, especially when we love Him and we love each other.» Joachim stresses the final phrase.

But Anne is silent, dejected, and she is standing, her head bowed, to conceal two tears streaming down her face. Only little Alphaeus sees them and he is surprised and saddened by the fact that his great friend is crying, as he sometimes does. He lifts his hands and wipes the tears.

«Don’t cry, Anne! We are happy just the same. At least I am, because I have you.»

«And me you. But I have not given you a child… I think I have distressed the Lord, because He has made my womb barren…»

«O my wife! How can you have distressed Him, you holy woman? Listen. Let us go once more to the Temple. For this reason. Not only for the Tabernacles! Let us say a long prayer… Perhaps it will happen to you as it did to Sarah2… as it happened to Anne of Elkanah3. They waited for a long time and they considered themselves dejected because they were barren. Instead a holy son was maturing for them in the Heavens of God. Smile, my wife. Your crying is a greater sorrow to me than being without offspring… We shall take Alphaeus with us. We shall make him pray, since he is innocent… and God will hear his prayer and ours together and will grant it.»

«Yes, let us make a vow to the Lord. The offspring will be His. As long as He grants it. Oh to hear me being called “mamma”!»

And Alphaeus, an astonished and innocent spectator, exclaims: «I call you so!»

«Yes, my darling… but you have your mummy, and I have no baby…»

The vision ceases here.

2.5I understand that Mary’s birth cycle has begun. And I am very happy because I wanted it so much. And I think that you4 will be happy, too.

Before I began to write I heard Mother say to me: «So, My dear daughter, write about Me. All your grief will be comforted.» And while saying so She laid Her hand on my head caressing me kindly. Then the vision began. But at first, that is, until I heard the fifty-year-old woman being called by name, I did not realise that I was in the presence of Mother’s mother and consequently of the grace of Her birth.

• Alphée de Sarah
• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)

3.3 Here is Anne coming from a fire with something in her hands, spread over a loaf of bread which is large and flat like a cake and serves also as a tray. Little Alphaeus is holding onto her skirt and is prattling in his little voice. Joachim, when he sees Anne approaching, hastens to light his lamp; he is at the entrance of his little hut made of branches and is speaking to a man of about thirty years old, whom Alphaeus greets from a distance in his shrill voice saying: «Daddy.»

Anne in her stately walk passes along the rows of huts. She is stately, yet humble. She is not haughty with anyone. She picks up the child of a very poor woman, as the urchin had fallen at her feet while running like a little scamp. Since he has dirtied his face and is crying, Anne cleans him, comforts him and hands him to his mother who has run towards them and is apologising. Anne says to her: «Oh! It’s nothing. I am glad he did not hurt himself. He is a lovely child. What age is he?»

«Three years. He is my second youngest and I am expecting another one shortly. I have six boys. Now I would like to have a girl… A girl is a lot for her mother…»

«The Most High has consoled you very much, woman!» sighs Anne.

And the woman goes on: «Yes. I am poor, but the children are our joy and the bigger ones already help with the work. And, Madam, (it is very obvious that Anne is of a higher social standing and the woman realises it), how many children have you got?»

«None.»

«None.» Isn’t this one yours?»

«No, he is the son of a very good neighbour. He is my consolation…»

«Did yours die or…?»

«I never had any.»

«Oh!» The poor woman looks at her pitifully.

Anne says goodbye to her, sighing very heavily, and goes to her hut.

«I have kept you waiting, Joachim. I was held up by a poor woman, the mother of six boys. Fancy that! And she is expecting another child shortly.»

Joachim sighs.

Alphaeus’ father calls him, but he answers: «I am staying with Anne. I will help her.» Everybody laughs.

«Leave him. He does not disturb us. He is not bound by the Law yet. Here or there he is but a little bird eating» states Anne. And she sits down with the child in her lap and gives him some bread and, I think, some roasted fish. I can see that she does something before giving it to him; perhaps she removes a fishbone. She has served her husband first. She eats last.

3.4 The night is more and more crowded with stars and the camp with lights. Then little by little many lights go out. They are the lamps of those who were the first to have supper and who now go to sleep. Also the buzzing slowly decreases. No more children’s voices are heard. Only some babies still unweaned raise their lamb-like little voices seeking their mothers’ milk. The night blows her breath over places and people and obliterates pains and memories, hopes and ill-feelings. Or perhaps these last two survive in dreams, although alleviated by sleep.

Anne says so to her husband while lulling Alphaeus who is falling asleep in her arms: «Last night I dreamt that next year I will be coming to the Holy City for two feasts, instead of one only. And one will be the offering of my creature to the Temple… Oh! Joachim!…»

«Keep on hoping, Anne. Did you not perceive anything else? Did the Lord not whisper anything to your heart?»

«Nothing. Only a dream…»

«Tomorrow is the last day of prayer. All the offerings have already been made. But we will renew them again tomorrow, solemnly. We shall gain our favour from God by our faithful love. I always think that it will happen to you as it did to Anne of Elkanah.»

«May God grant it… and I wish I had someone say to me now: “Go in peace. The God of Israel has granted the grace you asked for!”»

«If the grace comes, your child will tell you turning over for the first time in your womb; and it will be the voice of an innocent, therefore the voice of God.»

The camp is now silent in darkness. Anne also takes Alphaeus to the adjoining hut, and puts him on the straw near his little brothers, who are already asleep. Then she lies down beside Joachim and their lamp also goes out: one of the last little stars on earth. More beautiful, the stars in the vault of heaven remain watching over mankind asleep.

• Alphée de Sarah
• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)
• Maternity of Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)

3.5 Jesus says:

«The just are always wise, because, as friends of God, they live in His company and are taught by Him, yes, by Him, Infinite Wisdom.

My grandparents were just and therefore they possessed wisdom. They could quote accurately from the Book, singing the praises of Wisdom from its context: “I loved her and searched for from my youth: I resolved to have her as my bride”.

Anne of Aaron was the strong woman of whom our Ancestor speaks. And Joachim, a descendant of king David, had not sought as much charm and wealth as virtue. Anne possessed a great virtue. All holy attributes joined together like a sweet-smelling bunch of flowers to become one beautiful thing that was this exceptional Virtue. A real virtue, worthy of being set before the throne of God.

Joachim had therefore married wisdom twice, “loving her more than any other woman”: the Wisdom of God enshrined in the heart of a just woman. Anne of Aaron had not sought anything else but to join her life to that of an honest man, certain that family joy lies in honesty.

3.6 And to be the emblem of the “strong woman” she lacked only the crown of children, the glory of the married woman, the justification of marriage, the one of which Solomon speaks, as for her happiness she lacked children, the flowers of a tree that has become one thing with the adjoining tree and obtains thereof abundance of new fruit, in which the two good qualities blend into one, because she had never experienced any disappointment on account of her husband.

3.7 Although she was now approaching old age and had been Joachim’s wife for many years, she was always for him “the spouse of his youth, his joy, the most dear hind, the graceful fawn”, whose caresses always had the fresh charm of the first nuptial evening and sweetly charmed his love, keeping it as fresh as a flower sprinkled with dew, and as ardent as a fire continuously kept burning. Therefore, in their affliction of their childless state, they spoke to each other “words of consolation in their thoughts and troubles”.

3.8 And when the time came, after having taught them in life, eternal Wisdom enlightened them with dreams at night, visions of the poem of glory that was to come from them and it was the Most Holy Mary, My Mother. If their humility made them hesitant, their hearts trembled in hope at the first hint of God’s promise. There was already certainty in Joachim’s words: “Do hope… We shall gain our favour from God by our faithful love”. They were dreaming of a child: they got the Mother of God.

3.9 The words of the book of Wisdom appear to be written for them: “By means of her I shall acquire glory before the people… by means of her, immortality shall be mine and I shall leave an everlasting memory to my successors”. But to obtain all this they had to become masters of a true and lasting virtue which no event marred. Virtue of faith. Virtue of charity. Virtue of hope. Virtue of chastity. The chastity of a married couple! They possessed it, because it is not necessary to be virgins to be chaste. And chaste nuptial beds are guarded by angels and from them descend good children who make the virtue of their parents the rule of their lives.

3.10 But where are they now? Now children are not wanted, neither is chastity. I therefore say that love and marriage are desecrated.

• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Bible - Book of Proverbs
• Bible - Book of Wisdom
• Dictations of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in the EMV
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)
• Salomon (biblical character)

4.1 I see Joachim and Anne’s house once again. Nothing is changed inside, with the exception that there are many branches full of flowers, placed in amphoras here and there, certainly the fruit of the pruning of the trees in the orchard, all in bloom: a cloud varying from snow-white to the red of some corals.

Also Anne’s work is different. On the smaller of two looms she is weaving some lovely linen cloth and is singing, moving her feet to the rhythm of the song. She is singing and smiling. At whom? At herself, at something she is aware of inside of her.

I have written the slow and yet gay song separately, so that I might follow it, for she repeats it several times as if she rejoices in it. She sings it more and more loudly and with certainty, like someone who found a melody in her heart and at first whispers it softly and then, being sure, proceeds faster and in a higher tone. The slow and yet gay song (which I am transcribing because it is so sweet in its simplicity) says:

«Glory to the Almighty Lord Who had love for the children of David. Glory to the Lord!

His supreme grace has visited me from Heaven

The old tree has borne a new branch and I am blessed.

At the Feast of Lights hope scattered the seed;

Now the fragrance of Nisan sees it germinating.

Like an almond-tree my flesh is adorned with flowers in spring.

In the evening she perceives she is bearing her fruit.

On that branch there is a rose, there is a most sweet apple.

There is a bright star, an innocent little child.

There is the joy of the house, of the husband and wife.

Praise be to God, to my Lord, Who had mercy on me.

His light said to me: “A star will come to you.”

Glory, glory! Yours shall be the fruit of this tree.

The first and last, holy and pure as a gift of the Lord.

Yours it shall be and may joy and peace come upon the earth.

Fly, spool. Fasten the yarn for the infant’s cloth.

The infant is about to be born. May the song of my heart rise to God singing hosannas.»

4.2 Joachim comes in when she is about to repeat her song for the fourth time. «Are you happy, Anne? You look like a bird in spring. What song is that? I have never heard anyone sing it. Where does it come from?»

«From my heart, Joachim.» Anne has got up and is now moving towards her husband, smiling happily. She looks younger and lovelier than ever.

«I did not know you were a poet» declares her husband looking at her with obvious admiration. They do not look like an elderly couple. In their glances there is the fondness of young couples. «I came from the other end of the orchard when I heard you singing. For years I had not heard your voice, that of a turtle-dove in love. Do you mind repeating that song for me?»

«I would repeat it even if you did not ask me. The children of Israel have always entrusted to songs the sincere cries of their hopes, joys and pains. I have entrusted to a song the task of telling myself and you a great joy. Yes, also of telling myself because it is such a great thing that although I am sure of it now, it does not yet seem to me to be true…», and she begins the song over again. But when she comes to the point: «On that branch there is a rose, there is a most sweet apple, a star…», her well tuned contralto voice at first trembles, then it breaks, and with a sob of joy she looks at Joachim and raising her arms she cries: «I am a mother, my darling!» And she takes refuge on his heart, between the arms that he has held out and has now clasped around his happy wife. This is the most chaste and happy embrace that I have ever seen in my life, chaste and ardent in its chastity.

And the sweet reproach is whispered over Anne’s grey hair: «And you were not telling me?»

«Because I wanted to be sure. Old as I am… to know that I am a mother… I could not believe it was true… I did not want to give you the most bitter disappointment of all. Since the end of December I have perceived that my womb was becoming new and bearing, as I say, a new branch. But now on that branch the fruit is certain… See? That linen is for the one that is coming.»

«Is it not the linen that you bought in Jerusalem in October?»

4.3 «Yes, it is. I spun it while I was waiting… and hoping. I was hoping because the last day while I was praying in the Temple, as close as possible for a woman to be to the House of God, and it was already evening… remember that I was saying: “A little longer, a little more”. I could not withdraw from the place without receiving the grace! Well, in the growing darkness, from inside the sacred place, where I was watching from the depth of my soul, to obtain assent from the everpresent God, I saw a light, a spark of beautiful light depart. It was as white as the moon and yet it had in itself all the brightness of all the pearls and gems that are in the world. It seemed that one of the precious stars of the Veil, the stars placed under the feet of the Cherubim, had become detached and bright with a supernatural light… it seemed that beyond the sacred Veil, from the Glory itself, a fire started which came quickly towards me and while cutting through the air, it sang with a heavenly voice chanting: “May what you asked for, come to you”. That is why I sing: “A star will come to you”. What child will ours ever be, since it reveals itself as the light of a star in the Temple and in the Feast of Lights says: “I am”? Did you perhaps foresee rightly when you thought I would be a new Anne of Elkanah?

4.4 How shall we name our creature, whom I perceive talking to me in my womb as sweetly as the melody of waters, with its little heart beating repeatedly like the heart of a pretty turtle-dove held in one’s hands?»

«If it is a boy we shall call him Samuel… If a girl, Star. The word that stopped your song to give me the joy of learning that I am a father. The form it took to reveal itself in the holy shade of the Temple.»

«Star. Our Star, because, I don’t know why, but I think it is a girl. I think that such sweet caresses can only come from a most sweet daughter. Because I do not bear her, I have no pain. It is she who takes me along a blue flowery path, as if I were supported by holy angels and the earth was already far away… I have always heard women say that it is painful to conceive and to bear. But I have no pain. I feel strong, young, fresher than when I presented you with my virginity in my far away youth. Daughter of God -because this creature born of a barren stump, is more of God than ours– she gives no pain to her mother. She only brings her peace and blessings: the fruits of God, her true Father.»

«Mary, then, we shall call her! Star of our sea, pearl, happiness. The name of the first great woman in Israel. But she will never sin against the Lord and to Him only she will give her songs, because she is offered to Him: a victim before being born.»

«Yes, she is offered to Him. Male or female, as it may be, after rejoicing for three years over our creature, we shall give it to the Lord. Victims ourselves with her, for the glory of God.»

I do not see or hear anything else.

• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)

I see Anne coming out of the garden. She is leaning on the arm of somebody who is surely a relative, as they look alike. She is obviously several months pregnant and she looks tired, perhaps due to the same heat that is now exhausting me.

Although the garden is shady, it is very hot and close. The air can be cut like a soft warm dough, it is so heavy. The sun’s rays descend from a merciless blue sky and there is some dust making the atmosphere slightly hazy. The weather must have been dry for a long time, because where there is no irrigation, the land is literally reduced to a very fine, almost white dust. Out in the open this shade of white is slightly pink, whereas it is a dark red-brown under the trees, where the soil is damp. Likewise the ground is moist along the small flower-beds, where rows of vegetables are growing, and around the rose bushes, the jasmines and other flowers, and particularly in the front of and along the beautiful pergola, which divides the orchard in two, up to the beginning of the fields, now stripped of their crops. The grass of the meadow, which marks the boundary of the property, is parched and thin. Only at its border, where there is a hedge of wild hawthorn, already completely studded with the rubies of its little fruits, is the grass greener and thicker. There are some sheep thereabouts with a young shepherd seeking pasture and shade.

Joachim is working around the rows of vines and olive-trees. There are two men with him, helping him. Although an elderly man he is quick and works eagerly. They are opening little channels at the end of a field to give water to the dry plants, and this water makes its way gurgling between the grass and the dry land. The flow forms circles that for one moment resemble a yellowish crystal and seconds later are only rings of wet soil, around the overloaded vine branches and the olive-trees.

Along the shady pergola, under which golden bees are buzzing, greedy for the sugar of the golden grapes, Anne moves slowly towards Joachim, who hastens towards her as soon as he sees her.

«You came so far?»

«The house is as hot as an oven.»

«And you suffer from it.»

«The only suffering of this last hour is that of a pregnant woman. The natural suffering of everybody: man and beast. Don’t get too hot, Joachim.»

«The water we have been hoping for, for such a long time, and that for three days seemed so close, has not yet come and the land is parched. We are lucky to have a spring so near and so rich in water. I have opened the channels. It is a small sigh of relief for the plants which have withering leaves and are covered with dust: just enough to keep them alive. If it would only rain…» Joachim, with the eagerness of all farmers, looks at the sky, while Anne, tired, cools herself with a fan that seems to be made of the dry leaf of a palm interwoven with many-coloured threads keeping it firm.

Anne’s companion interrupts: «Over there, beyond the Great Hermon, fast clouds are arising. There is a northern wind. It will refreshen and perhaps bring rain.»

«The breeze has risen for three days and then it sets when the moon rises. It will do the same again.» Joachim is discouraged.

«Let us go back inside. Even here one can hardly breathe, and in any case I think it is better to go back…» says Anne, who looks more olive-hued than usual, owing to a paleness which has come over her face.

5.2

«Are you in pain?»

«No. But I can feel the great peace that I experienced in the Temple when I was granted the grace, and which I felt once again when I knew I was pregnant. It is like an ecstasy, a sweet sleep of the body while the soul rejoices and calms itself in a peace that has no bodily comparison. I have loved and still do love you, Joachim, and when I entered your house and I said to myself: “I am the wife of a just man”, I had peace: and I felt the same every time your provident love took care of your Anne. But this peace is different. Understand: I think that the soul of our father Jacob was invaded by a similar peace, like the soothing given by oil that spreads and appeases, after he dreamt[1] of the angels. And, possibly more accurately, it is like the joyful peace of the Tobiahs after Raphael appeared to them. If I absorb myself in this feeling, it grows more and more in strength while I enjoy it. It is as if I were ascending into the blue spaces of the sky… And furthermore, I don’t know the reason for it, but since I have had this peaceful joy in me, I have a song in my heart: old Tobiah’s song. I think it was written for this hour… for this joy… for the land of Israel that receives it… for Jerusalem-sinner and now forgiven… But do not laugh at the frenzy of a mother… but when I say: “Thank the Lord for your wealth and bless the God of centuries, that He may rebuild His Tabernacle in you”, I think that He Who will rebuild the Tabernacle of the true God in Jerusalem will be This One who is about to be born… And I also think that the destiny of my creature was prophesied and not the fate of the Holy City, when the song says: “You shall shine with a bright light: all the peoples of the world will prostrate themselves before you: the nations will come bringing gifts: they will worship the Lord in you and will hold your land as sacred, because within you they invoke the Great Name. You will be happy on account of your children, because they will all be blessed and they will gather near the Lord. Blessed are those who love you and rejoice in your peace…” And I am the first to rejoice, her happy mother…»

Anne changes colour, when saying these words and she lights up like something brought from the paleness of moonlight to the brightness of a great fire and vice versa. Sweet tears, of which she is unaware, run down her cheeks and she smiles in her joy. And in the meantime she moves towards the house, walking between her husband and her relative, who listen and, deeply moved, are silent.

5.3

They make haste because clouds driven by a strong wind, rush across and gather in the sky, while the plain darkens and shudders at the warning of a storm. When they reach the threshold of the dwelling, a first livid flash of lightning crosses the sky and the rumble of the first peal of thunder sounds like the roll of a huge drum that mingles with the arpeggio of the first drops on the parched leaves.

They all go in and Anne withdraws, while Joachim, standing at the door, talks with the workers, who have in the meantime joined him: the conversation is about the longed-for water which is a blessing for the parched land. But their joy turns into fear because a very violent storm is approaching with lightning and clouds threatening hail. «If the cloud bursts, it will crush the grapes and the olives like a millstone. Poor me!»

Joachim is also anxious for his wife, whose time has come to give birth to her child. His relative reassures him that Anne is not suffering at all. But he is agitated, and every time his relative or any other woman, amongst whom is Alphaeus’ mother, comes out of Anne’s room and goes back in again with hot water and basins and linens dried near the blazing fireplace in the large kitchen, he goes and makes enquiries, but he does not calm down despite their reassurances. Also the lack of cries from Anne worries him. He says: «I am a man and I have never seen a child being born. But I remember hearing that the absence of labour pains is fatal.»

It is growing dark and the evening is preceded by a furious and very violent storm: it brings torrential rain, wind, lightning, everything, except hail, which has fallen elsewhere.

One of the workers notices the ferocity of the gale: «It looks as if Satan has come out of Gehenna with his demons. Look at those black clouds! You can smell sulphur in the air and you can hear whistling and hisses, and wailing and cursing voices. If it is him, he is furious this evening!»

The other worker laughs and scoffs: «A great prey must have escaped him, or Michael has struck him with a new thunderbolt from God, and he has had his horns and tail clipped and burnt.»

A woman passes by and shouts: «Joachim! It is coming. And it is happening quickly and well!» and she disappears with a small amphora in her hands.

5.4

The storm drops suddenly, after one last thunderbolt that is so violent that it throws the three men against the side wall; and in front of the house, in the garden, a black smoky cavity remains as its memory! Meanwhile a cry, one resembling the tiny plea of a little turtle-dove that for the very first time no longer peeps but cooes, is heard from beyond Anne’s door. And at the same time a huge rainbow stretches its semicircle across the sky. It rises, or seems to rise, from the top of Hermon, which kissed by the sun, looks like a most delicate pinkish alabaster: it rises up in the clear September sky and through an atmosphere cleaned of all impurities, it crosses over the hills of Galilee and the plain to the south, and then over another mountain, and seems to rest the other end on the distant horizon, where it drops from view behind a chain of high mountains.

«We have never seen anything like this!»

«Look, look!»

«It seems to enclose in a circle the whole of the land of Israel. And look! there is already a star in the sky while the sun has not yet set. What a star! It is shining like a huge diamond!…»

«And the moon, over there, is a full moon, three days early. But look how she is shining!»

5.5

The women arrive jubilant with a plump little baby wrapped in plain linen.

It is Mary, the Mother. A very tiny Mary, who could sleep in the arms of a child, a Mary as long, at the most, as an arm, with a little head of ivory dyed pale pink. Her tiny carmine lips no longer cry but are set in the instinctive act of sucking: they are so small that one cannot understand how they will be able to take a teat. Her pretty little nose is between two tiny round cheeks, and when they get Her to open Her eyes, by teasing Her, they see two small parts of the sky, two innocent blue points that look but cannot see, between thin fair eyelashes. Also Her hair on Her little round head is a pinkish blond, like the colour of certain honeys which are almost white.

Her ears are two small shells, transparent, perfect. Her tiny hands… what are those two little things groping in the air and ending up in Her mouth? Closed, as they are now, they are two rose buds that split the green of their sepals and show their silk within. When they are open, as now, they are two ivory jewels, made of pink ivory and alabaster with five pale garnets as nails. How will those two tiny hands be able to dry so many tears?

And Her little feet? Where are they? For the time being they are just kicking, hidden in the linen. But now the relative sits down and uncovers Her… Oh, the little feet! They are about four centimetres long. Each sole is a coral shell, with a snow white top veined in blue. Her toes are masterpieces of Lilliputian sculpture: they, too, are crowned with small scales of pale garnet. But where will they find small sandals, when those little feet of a doll will take their first steps, sandals small enough to fit such tiny feet? And how will those little feet be able to go such a long way and bear so much pain under the cross?

But that for the time being is not known, and the onlookers smile and laugh at her kicking, at Her well shaped legs, at Her minute plumpish thighs that form dimples and rings, at Her little tummy, a cup turned upside-down, at Her tiny perfect chest. Under the skin of Her breast, as soft as fine silk, the movement of Her breathing can be seen and the beating of Her little heart can be heard, if, as Her happy father is doing now, one lays one’s lips there for a kiss… This is the most beautiful little heart the world will ever know: the only immaculate heart of a human being.

And Her back? They are now turning Her over and they can see the curve of Her kidneys and then the plump shoulders and the pink nape of Her neck, which is so strong that the little head lifts itself up on the arch of the minute vertebrae. It looks like the little head of a bird that scans the new world that it views. She, the Pure and Chaste One, protests with a little cry at being thus exposed to the eyes of so many, She, Entirely Virgin, the Holy and Immaculate, Whom no man will ever see nude again, protests.

Cover, do cover this bud of a lily which will never be opened on earth and which, still remaining a bud, will bear its Flower, even more beautiful than Herself. Only in Heaven the Lily of the Triune Lord will open all its petals. Because up there, there is no particle of fault that may unwillingly profane its spotlessness. Because up there the Triune God is to be received, in the presence of the whole Empyrean, the Triune God that within a few years, hidden in a faultless heart, will be in Her: Father, Son, Spouse.

Here She is again, in Her linen, in the arms of Her earthly father, whom She resembles. Not at the moment. Now She is just the sketch of a human. I mean that She will be like him when She has grown into a woman. She has nothing of Her mother. She has Her father’s colour of complexion and eyes and certainly also his hair. His hair is now white, but when he was young it was definitely fair, as one can tell from his eyebrows. She has Her father’s features, made more perfect and gentle, being a woman, but that special Woman. She has also the smile, the glance, the way of moving and height of Her father. Thinking of Jesus, as I see Him, I find Anne has given her height to her Grandson and her deep ivory colour to His skin. Mary, instead, has not the stateliness of Her mother: a tall and supple palm-tree, but She has the kindness of Her father.

5.6

Also the women are speaking of the storm and the unusual state of the moon, of the presence of the star and the rainbow. Along with Joachim they enter the happy mother’s room and give her her baby.

Anne smiles at one of her thoughts: «She is the Star» she says. «Her sign is in Heaven. Mary, arch of peace! Mary, my Star! Mary, pure moon! Mary, our pearl!»

«Are you calling Her Mary?»

«Yes. Mary, star and pearl and light and peace…»

«But it means also bitterness… Are you not afraid of bringing Her misfortune?»

«God is with Her. She belongs to Him before She existed. He will lead Her along His ways and all bitterness will turn into heavenly honey. Now be of Your mummy… for a little longer, before being all of God…»

And the vision ends on the first sleep of Anne, a mother, and Mary, an infant.

• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Birth of the Virgin Mary
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)

6.1 In Jerusalem I see Joachim and Anne, together with Zacharias and Elizabeth, coming out of a house, which must belong to friends or relatives, and they are heading towards the Temple for the ceremony of the Purification.

Anne is carrying the Baby, all wrapped up in swaddling clothes, or rather, all tied up in a wide garment of light wool, which, however, must be soft and warm. It is impossible to describe how carefully and lovingly she carries and watches her little creature, lifting the edge of the fine warm cloth to see if Mary is breathing freely, and then she readjusts it to protect Her from the sharp air of a clear but cold winter day.

Elizabeth is holding some parcels in her hands. Joachim is pulling with a rope two big and very white lambs, which are more like rams than lambs. Zacharias has nothing in his hands. He is handsome in his linen garment, which can be seen under a white heavy woollen mantle. Zacharias, much younger than the one already seen at the birth of the Baptist, in his full manhood, as Elizabeth is a mature woman, but still fresh in her appearance: and she bends in ecstasy over the tiny sleeping face, every time Anne looks at the Baby. She also looks beautiful in her blue almost dark violet dress and in her veil that covers her head and then falls on her shoulders and on the mantle, which is darker than her dress.

But Joachim and Anne are certainly solemn in their best clothes. Unexpectedly, he is not wearing his dark brown tunic. Instead he has on a long garment of a very deep red, which we would now call St. Joseph’s red, and the fringes attached to his mantle are new and beautiful. He, too, is wearing a kind of rectangular veil on his head and it is secured with a leather band. Everything is new and of excellent quality.

Anne, oh! She is not wearing dark clothes today! Her dress is a very pale yellow, almost the colour of old ivory, tied at her waist, neck and wrists with a large belt that seems of silver and gold. Her head is covered by a very light damask veil, held at her forehead by a thin but precious plate. She has a filigree necklace around her neck and bracelets at her wrists. She is like a queen, also because of the dignity with which she wears her dress, and particularly her cape, which is of a light yellow colour hemmed with a Greek fret beautifully embroidered in the same shade.

«You look exactly as the day you got married. I was just a little older than a girl, then, but I still remember how beautiful and happy you were» says Elizabeth.

«But now I am even more so… and I decided to wear the same dress for this rite. I had kept it for this… and I was no longer expecting to put it on for this.»

6.2 «The Lord has loved you very much…» says Elizabeth sighing.

«And that is why I am giving Him the thing I love most. This flower of mine.»

«How will you be able to tear it from your heart when the time comes?»

«Remembering that I did not have her and that God gave her to me. I shall always be happier now than then. When I know She is in the Temple I will say to myself: “She is praying near the Tabernacle, She is praying the God of Israel also for Her mummy” and I will have peace. And a greater peace I will have in saying: “She belongs entirely to Him. When these two old but happy parents, who received Her from Heaven, are no longer alive, He, the Eternal, will still be Her Father”. Believe me, I am fully convinced, this little creature is not ours. I was not able to do anything more… He put Her in my bosom, a divine gift to wipe away my tears and fulfil our hopes and our prayers. That is why She belongs to Him. We are the happy guardians… and may He be blessed for this!»

6.3 They have now reached the walls of the Temple.

«While you go to Nicanor’s Gate, I will go and inform the priest. And then I will come, too» Zacharias says. And he disappears behind an arch leading into a large yard surrounded by porches.

The group continues to proceed along the ensuing terraces. I do not know whether I have said this before: the enclosure wall of the Temple is not on level ground but it rises up higher and higher by means of successive terraces. Each terrace is reached by means of a flight of steps and on each terrace there are yards and porches and beautiful portals wrought in marble, bronze and gold.

Before reaching their destination they stop to take out the contents of the parcels: cakes, I think, which are wide and flat and very greasy, some white flour, two doves in a small wicker cage and some big silver coins: they are quite heavy but fortunately garments did not have pockets in those days. They would have made holes in them.

Here is the beautiful Gate of Nicanor, all chiselled in heavy bronze silver plating. Zacharias is already there beside a stately priest dressed in linen.

Anne is sprinkled with what I suppose is lustral water and then she is instructed to move towards the altar of the sacrifice. The Child is no longer in her arms. Elizabeth, who has stopped at this side of the Gate, has taken Her.

Joachim, instead, enters behind his wife, dragging a miserable bleating lamb. And I… I do exactly what I did on the occasion of Mary’s purification: I close my eyes not to see any slaughter.

Now Anne is purified.

6.4 Zacharias whispers something to his colleague, who nods smiling. He then approaches the group, which has reassembled, and as he congratulates the mother and father on their joy and their loyalty to the promises, he is given the second lamb, the flour and the cakes.

«So this daughter is sacred to the Lord? May His blessing be with Her and with you. Here is Anna. She will be one of Her teachers. Anna of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. Come here, woman. This little one is offered to the Temple as a victim of praise. You will be Her teacher and She will grow holy under your guidance.»

Anna, already completely grey, fondles the Child, who has awakened and is looking with Her innocent and surprised eyes at all the white and gold lit up by the sun.

The ceremony must be over. I did not see any special rite for the offering of Mary. Perhaps it was sufficient to tell the priest, and above all God, at the sacred place.

6.5 «I would like to give the offering to the Temple and go over there where I saw the light last year.»

They go accompanied by Anna of Phanuel. They do not enter the actual Temple; since they are women and it is the case of a little girl, it is understandable that they do not even go where Mary went to offer Her Son. But very close to the wide open door, they look into the half-dark inside from which sweet songs of girls can be heard and where precious lamps are lit and spread a golden light on two flower beds of white veiled heads: two real flowerbeds of lilies.

«In three years’ time You will be there too, my Lily» promises Anne to Mary, Who looks fascinated at the inside and smiles at the slow song.

«You would say that She understands» says Anna of Phanuel. «She is a beautiful child! She will be as dear to me as if She were my own. I promise you, mother. If I shall be granted to be so.»

«You shall, woman» Zacharias says. «You will receive Her amongst the sacred girls. I also shall be there. I want to be there that day to tell Her to pray for us from the very first moment…» and he looks at his wife who understands and sighs.

The ceremony is over and Anna of Phanuel withdraws, while the others leave the Temple speaking to one another.

I hear Joachim say: «Not only two lambs and the best, but I would have given all my lambs for this joy and to praise God!»

I do not see anything else.

• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Elizabeth of Hebron (mother of John the Baptist)
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)
• Presentation of the Virgin Mary at the Temple (purification of Anne at the Temple)
• Zacharie (father of John the Baptist)

So far until yesterday evening, and this morning She reappears and continues as follows.

«Mummy, Mummy!» The little white dove is completely in the nest of Her mother’s knees, touching the short grass with Her little feet and hiding Her face in Her mother’s lap, so that only Her golden hair can be seen on the nape of Her neck over which Anne bends to kiss it fondly.

7.2 Then She lifts Her head and offers Her mother flowers. They are all for Her mummy and for each one She tells the story She has invented.

“This blue and big one, is a star which has come down from Heaven to bring the kiss of the Lord to My mummy. Here: kiss this little celestial flower there, on its heart, and you will see that it tastes of God.

This other one, instead, which is a paler blue, like daddy’s eyes, has written on its leaves that the Lord loves daddy very much because he is good.

And this tiny little one, the only one to be found, (it is a myosote), is the one that God made to tell Mary that He loves Her.

And these red ones, does mummy know what they are? They are pieces of king David’s dress, stained with the blood of the enemies of Israel and sown on the battlefields and the fields of victory. They originate from those strips of the heroic regal dress torn in the struggle for the Lord.

Instead this white and gentle one, that seems to be made with seven silk cups looking up to the sky, full of perfumes, and that was growing over there, near the spring — daddy picked it for Her amongst the thorns — is made with the dress of Solomon. He wore it, so many many years before, in the same month in which his little granddaughter was born, when he walked in the midst of the multitudes of Israel before the Ark and the Tabernacle, in the splendid majesty of his robes. And he rejoiced because of the cloud which returned to encircle his glory, and he sang the canticle and the prayer of his joy.”

«I always want to be like this flower, and throughout My life, like the wise King, I want to sing canticles and prayers before the Tabernacle» end Mary.

«How do You know these holy things, my darling? Who told You? Your father?»

«No. I do not know who it is. I think I have always known them. Perhaps there is someone who tells Me and I do not see him. Perhaps one of the angels that God sends to speak to good people. »

• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Bible - First Book of Kings
• David (biblical character)
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)
• Marie as a child
• Salomon (biblical character)
• The Virgin Mary
• Words of the Virgin Mary

« I would also like to be a sinner, a big sinner, if I were not afraid of offending the Lord… Tell Me, mummy, can one be a sinner out of love of God?»

«But what are You saying, my dear? I don’t understand You.»

«I mean: to commit a sin in order to be loved by God, Who becomes the Saviour. He who is lost, is saved. Isn’t that so? I would like to be saved by the Saviour to receive His loving look. That is why I would like to sin, but not to commit a sin that would disgust Him. How can He save Me if I do not get lost?»

Anne is dumbfounded. She does not know what to say.

Joachim helps her. He has approached them walking noiselessly on the grass, behind the low hedge of vine-shoots. «He has saved You beforehand, because He knows that You love Him and You want to love Him only. So You are already redeemed and You can be a virgin as You wish» says Joachim.

«Is that true, daddy?» Mary embraces his knees and looks at him with Her clear blue eyes, so like Her father’s and so happy because of this hope She gets from Her father.

«It is true, my little darling. Look! I was just bringing You this little sparrow, that at its first flight landed near the spring. I could have left it there but its weak wings did not have enough strength to fly off again, and its tiny legs could not hold onto the slippery moss stones. It would have fallen into the water. But I did not wait for that. I took it and now I am giving it to You. You will do what you like with it. The fact is that it was saved before it fell into danger. God has done the same with You. Now, tell me, Mary: have I loved the sparrow more by saving it beforehand, or would I have loved it more saving it afterwards?»

«You have loved it now, because you did not let it get hurt in the cold water.»

«And God has loved You more, because He has loved You before You sinned.»

«And I will love Him wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly. My beautiful little sparrow, I am like you. The Lord has loved us both equally, by saving us… I will now rear you and then I will let you go. And you in the forest and I in the Temple will sing the praises of God, and we shall say: “Please send the One You promised to those who expect Him”. »

• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Birds
• Character prophecies in the EMV
• Fishermen
• Immaculate Conception
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)
• Love of the Virgin Mary
• Marie as a child
• Sauveur
• Sin
• The Virgin Mary and animals
• Words of the Virgin Mary

« Oh! Daddy, when will you take Me to the Temple?»

«Soon, my dear. But are You not sorry to leave Your father?»

«Yes, very much! But you will come… in any case, if it did not hurt, what sacrifice would it be?»

«And will You remember us?»

«I always will. After the prayer for the Immanuel I will pray for you. That God may give you joy and a long life… until the day He becomes the Saviour. Then I will ask Him to take you to the celestial Jerusalem.»

The vision ends with Mary tightly clasped in Her father’s arms.

• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Consecrated virginity
• Family martyrdom
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)
• Marie as a child
• Parents and children
• Sauveur
• Words of the Virgin Mary

I see Mary between Her father and mother walking through the streets in Jerusalem. (...)

Joachim is wearing the same garment he had on for the Purification. Anne, instead, is wearing a very dark violet dress. The mantle, which also covers her head, is dark violet too. She is wearing it lowered below her eyes. Two poor eyes of a mother, red with tears, that do not wish to weep and above all do not wish to be seen crying, but can but shed tears under the protection of the mantle. This protection serves its purpose with regards to passers-by and also to Joachim, whose eyes, usually clear, are red and dull today, because of the tears he has shed and is still shedding. He is walking in a bent position, his head is covered by a veil worn in the fashion of a turban, with the folds hanging down along his face.

Joachim now appears an old man. Whoever sees him, must think that he is the grandfather or the great grandfather of the little girl he is holding by the hand. The pain of losing Her causes the poor father to drag his feet and he is so weary that he looks twenty years older. He is so sad and tired that he looks like an old sick man. His mouth trembles slightly between the two wrinkles that at the sides of his nose are so deep today.

They are both endeavouring to conceal their tears. But if they are successful with many people, they are not with Mary, Who, because of Her height, sees them from below, and lifting Her head looks at Her father and mother alternately. They make an effort to smile at Her with their trembling mouths and they hold Her tiny hand tighter every time their little daughter looks at them and smiles. They must be thinking: «There. One less smile for us to see.»

• Anne of Aaron (mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Joachim of David (father of the Virgin Mary)