GRM 8.3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
8.3 Anna, the prophetess, will take care of this flower of David and Aaron. At present She is the only lily of David’s holy issue in the Temple and She will be taken care of just like a royal pearl. Although we are approaching the time when the Messiah is to come, and the women belonging to the house of David should be anxious to consecrate their daughters to the Temple, because the Messiah will be born of a virgin of David, yet, because of the general weakening of faith, the places of the virgins in the Temple are empty. They are too few and none of the royal offspring, since Sarah of Elisha left three years ago to get married. It is true that there are still thirty years to the appointed time, but… Well let us hope that Mary will be the first of many virgins of David’s offspring before the Sacred Veil. And then… who knows…» Zacharias does not say anything else. But he looks at Mary thoughtfully.
Detail
Anne, Joachim and Mary are in Jerusalem. The Mother of the Savior is about to enter the Temple at the age of three. They are joined by Elisabeth, who shows them into a friendly house. Meanwhile, her husband arrives and Joachim reveals their sorrow.
Annotation
The prophetess Anne will take great care of this flower of David and Aaron. Mary is a descendant of David through her father Joachim and of Aaron (brother of Moses) through her mother Anne. She is therefore of royal and priestly descent. Her priestly ancestry is deduced from her relationship with Elizabeth (Luke 1:5), and her royal race is deduced, in particular, from her marriage to Joseph "of the seed of David". Now, according to the Law of Moses, the orphaned heiress (Numbers 27:9) had to marry into the same clan (Numbers 36:8).
The times are coming to an end: Allusion to Daniel's prophecy about the seventy weeks (years) before the coming of the Messiah (cf. Daniel 9:22-27). This prophecy was widespread at the time of Christ.
The places reserved for virgins in the Temple are empty. The Messiah was to be a descendant of David (Isaiah 11:1f). He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:13-14), but the belief that this virgin would have been educated in the Temple is not indicated. Anne-Catherine Emmerich mentions it in her Vie de la Vierge Marie (chapter 35): like Maria Valtorta, she attributes it to an unspecified tradition. It undoubtedly stems from the esteem in which the virgins of the Temple were held and the quality of their recruitment.
Six more lustres are needed to reach the set date. A luster is a period of 5 years. Among the Romans, it was the period at the end of which the censors (supreme magistrates) were elected. It was also the interval between two censuses.