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GRM 12.1
12.1 I see a rich hall with a beautiful floor, curtains, carpets and inlaid furniture. It must be still part of the Temple: there are priests in it, including Zacharias, and many men of every age, from twenty to fifty approximately.
Room where Mary's husband is chosen.
GRM 13
Chapter title: Marriage of the Virgin with Joseph, instructed by Wisdom that he would be the guardian of the Mystery.
Date of vision and dictation: Tuesday, September 5, 1944
Calendar: March 6 A.D.
Location (map): Jerusalem
Cycle: Marriage with Joseph
Summary: Joseph and Mary are engaged at the Temple in Jerusalem. Mary looks beautiful in her bride's trousseau. The virgins around her are ecstatic at her beauty, and it's her mistresses who come to their protégée's rescue. The maidens leave, and Elisabeth arrives. She tells her about Anne's wedding trousseau, and then the Virgin speaks of Joseph, who is described as a young saint. The bridegroom arrives, and the two fiancés meet again. Joseph is superb, and confides that he has been thinking about the Virgin's vow. He understands it and joins her in a perpetual naziréat. The high priest then betroths them. After this, Mary and Joseph leave Jerusalem for Nazareth... Jesus then gives a dictation about his putative father.
Chapter contents: 13.1: Mary's beauty in her bridal attire. 13.2: Her companions admire her. 13.3: Your clothes are your mother's caress. 13.4: Joseph arrives in his best clothes. His welcoming speech. 13.5: Joseph speaks of the vow of absolute chastity. 13.6: The Pontiff presides over the wedding. 13.7: The bride and groom leave in a chariot with Zechariah and Elizabeth. 13.8: Praise for Wisdom. 13.9: Joseph, guardian of the Bride and the Son of God. 13.10: Joseph, a new Aaron who believed without seeing. 13.11 : Joseph, a co-redemptive example of purity, fidelity and perfect love.
GRM 32
Chapter title : Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Simeon's virtue and Anne's prophecy.
Date of vision and dictation: Tuesday, February 1, 1944
Calendar: Monday, January 20, year -4
Location (map): Jerusalem
Cycle: Birth and childhood of Jesus
Summary: Mary and Joseph leave Bethlehem for Jerusalem. They present Jesus in the Temple. The ceremony goes off without a hitch. When the rite is over, they meet Symeon, who asks to take the child. The parents accept the old man's request, and he weeps with joy: he then says the words we know from the Gospel. Hearing the words about her future pain, Mary stops smiling and clutches the Child to her heart, while drawing closer to Joseph. Anne of Phanuel comes to comfort her.
Jesus then gives a dictation and two teachings. The first is that the truth is not revealed to the priest celebrating the rite, who is spiritually absent. The truth is revealed to Simeon, who is a simple believer, but who has allowed himself to be moved by the Spirit, always having good will within him. The second teaching concerns Anna of Phanuel, who comforts Mary. He then addresses Maria's contemporaries and our own time, to say that the Lord too can send his angel to console his people. All we need is enough faith to call upon him, to receive his mercy and forgiveness. The Savior also points out that God remained faithful to his promise not to send the Flood again, whereas man does not keep his promises. Yet God would help us once again if the majority of us called upon him with faith and love.
Finally, he tells those who try to counterbalance God's severity not to fear, for the Most High will send his angel to console us. We must remain united to the Cross, for it has always triumphed.
Chapter contents: 32.1: Across the countryside. 32.2 : And in the city. 32.3 : The purification of the mother. 32.4 : The presentation of the child. 32.5 : Simeon's prophecies. 32.6 : The prophetess Anne of Phanuel. 32.7 : Good will is not found in outward practices, but in prayer. 32.8 : Simeon had this good will and perseverance. 32.9 : Lay your anguish at God's feet.
GRM 32.3-4
32.3 At first they turn their steps towards an arcade where the merchants are, to whom Jesus later will give a good lashing: the vendors of lambs and doves and the money-changers. Joseph buys two little white pigeons. He does not change any money: he obviously has what is required.
They then make for a side door, with eight steps, as all the doors seem to have, because the centre of the Temple is raised above the surrounding ground. The door opens into a great hall like the doors of our houses in towns, to give you an idea, only this one is larger and more ornate. In the hall there are two kinds of altars on the right and on the left, that is two rectangular constructions, the purpose of which I do not understand at first. They are like low basins, because the internal part is lower than the external rim, which is a few centimetres higher.
A priest approaches them, I do not know whether he was called by Joseph or whether he did so of his own accord. Mary offers Her two little pigeons and since I know their fate, I turn my eyes elsewhere. I look at the decorations of the very heavy portal, of the ceiling and of the hall. But I get the impression, by a side glance, that the priest sprays Mary with some water. It must be water, because I do not see any stains on Her dress. Then Mary, Who had given the priest a handful of coins together with the two pigeons (I had forgotten to mention that), goes into the real Temple, in the company of the priest.
I am watching everything. It is a most ornate place. Sculptured angels’ heads, palms and decorations adorn the columns, the walls and the ceiling. Light comes in through strange long narrow windows, obviously without panes, cut diagonally compared to the walls. I suppose the idea is to keep the rain out.
32.4 Mary moves forward to a certain point. She then stops. A few metres from Her, there are more steps on top of which there is a kind of altar, beyond which there is another construction.
I now realise that I thought I was in the Temple, instead I was in the part surrounding the real Temple, that is the Holy, beyond which no one can proceed, apparently, except the priests. What I therefore thought was the Temple, is but an enclosed vestibule, which on three sides encircles the Temple, in which the Tabernacle is enclosed. I do not know whether I have made myself understood. But I am neither an architect nor an engineer.
Mary offers the Child, Who has woken up and is turning His innocent eyes towards the priest, with the astonished look of infants a few days old. The priest takes Him in his arms and raises Him, with arms fully stretched out, towards the Temple, standing against the kind of altar placed on top of the steps. The rite is over. The Child is handed back to His Mother and the priest goes away.
Mary and Joseph present Jesus to the Temple.
GRM 40
The Holy Family arrives at the Temple in Jerusalem. After praying, Joseph and Jesus go to a room where Jesus is examined by doctors of the Law. Joseph introduces them to his Son, then the men address the Child. He declares his name and asserts that he knows how to read symbols and the true meaning of Scripture. Listening to him, the doctors recommend that Joseph entrust him to Hilled or Gamaliel.
Christ is made to read part of the Decalogue. He must continue by heart, and each time he pronounces the Lord's name, he bows. He asserts that if we bow to kings of the earth who are but dust, we must bow even more to the King of Kings, on whom every creature depends.
He was then asked about the Sabbath law and the sanctification of feasts. Does the hen who lays an egg or the ewe who gives birth on that day commit a sin? No, because the beast obeys the Creator's laws and commits no sin. If man makes her work on the Sabbath, it's her master who bears her sin.
The doctors are impressed. They ask a final question by having him read a passage from the second book of Chronicles. This passage, which took place a few centuries earlier, speaks of the scribe Saphan. He reads a book by the priest Elchias before the king and tears his clothes afterwards because the people no longer follow the Lord's prescriptions and his anger is great. Is there a symbol in this text? Jesus replies that it is rare for there not to be, and says that we must not circumscribe in time what is eternal. The Word declares that Israel no longer has the wisdom that comes from God, despite the six hundred and thirteen precepts, for they know them, but no longer put them into practice.
The doctors declare that the child is perfect and of age. The celebration comes to an end, and Joseph and Jesus return to Mary.
GRM 40.1
40.1 The Temple on a feast day. People going in and coming out of the enclosure gates, crossing yards, halls and porches, disappearing in this or that building on the various floors, which form the bulk of the Temple.
Also the group of Jesus’ family go in singing psalms in low voices. All the men are in front, the women come behind. Other people have joined them, perhaps from Nazareth, perhaps their friends in Jerusalem. I do not know.
Joseph, after worshipping the Most High with all the others at the point, obviously, where men were allowed to do so, (the women stopped on a lower landing), parts from the rest and with his Son goes back through some yards, he then moves to one side and enters a vast room which looks like a synagogue. I do not know why. Were there synagogues also in the Temple? He speaks to a Levite and the latter disappears behind a striped curtain, then he comes back with some elder priests, I think they are priests, they are certainly masters in the knowledge of the Law, and they are therefore appointed to examine the believers.
GRM 41
Jesus is alone in Jerusalem. Maria saw him looking in a particular direction, but the vision was short-lived. It resumed later and the mystic discovered the interior of the Temple. There are doctors of the Law there, including Gamaliel, Hillel and Chammaï, who are discussing David's prophecy and the Messiah. The first two argue that the Savior is already on Earth, while the other claims that Iseaël's slavery has only increased and that "the peace that should have been brought by him whom the prophets call 'the Prince of Peace' is far from reigning over the world". Jesus intervenes and declares that Gamaliel is right. He is asked what they are basing this on, and for a while the characters talk about the Nativity and the massacre of the Innocents. Then Hillel asks where the boy's wisdom comes from, and they want to examine him properly. He is given a scroll, and then comes the theme of the Forerunner. Jesus asserts that he is already on earth and that he will shortly precede Christ. Moreover, the Son of Joseph prophesies about the Kingdom of God and the Kingship of Christ, which is entirely spiritual. He even asserts that God's Sanctuary will no longer be torn down and destroyed, and Hillel understands his words by quoting another passage from the Book of Haggai.
Gamaliel then speaks to him of the Peace spoken of by the prophet, and Jesus responds with the words of the Gloria: "Peace to men of good will". However, Israel does not have this good will, so it will not have Peace and will reject its Messiah. Finally, Jesus returns once more to the Forerunner, following a remark by Shammai, asserting that he will shortly precede Christ. He ends by saying that if everyone were just like Hillel, salvation would come to Israel. Hillel offers to stay with him, but the Child says he must remain in solitude. And so the vision ends.
Maria then explains how she knew who Hillel and Gamaliel were (thanks to the voice of her inner counselor). Finally, Jesus gives a dictation on the recovery of Jesus and Mary in the Temple, and the grief of Mary and Joseph. He returns to the famous question, "My son, why have you done this to us?"
GRM 41.2
I find myself in a place which I have never seen before. There are yards and fountains and porches and houses, or rather pavilions, because they look more like pavilions than houses. There is a large crowd of people dressed in the ancient style of the Jews, and there is a lot of bawling. When I look around I realise I am inside the large building which Jesus was looking at, because I see the embattled wall surrounding it, the tower watching over it and the imposing building that rises in the centre, and around which there are beautiful and large porches, where many people are intent on activities.
I understand that I am in the enclosure of the Temple in Jerusalem. I see Pharisees in long flowing dresses, priests dressed in linen and wearing precious plates at the top of their chests and on their foreheads and with other sparkling points here and there on their varied robes, which are very wide and white, tied to their waists by precious belts. There are also others with fewer decorations, but they must still belong to the sacerdotal caste and are surrounded by younger disciples. I realise that they are the doctors of the Law.
GRM 53
Jesus, James, John, Andrew, Peter, Philip and Bartholomew go to the Temple. But it's a real fair, where the Temple merchants are usurers of the poorest. An old couple is bullied by a shopkeeper, and Jesus tells them that their behavior is not right: the shopkeeper must give them a better lamb. The man doesn't listen, and Jesus, faced with all the commotion in the Temple, becomes terrible. He builds a whip and overturns the tables and the money on them. The priests arrive and ask him who he is and why he is doing this. Jesus replies that he is the One who can, and that if the true Temple is destroyed, he will raise it up. He promises that they will know him and where he comes from. The Master then gives a speech in the Temple, recalling words from Deuteronomy. He reminds us that we must be fair to the poor, and that priests must have purity and charity as their wealth, not purely material wealth. God the Father is their inheritance. Finally, he invites everyone to follow him, for the hour of grace has come.
GRM 53.1
53.1 I see Jesus entering the enclosure of the Temple with Peter, Andrew, John, James, Philip and Bartholomew. There is a very large crowd both inside and outside the enclosure. Pilgrims are arriving in flocks from every part of the town.
From the top of the hill on which the Temple is built, one can see the narrow twisted streets of the town, swarming with people. It seems as though a mobile, multi-coloured ribbon has been laid between the white houses. The town looks like a rare toy indeed, a toy made of gaily-coloured ribbons between two white threads, all converging onto the point where the domes of the House of the Lord are shining.
Inside it is… a real market. The concentration of a holy place has been destroyed. Some run, some call, some bargain for lambs, shouting and cursing because of the extortionate prices, some drive the poor bleating animals into their enclosures (rough partitions made of ropes and pegs, at the entrance of which stand the merchants or owners, awaiting buyers). Blows with cudgels, bleatings, curses, shouts, insults to the boys who are not quick in gathering together or selecting the animals, abuses to the purchasers who haggle over prices or who go away, more serious insults to those who wisely brought their own lambs.
Near the benches of the money-changers there is more bawling. It is obvious that either always, or at Passover time, the Temple operated as a… stock exchange or black market. There was no fixed rate of exchange. There must have been a legal rate, but the money-changers imposed a different one, making whatever profit they fancied for exchanging the money. And I can assure you they were not joking in their usury transactions!… The poorer the people were and the farther they came from, the more they were fleeced: old people more than young people, those coming from beyond Palestine more than the old folk.
Some poor old men looked over and over again at the money they had saved in a whole year, I wonder with how much hard work, they took it out and put it back into their purses dozens and dozens of times, going from one money-changer to another and at times ending up by going back to the first one, who took avenge for their original desertion by increasing the premium for the exchange. And the big coins passed from the hands of the sighing owners into the clutches of the usurers and were changed into smaller coins. Then a further tragedy would take place with vendors over the choice and payment of their lambs, and the poor old men, particularly if they were half blind, were fobbed off with the most wretched little lambs.