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GRM 4.6
But only when the vine gives its blood to make wine and the sweet strong smells fill the yards and the nostrils, She would smile to God first and then to the world.
Jesus talks about his Mother and his birth.
Confirmation that Mary's birth took place in September (see EMV 5).
GRM 5.1-6
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.
Four villages vied for the glory of Mary's birth: Sephoris, Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary says positively of the Virgin Mary: In civitate Nazareth nata. Saint Fulbert of Chartres quotes this opinion and does not contradict it. This is the most common opinion of the Roman Church, while Eastern tradition points to Jerusalem.
A September sky. According to EMV 4.2, Mary was conceived during the Festival of Light (Hanukkah). Depending on the year, this festival falls at the beginning of December. Nine months later corresponds to the beginning of September. In the East, as decreed by Emperor Maurice (582 + 602), the synaxary (collection of the lives of the saints) of Constantinople marked the Nativity of Mary on September 8.
Now you're at your mother's... in a little while, you'll be all for God. Anne consecrated her daughter to the Lord: Marie went to the Temple at the age of three.
GRM 5.13-14
To man and woman, corrupted by Satan, God decided to oppose the Man born of a Woman Whom God had super-sublimed to such an extent that She generated without knowing man: a Flower that generates a Flower, without the need of seed, by a unique kiss of the Sun on the inviolated chalice of the Lily-Mary.
5.14 The revenge of God!
Hiss, O Satan, your hatred while She comes into the world! This Child has beaten you! Before you were the Rebel, the Twister, the Corruptor, you were already beaten and She was your Conqueror. One thousand assembled armies are of no avail against your power, the arms of men fall before your scales, o Perennial One, and there is no wind capable of dispersing the stench of your breath. And yet, the heel of this Child, which is so rosy as to look like the inside of a rosy camellia, and is so smooth and soft that silk seems coarse in comparison, and is so small that it could enter the chalice of a tulip and make itself a tiny shoe with that vegetable satin, that heel is crushing your head without any fear and relegates you to your den. And Her cry causes you to flee away, although you are not afraid of armies. And Her breath purifies the world of your foul smell. You are defeated. Her name, Her look, Her purity are lances and thunderbolts that pierce you and demolish you and imprison you in your den in Hell, o Cursed One, who deprived God of the joy of being the Father of all men created!
In vain you have corrupted them, who had been created innocent, leading them to knowledge and conception by means of the sensuousness of lust, depriving God, in His beloved creature, of being the benefactor of the children according to rules, which, had they been respected, would have kept a balance on earth between sexes and races, a balance capable of avoiding wars between people and calamities between families.
By obeying, they would have also known love. Indeed, only by obeying they would have known love and possessed it. A complete and peaceful possession of this gift from God, Who from the supernatural descends to the inferior, so that also the flesh may rejoice devoutly, since it is united to the spirit and created by Him Who created the spirit.
Now, men, what is your love, what are your loves? Either lewdness disguised as love or an incurable fear of losing the love of your partner through her or other people’s lewdness. You are never sure of possessing the heart of your husband or wife, since lust entered the world. And you tremble and cry and become overwrought with jealousy, sometimes you kill to avenge a betrayal, sometimes you despair, and sometimes you lack will or even become insane.
This is what you have done, Satan, to the children of God. Those whom you have corrupted, would have known the joy of having children without suffering any pain and would have experienced the joy of being born without fear of dying. But now you are beaten in a Woman and by a Woman. From now on, whoever loves Her will become once again God’s own, overcoming your temptations, to be able to look at Her immaculate purity. From now on mothers, though not able to conceive without pain, will find comfort in her. From now on She will be the guide for married women and the Mother of dying people, so that it will be sweet to die resting on that breast which is a shield against you, you Cursed One, and against the wrath of God.
GRM 12.6
«I welcome you, Mary. I saw You when You were a little baby, only a few days old… I was a friend of Your father’s and I have a nephew, the son of my brother Alphaeus, who was a great friend of Your mother. He was her little friend, because he is only eighteen years old, and when You were not yet born, he was only a little boy and he cheered up Your sad mother who loved him so much. You do not know us because You were only a little girl when You came here. But everyone in Nazareth loves You and they all think and speak of Joachim’s little Mary, Whose birth was a miracle of the Lord, Who made the barren old lady blossom wonderfully… And I remember the evening You were born… We all remember it because of the prodigy of a heavy rain that saved the country and of a violent storm during which the thunderbolts did not damage even a stem of heather and it ended with such a large and beautiful rainbow that the like has never been seen again. And then… who does not remember Joachim’s happiness? He dandled You showing You to his neighbours… As if You were a flower that had descended from Heaven, he admired You and wanted everyone to admire You, a happy old father who died talking about his Mary, Who was so beautiful and good and Whose words were so full of wisdom and grace… He was quite right in admiring You and in saying that there is no other woman lovelier than You are! And Your mother? She filled Your house and the neighbourhood with her songs and she sang like a skylark in springtime when she was carrying You, and afterwards when she held You in her arms. I made a cradle for You. A tiny little cradle, with roses carved all over it, because Your mother wanted it like that. Perhaps it is still in the house… I am old, Mary. When You were born I was beginning to work. I was already working… I would never have believed that I was going to have You as a spouse! Perhaps Your parents would have died a happier death if they had known, because they were my friends. I buried Your father, mourning over his death with a sincere heart, because he was a good teacher to me.»
Mary raises Her face, little by little, taking heart, as She hears Joseph speak to Her in this way, and when he mentions the cradle She smiles gently and when Joseph speaks of Her father, She holds out Her hand to him and says: «Thank you, Joseph.» A very timid and gentle «thank you.»
GRM 196.7 · Volume 3
It was not easy to see Mary every day, as She lived mostly at home, where She loved a little grotto more than any other place, and even nowadays She calls it “the grotto of Her nuptials”. So when She appeared outside, fair-haired, rosy and kind, She was overwhelmed by caresses. They used to call Her “the Flower of Nazareth” or “the Pearl of Galilee” or also “the Peace of God” in remembrance of a huge rainbow, which suddenly appeared as soon as She was born. She was in fact all that, and much more. She is the Flower of Heaven and of creation, the Pearl of Paradise and the Peace of God… Yes, the Peace of God. I am the Peaceful One because I am the Son of the Father and the Son of Mary: the Infinite Peace and the sweet Peace.
During the Virgin Mary's childhood, in Nazareth.