The Virgin Mary throughout the EMV

They are now in the country and they are proceeding one beside the other. They seldom speak. Joseph is thinking of his business, Mary is following Her own thoughts and in Her concentration She smiles at them. At times She looks around and smiles at the things She sees. Now and again She looks at Joseph and then an expres­sion of sad seriousness darkens Her face; then She smiles again, still looking at Her provident spouse who speaks so little and when he does speak it is only to ask Her whether She is comfortable and whether She needs anything.

• Passion of the Virgin Mary and Joseph
• Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary

• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Locations - Jerusalem
• Summary of EMV
• The Virgin Mary

We are in Jerusalem. I know the town very well now, with its streets and gates.

The first thing Mary and Joseph do is to go to the Temple. I recognise the stable where Joseph left his donkey on the day of Jesus’ presentation in the Temple. Also now he leaves the two donkeys there, after feeding them, and then he goes with Mary to worship the Lord.

When they come out, they enter a house which apparently belongs to people they know. They take some refreshment there and Mary rests until Joseph comes back with a little old man. «This man is going Your way. You will not have to travel a long way by Yourself to get to Your relatives. You can trust him because I know him.»

20.2 They get on their donkeys again and Joseph goes with Mary as far as the Gate (it is not the one they entered but a different one) and they part there. Mary proceeds with the little old man who is as chatty as Joseph was silent and takes an interest in many things. Mary answers him patiently. In front of the saddle She now has the little trunk which Joseph’s donkey had carried earlier and She is no longer wearing the large mantle. Neither is she wearing the shawl, which is folded on the trunk, and She is really beautiful in Her dark blue dress and white veil that protects Her from the sun. How beautiful She is!

The old man must be somewhat deaf, because Mary, Who normally speaks in a very low voice, had to speak loudly to make Herself heard. And now he is tired. He has finished with all his questions and news and is dozing on the saddle, led by the donkey that is familiar with the road.

Mary takes advantage of this respite to collect Her thoughts and to pray. It must be a prayer that She sings in a low voice, looking at the blue sky, with Her arms crossed over Her breast, while Her face is bright and happy because of some internal emotion.

I see nothing else.

• Anonymous characters
• The Virgin Mary

They get on their donkeys again and Joseph goes with Mary as far as the Gate (it is not the one they entered but a different one) and they part there. Mary proceeds with the little old man who is as chatty as Joseph was silent and takes an interest in many things. Mary answers him patiently. In front of the saddle She now has the little trunk which Joseph’s donkey had carried earlier and She is no longer wearing the large mantle. Neither is she wearing the shawl, which is folded on the trunk, and She is really beautiful in Her dark blue dress and white veil that protects Her from the sun. How beautiful She is!

The old man must be somewhat deaf, because Mary, Who normally speaks in a very low voice, had to speak loudly to make Herself heard. And now he is tired. He has finished with all his questions and news and is dozing on the saddle, led by the donkey that is familiar with the road.

Mary takes advantage of this respite to collect Her thoughts and to pray. It must be a prayer that She sings in a low voice, looking at the blue sky, with Her arms crossed over Her breast, while Her face is bright and happy because of some internal emotion.

I see nothing else.

• Prayer of the Virgin Mary
• Words of the Virgin Mary

And even now that the vision is interrupted, as it happened yesterday, I am left with Mother near me, visible to my internal sight so clearly that I can describe the light rosy hue of Her cheeks, not very chubby but gently soft, the bright red of Her little lips and Her clear blue eyes sweetly shining between Her dark-blond eyelashes.

I can tell you how Her hair, separated in half on the crown of Her head, falls softly with three undulations on each side, as far down as to cover half of Her little rosy ears, and then disappears with its pale shiny gold behind the veil covering Her head (because I see Her with Her mantle over Her head, wearing a dress of heavenly silk and a dark mantle, as thin as a veil, of the same cloth as the dress).

I can tell you that Her dress is tight around Her neck by means of a sheathing inside which runs a cord, the ends of which form a knot in front at the base of Her neck. Likewise, Her dress is gathered at Her waist by a thicker cord, also of white silk, hanging down Her side with two tassels.

I can even tell you that Her dress, tight as it is at Her neck and waist, forms seven round soft folds on Her breast, the only ornament of Her very modest garment.

I can tell you of the chastity emanating from all of Her, from Her so delicate and harmonious forms, which make Her such an angelical woman.

20.4

And the more I look at Her the more I suffer thinking of how much they made Her suffer and I wonder how they could have had no mercy on Her, so meek and kind, so delicate also in Her physical appearance. I look at Her and I can hear once again all the shouting on Calvary, also against Her, all the mockery and insults, all the curses shouted against Her because She was the Mother of the Convict. Now I see Her beautiful and tranquil. But Her present appearance does not cancel the memory of Her tragical face during those hours of agony, or that of Her desolate face in the house in Jerusalem, after Jesus’ death. And I would like to be able to caress and kiss Her cheek, so delicately rosy and soft, to remove with my kiss that memory of sad tears, as She certainly remembers as I do.

20.5

You cannot believe how much peace it gives me to have Her near me. I think that to die seeing Her must be as sweet and even sweeter than the sweetest hour of one’s lifetime. During the time that I did not see Her thus, all for myself, Her absence was a great sorrow to me, just like the absence of a mother. I now feel once again the ineffable joy which was my companion in December and early January. And I am happy, notwithstanding that the sight of the torture of the Passion casts a veil of grief on all my happiness.

It is difficult to explain and make you understand what I feel and what has been happening since February the eleventh, when in the evening I saw Jesus suffer in His Passion. That sight has changed me completely. Whether I die now or in one hundred years’ time, that vision will always be the same in intensity and consequences. Previously I used to think of the sorrows of Christ, now I live them, because one word, or a glance at an image is enough to make me suffer all over again what I suffered that evening and be horrified at those tortures; and I grieve over His desolate sufferings, and even if nothing reminds me of them, their remembrance tears my heart.

Mary is beginning to speak and I turn silent.

• Glorious body of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary

20.4 And the more I look at Her the more I suffer thinking of how much they made Her suffer and I wonder how they could have had no mercy on Her, so meek and kind, so delicate also in Her physical appearance. I look at Her and I can hear once again all the shouting on Calvary, also against Her, all the mockery and insults, all the curses shouted against Her because She was the Mother of the Convict. Now I see Her beautiful and tranquil. But Her present appearance does not cancel the memory of Her tragical face during those hours of agony, or that of Her desolate face in the house in Jerusalem, after Jesus’ death. And I would like to be able to caress and kiss Her cheek, so delicately rosy and soft, to remove with my kiss that memory of sad tears, as She certainly remembers as I do.

• Desolation of the Virgin Mary
• Passion of Jesus Christ - Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary
• Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary

You cannot believe how much peace it gives me to have Her near me. I think that to die seeing Her must be as sweet and even sweeter than the sweetest hour of one’s lifetime.

• Death
• Marian devotion
• The Virgin Mary

20.6 Mary says:

«I will not speak much, because You are very tired, My poor daughter. I only wish to draw your attention and the attention of readers to the constant habit of Joseph and Mine of giving priority to prayer. Tiredness, haste, worries, troubles never hindered our prayer, on the contrary they helped it. It was always the queen of our troubles, our relief, our light, our hope. If in sad moments it was a consolation, in happy ones it was a song. But it was always the constant friend of our souls. It detached us from the earth, from our exile, and it raised us up towards Heaven, our Fatherland.

Not only I, Who by now had God with Me and I had but to look at My bosom to worship the Holy of Holies, but also Joseph felt united to God when he prayed, because our prayers were a true adoration of our whole beings, which melted with God by worshipping Him and by being embraced by Him.

And please note that not even I, although I had the Eternal God in Me, not even I felt exempted from respectful homage to the Temple. The deepest holiness does not exempt anyone from feeling a mere nothing with regard to God and from converting such nothingness into an endless hosanna to God’s glory, since He allows us to do so.

20.7 Are you weak, poor, faulty? Invoke the holiness of the Lord: “Holy, Holy, Holy!” Invoke the Blessed Holy One to assist you in your misery. He will come and instil His holiness into you. Are you holy and rich in merits in the eyes of God? Invoke the holiness of the Lord just the same. It is infinite and will increase yours. The angels, who are superior to the weaknesses of mankind, do not cease singing their “Sanctus” not even for an instant, and their supernatural beauty increases with each invocation of the holiness of our God. Imitate the angels.

Never divest yourselves of the protection of prayer, which blunts the weapons of Satan, the malice of the world, the incentives of the flesh and mental pride. Never lay down this weapon, which causes Heaven to open and pour out Its graces and blessings.

The world needs a shower of prayers to be purified from the sins that draw punishments from God. And since only few people pray, those few must pray as if they were many. They must multiply their living prayers to make up the necessary amount to obtain graces. Prayers are living when they are flavoured with true love and sacrifice.

• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Prayer
• The Virgin Mary

• Elizabeth of Hebron (mother of John the Baptist)
• Jean-Baptiste
• Locations - Hebron
• Summary of EMV
• The Virgin Mary
• Zacharie (father of John the Baptist)

21.2 Mary, on Her donkey, is climbing up a rather well kept road, probably the main road. She is climbing because the village is higher up and it looks quite tidy. My internal warner says to me: “This place is Hebron.” You spoke to me of Montana. I cannot help it. It is indicated to me with this name. I do not know whether Hebron is the whole area or only the village. That is what I hear and that is what I say.

Mary is now entering the village. It is evening. Some women on their doorsteps watch the arrival of the stranger and gossip with one another. Their eyes follow Her and they are not happy until they see Her stop in front of one of the prettiest houses, in the centre of the village, with a kitchen garden in the front, and a well cultivated orchard in the rear and around it. The orchard continues into a large meadow that rises and slopes according to the sinuosity of the mountain and ends in a wood of tall trees, beyond which I do not know what there is. The whole place is surrounded by a hedge of blackberries or wild roses. I cannot tell exactly which, because, if you remember, the flowers and leaves of these two thorny hedges are very much alike and until their branches bear fruit it is easy to confuse them. In front of the house, that is on the side that skirts the village, the place is enclosed by a small low white wall, on top of which there are rows of rose-bushes, at present without flowers, but already full of buds. In the centre there is an iron gate. It is easily understood that it is the house of a notable of the village and a well-to-do family, because everything shows comfort and great order, if not riches and pomp.

21.3 Mary gets off the donkey and goes to the gate. She looks through the iron bars, but does not see anyone. She endeavours then to make Herself heard. A little old woman, who more curious than the others has followed Her, shows Her a strange gadget that is used as a bell. It consists of two pieces of metal balanced on a kind of yoke, at the end of which there is a rope. When the rope is pulled, the two metal pieces strike each other and make the sound of a bell or gong.

Mary pulls the rope, but so gently, that there is only a faint tinkling, which no one hears. Then the little old woman, whose face is all nose and pointed-chin and whose tongue is worth ten put together, gets hold of the rope and pulls it several times with all her might. She makes enough noise to raise the dead! «That’s how You do it, woman. Otherwise, how can they hear You? You know, Elizabeth is old and so is Zacharias. Now he is dumb as well as deaf. Also the two servants are old, don’t You know? Have You ever been here before? Don’t You know Zacharias? Are You…»

Mary is rescued from the deluge of information and questions by a little old man who suddenly appears panting. He must be a gardener or a farmer, for he is holding a hoe in his hand and there is a pruning knife tied to his belt. He opens the gate and Mary enters thanking the little woman but… leaving her recent question unanswered. What a disappointment for the curious soul!

As soon as She is inside Mary says: «I am Mary of Joachim and Anne, from Nazareth. I am your masters’ cousin.»

21.4 The man bows down and welcomes Her, he then calls out in a loud voice: «Sarah! Sarah!» He opens the gate again to let in the donkey that had been left outside. Mary, in fact, to get rid of the persistant little woman, had slipped inside very quickly and the gardener just as quickly had closed the gate in the face of the gossip.

• Anonymous characters
• The Virgin Mary