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The Catholic Church

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GRM 8.2

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

8.2 They proceed slowly. Very slowly. They seem to be wishing to carry on their journey for as long as possible. Everything serves as a pretext to stop… But a journey must come to an end! And this one is about to end. Up there, at the top of this last stretch of the road, there are the Temple walls. Anne utters a groan and holds Mary’s hand tighter.

«Anne, my dear, I am here with you!» a voice utters, coming out from the shade of a low arch built over a crossroads. And Elizabeth, who was waiting for them, approaches her and embraces her. And since Anne is crying she says: «Come into this friendly house for a little while. Then we shall go together. Zacharias is here too.»

They all enter a low dark room where the only light is a big fire. The landlady, obviously a friend of Elizabeth, but unknown to Anne, kindly withdraws and leaves them alone.

«You must not think that I am repenting or I am giving my treasure to the Lord unwillingly» explains Anne crying, «but it’s my heart… oh! how my heart aches, my old heart that is returning to its childless solitude! If you could only feel…»

«I know, my dear Anne… But you are good and God will console you in your solitude. Mary will pray for the peace of Her mother. Won’t you, Mary?»

Mary caresses Her mother’s hands and kisses them. She presses them to Her face to be caressed and Anne holds Her little face tightly in her hands and kisses it repeatedly. She is never tired of kissing Her.

Zacharias enters and greets them saying: «May the peace of the Lord be with the just.»

«Yes» replies Joachim, «implore peace for us, because our hearts are trembling in our offer, as Abraham’s did, while he was climbing the mountain, but we shall not find another offer to replace this one. Neither do we want it, because we are faithful to the Lord. But we are suffering, Zacharias. Since you are a priest of God, please understand us and do not be perturbed.»

«Never. On the contrary, your sorrow which does not go beyond reasonable limits and does not shake your faith, teaches me how to love the Most High. But take heart. »

Detail

Anne, Joachim and Mary are in Jerusalem. The Mother of the Savior is about to enter the Temple at the age of three.

Annotation

It's like Abraham's offering when he climbed the mountain, and we won't find another offering to redeem this one. Cf. Genesis 22:1-18. It is precisely on Mount Moriah, where the Temple is located, that the Bible places Isaac's sacrifice. He was replaced at the last moment by a ram.

Genesis 22, 1-8

Gen 22:1-8: After these events, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him: "Abraham! He replied, "Here I am!" God said, "Take your son, your only son, the one you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on the mountain I will show you."

Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and set off for the place God had indicated. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. Abraham said to his servants: "Stay here with the donkey. Me and the boy will go all the way over there to worship, then we'll come back to you."

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and loaded it onto his son Isaac; he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them went together. Isaac said to his father Abraham: "My father! - Well, my son?" Isaac replied, "Here's the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham replied, "God will know how to find the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them set off together.

They arrived at the place God had indicated. Abraham built the altar there and laid out the wood; then he bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said: "Abraham! Abraham!" He replied, "Here I am!" The angel said to him: "Don't lay a hand on the boy! Don't hurt him! I know now that you fear God: you did not refuse me your son, your only son."

Abraham looked up and saw a ram being held by its horns in a bush. He went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place "The Lord Sees". Today it's called "Sur-le-mont-le-Seigneur-est-vu". From heaven, the angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time.

He declared: "I swear by myself, oracle of the Lord: because you have done this, because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will fill you with blessings, I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, and your descendants will occupy the strongholds of their enemies. Because you have listened to my voice, all the nations of the earth will bless one another by the name of your descendants."

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.

GRM 8.3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Then he resumes: «Also I will watch over Her. I am a priest and I have power there. I will make use of it for this angel. And Elizabeth will often come to see Her.»

«Oh! Certainly! I am in such need of God that I will come and tell this little Girl, so that She may tell the Eternal One.»

Detail

Mary is about to enter the Temple, much to her parents' dismay. Zechariah then speaks of Anne and the Temple virgins.

Annotation

Zechariah and Elisabeth live in Hebron, and can therefore come here more easily than Joachim and Anne, who live in Nazareth.

GRM 8.4

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

8.4 Anne has taken heart again. To relieve her anxiety even more Elizabeth asks her: «Is this not the veil of your wedding? Or have you been weaving new byssus?»

«It is. I am consecrating it to the Lord with Her. My eyes are not so good… and also our wealth has been reduced by taxation and misfortunes… I could not afford huge expenses. I have only seen to Her clothing for the time She will be in the House of the Lord and afterwards… Because I do not think that I will be the one to dress Her for Her wedding… but I want it to be the hands of Her mummy, even if cold and motionless, which prepare Her for the wedding and weave Her linens and dresses.»

«Oh! Why think of that!?»

«I am old, my dear cousin. I have never felt it so much as I do now in my great pain. I have given the last ounce of strength in my life to this flower, to bear Her and to nourish Her, and now the pain of losing Her is drawing my last strength away and dispersing it.»

«Don’t say that, for Joachim’s sake.»

«Yes, you are quite right. I will try and live for my husband.»

Joachim pretends not to hear, intent as he is on listening to Zacharias, but he has heard and he sighs deeply, his eyes full of tears.

Annotation

It was impossible for me to spend a lot of money. I only prepared a rich trousseau for her stay in the House of God and for afterwards... At Mary's wedding, Elisabeth refers to this trousseau prepared by Anne, now deceased (EMV 13.3).

Our resources have dwindled as a result of taxes and reversals of fortune... This reversal of fortune is mentioned several times in the work, notably in EMV 9.

I'm already old, my cousin. Elizabeth is usually presented as Anne's niece and Marie's cousin. Here, she would be Anne's first cousin. Unless, of course, this is a customary designation, as "brother" was for cousins.

GRM 8.4-5

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«It is between the third and the sixth hour. I think we ought to go» Zacharias says.

They all get up to put on their mantles and set off.

8.5 But before going out Mary kneels down on the threshold with Her arms stretched out: a little imploring cherub. «Father! Mother! Your blessing, please.»

She is not crying, the little brave girl. But Her lips are trembling and Her voice, broken by a sob, resembles more than ever the trembling cooing of a little dove. Her face is pale, and Her eyes have the look of resigned distress that I will see again on Calvary and in the Sepulchre, where it was so much more intense that it was impossible to look at Her without deep suffering.

Her parents bless Her and kiss Her: once, twice, ten times, they are never satisfied… Elizabeth is weeping silently and Zacharias, despite his efforts to conceal his tears, is deeply moved.

They go out. Mary is in between Her father and mother as before. Zacharias and his wife are in front of them.

They are now inside the walls of the Temple.

Detail

Mary is about to enter the Temple and leave her parents.

Annotation

Here we are between the third and sixth hour. 10:30 a.m. This is the hour of the morning offering (Exodus 29:38-39; Exodus 30:7; Numbers 28:3-4), also mentioned in EMV 197.5, and in EMV 518.1. The morning offering was less solemn than that of the ninth hour.

GRM 8.5

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Elizabeth is beside Anne, but a little behind her, about half a step.

Detail

When Joachim, Anne and Mary waited for the High Priest to present the Virgin to the Temple, Elizabeth was present.

GRM 8.7

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

When a priest talks in name of God, "his order is a sacred one."

Keywords

GRM 8.7-8

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

8.7 Jesus says:

«The High Priest had said: “Walk in my presence and be perfect”. The High Priest did not know that he was speaking to the Woman Who was inferior in perfection only to God. But he was speaking in the name of God, and therefore his order was a sacred one. It is always sacred, particularly with regards to the Virgin Full of Wisdom.

Mary had deserved that “Wisdom should precede Her and show Itself to Her first”, because “from the beginning of Her day She had watched at Its door, and wishing to be taught, out of love, She wanted to be pure to achieve perfect love and deserve to have Wisdom as Her teacher”.

In Her humility She did not know that She possessed Wisdom before being born and that the union with Wisdom was but the continuation of the divine pulsations of Paradise. She could not imagine that. And when God whispered sublime words to Her in the depths of Her heart, in Her humility She considered them thoughts of pride and raising Her innocent heart to God, She besought Him: “Lord, have mercy on Thy Servant!”

Oh! It is true that the True Wise Virgin, the Eternal Virgin, had only one thought from the dawn of Her day: to raise Her heart to God from the morning of life and to watch for the Lord, praying before the Most High, asking forgiveness for the weaknesses of Her heart, as Her humility convinced Her, and She was not aware that She was anticipating the request for forgiveness for sinners, which She would later make at the foot of the Cross, together with Her dying Son.

“When the great Lord will decide, She will be filled with the Spirit of intelligence” and will then understand Her great mission. For the time being She is only a child, who in the sacred peace of the Temple, establishes and re-establishes closer and closer connections, affections and memories with Her God.

This is for everybody.

8.8 But for you, My little Mary, has your Teacher nothing special to tell you? “Walk in My presence, be therefore perfect”. I am slightly modifying the sacred phrase and I am giving it to you as an order. Be perfect in love, perfect in generosity, perfect in suffering.

Look once again at Mother. And consider what so many ignore or wish to ignore, because sorrow is too irksome to their taste and their spirit. Sorrow. Mary suffered from the very first hour of Her life. To be perfect as She was, implied the possession of a perfect sensitivity. Consequently sacrifice was to be more piercing. And thus more meritorious. He who possesses purity possesses love, he who possesses love possesses wisdom, he who possesses wisdom possesses generosity and heroism, because he knows why he makes a sacrifice.

Raise your spirit, even if the cross bends you, breaks you and kills you. God is with you.

Annotation

Book of Wisdom 6, 13

Wis 6, 13 : She warns those who seek her, and shows herself to them first.

Book of Ben Sira the Wise 39, 6

Si 39, 6 : If the Sovereign Lord wills, he will be filled with the spirit of understanding, he will pour out his words of wisdom like a shower, and in prayer he will give thanks to the Lord.

GRM 9.2

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

I surrounded Myself with wise people, in My human kinship. Anne, Joachim, Joseph, Zacharias, and even more Elizabeth, and then the Baptist, are they not real wise people? Not to mention My Mother, the abode of Wisdom.

Detail

Jesus said: