39.2 I see Mary bending over a tub, or rather a terracotta container, in which She stirs something that steams in the cool clear air which fills the kitchen garden in Nazareth.
It must be the depth of winter, because, with the exception of the olive-trees, all the plants and trees are bare and look like skeletons. High above, the sky is very clear and there is a beautiful sunshine. But it does not mitigate the bitterly cold wind that shakes the bare boughs and the little green-grey branches of the olive-trees.
Our Lady is wearing a heavy dark-brown dress, which is so dark that it is almost black, and She has tied in front of it a rough piece of cloth, like an apron, to protect it. She takes out of the vessel the stick with which She was stirring its contents and I can see some beautiful ruby-red drops dripping from it. Mary looks at them, She wets Her finger with them, checks the colour against Her apron and seems satisfied.
She goes into the house and then comes out with a lot of skeins of snow-white wool. She dips them patiently and carefully into the tub, one by one.
39.3 While She is busy doing that, Her sister-in-law, Mary of Alphaeus, comes in through Joseph’s workshop. They greet each other, and start conversing.
«Is it coming all right?» asks Mary of Alphaeus.
«I hope so.»
«That Gentile lady assured me that it is exactly the colour, and that is exactly how they do it in Rome. She gave it to me only because of You, because of the embroidery work You did for her. She said that not even in Rome is there anyone who can embroider so well. You must have become blind doing it…»
Mary smiles and shakes Her head as if to say: «It was a mere trifle!»
Her sister-in-law looks at the last skeins of wool, before handing them over to Mary. «How beautifully You have spun them! They are so thin and smooth that they look like hair. You do everything so well. And You are so quick! Will these last ones be of a lighter colour?»
«Yes, they are for the tunic. The mantle is darker.»
The two women work together at the tub. They then pull out the skeins of a beautiful purple colour and they run quickly to dip them into the ice-cold water that fills the little vessel under the thin spring of water that tumbles babbling softly. They rinse them over and over again, then they lay the skeins on canes which they fasten to the branches of the trees.
«They will dry very well and rapidly in this wind,» says Her sister-in-law.
«Let us go to Joseph. There is a fire in there. You must be frozen,» says Our Blessed Lady. «It was very kind of you to help Me. I did it very quickly and without working so much. I am very grateful to you.»
«Oh! Mary! What would I not do for You! To be near You is a great joy. And then… all this work is for Jesus. And He is such a dear, Your Son!… I will feel that He is also my Son, if I help You with His feast when He comes of age.»
The two women go into the workshop, which is full of the smell of planed wood, as is usual in carpenters’ workshops.