Saints, venerable and blessed of the Catholic Church

The two women slowly go back into the house. Elizabeth withdraws to her rooms. Mary, a capable and provident woman, gives the necessary instructions, prepares everything that may be necessary, and at the same time, She comforts Zacharias who is worried.

In the house that is sleepless that night, and where one can hear the unfamiliar voices of women called in to help, Mary is watchful like a lighthouse on a stormy night. The whole house rotates around Her, and She sees to everything, smiling sweetly. And She prays. When She is not called for this or that matter, She concentrates on prayer. She is now in the room where they always gather for their meals and to work.

Zacharias is with Her, and he sighs and walks up and down uneasily. They have already prayed together. Then Mary has continued to pray. Even now that the old man, tired, has sat down on his big chair near the table, and is quiet and sleepy, She prays. And when She sees him sleeping with his head resting on his arms crossed on the table, She takes Her sandals off to make no noise and walks barefooted and, making less noise than a butterfly fluttering around the room, She takes Zacharias’ mantle, and lays it on him so gently that he continues to sleep in the comfort of the woollen cloth that protects him from the cold air of the night that comes in, in gusts from the door, which is very often open. Then She starts praying again, and She prays more and more intensely, kneeling down, raising Her arms, when the painful cries of Elizabeth become louder.

• Charity of the Virgin Mary
• Prayer of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary
• Zacharie (father of John the Baptist)

23.5 Sarah comes in and invites Her to go out. Mary goes out barefooted into the garden. «My mistress wants You,» she says.

«I am coming.» And Mary walks along the house, goes upstairs… She looks like a white angel, wandering in the peaceful starry night. She goes into Elizabeth’s room.

«Oh! Mary! Mary! What pain! I can’t stand it any longer, Mary! How much pain one must suffer to be a mother!»

Mary caresses her lovingly, and kisses her.

«Mary! Mary! Let me put my hands on Your bosom!»

Mary takes the two wrinkled and swollen hands, and lays them on Her round abdomen, pressing them tightly with Her smooth, slender little hands. And She speaks in a low voice, now that they are alone: «Jesus is here, and He hears and sees you. Have faith, Elizabeth. His holy heart is beating more strongly because He is acting for your good. I can feel it throbbing as though I were holding it in My hands. And I understand the words that My Child says to Me. He is now saying: ‘Tell the woman not to be afraid. Only a little more pain. And then, with the first rays of the sun, among the many roses awaiting the morning’s rays to open out on their stems, her house will have the most beautiful rose, and it will be John, My Predecessor’.»

Elizabeth now also presses her face against Mary’s bosom, and weeps gently.

Mary stands for some time in that position because the pain seems to ease giving a moments relief. And she beckons everybody to be quiet. She remains standing, beautiful and white in the pale, faint light of an oil lamp, like an angel near a person who suffers. She is praying. I can see Her moving Her lips. But even if I did not see them move, I would understand that She is praying from the enraptured expression on Her face.

23.6 Some time goes by, and Elizabeth is in labour once again. Mary kisses her again, and goes out.

• Charity of the Virgin Mary
• Elizabeth of Hebron (mother of John the Baptist)
• Prayer of the Virgin Mary
• Sarah of Hebron - Servant of Zacharias and Elizabeth
• The Virgin Mary
• Words of the Virgin Mary

23.6 Some time goes by, and Elizabeth is in labour once again. Mary kisses her again, and goes out. She goes downstairs very quickly in the moonlight, and goes to see if the old man is still sleeping. He is sleeping, and moaning in his sleep. Mary makes a gesture of compassion, and starts to pray once again.

More time passes. The old man awakes from his sleep and lifts up his head, and he is confused, because he does not recollect why he is there. Then he remembers, makes a gesture, and utters a gutteral exclamation. He then writes: «Is he not born yet?» Mary shakes Her head in denial. Zacharias writes: «How much pain! Oh my poor woman! Will she manage without dying?»

Mary takes the hand of the old man, and reassures him: «At dawn, in a short while, the baby will be born. Everything will be alright. Elizabeth is strong. How beautiful this day will be

— it will soon be daybreak — how beautiful this day will be when the child sees the light! It will be the best day of your life! The Lord has kept aside great graces for you and your child is the announcer of them.»

Zacharias shakes his head sadly, and points to his dumb mouth. He would like to say many things, but cannot.

Mary understands, and replies: «The Lord will complete your joy. Believe in Him completely, hope in Him indefinitely, love Him totally. The Most High will grant you more than you dare hope for. He wants this total faith from you, to wash out your past mistrust. Say in your heart with me: ‘I believe’. Say it with every beat of your heart. The treasures of God are opened for those who believe in Him and in His powerful bounty.»

• Prayer of the Virgin Mary
• Prescience of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary
• Words of the Virgin Mary
• Zacharie (father of John the Baptist)

The light begins to filter in through the partly open door. Mary opens it. Dawn makes the dewy earth completely white. There is a strong smell of humid earth and grass, and the first chirping of the birds, calling one another from branch to branch, can be heard.

The old man and Mary move towards the door. They are pale because of the sleepless night, and the light at dawn makes them look even more pale. Mary puts on Her sandals, and goes to the foot of the staircase and listens. A woman looks out, nods, and then goes back in. Nothing yet.

Mary goes into the room, and comes back with some warm milk which She gives to the old man. She goes to the doves, comes back, and disappears into the same room. Perhaps it is the kitchen. She moves around attentively. She looks as though She had slept the most perfect sleep, She is so quick and serene.

Zacharias is walking up and down the garden very nervously. Mary looks at him compassionately. She then goes again into the usual room, and kneeling near Her loom, She prays intensely, because the cries of Elizabeth are becoming sharper. She bows down to the ground imploring the Eternal Father. Zacharias comes back in, and seeing Her in this prostrate state, the poor old man cries. Mary gets up and takes him by the hand. She is so much younger than he is, but She looks as though She were the mother of the poor old desolate soul, and She consoles him.

23.8 They are standing thus, one beside the other, in the sun that makes the morning air rosy, and it is then that the joyful news reaches them: «He is born! He is born! It’s a boy! Happy father! A boy as beautiful as a rose, as beautiful as the sun, as strong and good as his mother! Joy for you, father, blessed by the Lord Who gave you a son that you may offer him to the Temple! Glory to God, Who has granted posterity to this house! Blessed are you, and your son who was born to you! May his offspring perpetuate your name for centuries, from generation to generation, and may his descendants always be in union with the Eternal Lord.»

Mary blesses the Lord weeping for joy. Then the two receive the little one, who has been brought to the father, so that he may bless him. Zacharias does not go to Elizabeth. He receives the child, who is screaming desperately, but he does not go to his wife.

Mary instead goes, carrying with love the little one, who turns quiet, as soon as She takes him in Her arms. The woman who is following Her notices this, and she says to Elizabeth: «Woman, your child turned quiet immediately, when She took him. Look how peacefully he is sleeping, and only Heaven knows how restless and strong he is. But look now! He seems a little dove.»

Mary lays the creature near his mother and caresses her, tidying up her grey hair. «The rose is born», She whispers in a low voice, «and you are alive. Zacharias is happy.»

«Does he speak?»

«Not yet. But hope in the Lord. Rest now. I am staying with you.»

• Charity of the Virgin Mary
• Prayer of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary
• Zacharie (father of John the Baptist)

«He is born! He is born! It’s a boy! Happy father! A boy as beautiful as a rose, as beautiful as the sun, as strong and good as his mother! Joy for you, father, blessed by the Lord Who gave you a son that you may offer him to the Temple! Glory to God, Who has granted posterity to this house! Blessed are you, and your son who was born to you! May his offspring perpetuate your name for centuries, from generation to generation, and may his descendants always be in union with the Eternal Lord.»

Mary blesses the Lord weeping for joy. Then the two receive the little one, who has been brought to the father, so that he may bless him. Zacharias does not go to Elizabeth. He receives the child, who is screaming desperately, but he does not go to his wife.

Mary instead goes, carrying with love the little one, who turns quiet, as soon as She takes him in Her arms. The woman who is following Her notices this, and she says to Elizabeth: «Woman, your child turned quiet immediately, when She took him. Look how peacefully he is sleeping, and only Heaven knows how restless and strong he is. But look now! He seems a little dove.»

Mary lays the creature near his mother and caresses her, tidying up her grey hair. «The rose is born», She whispers in a low voice, «and you are alive. Zacharias is happy.»

«Does he speak?»

«Not yet. But hope in the Lord. Rest now. I am staying with you.»

• Elizabeth of Hebron (mother of John the Baptist)
• Jean-Baptiste
• The Virgin Mary

Believe Me, daughter, that there never was, and never will be a torture of puerpery like Mine as the Martyr of a spiritual Maternity, which was accomplished on the hardest of beds, the bed of My cross, at the foot of the scaffold of My dying Son. Which mother is compelled to generate thus? To blend the torture of Her bowels which contract spasmodically because of the death rattle of Her dying Creature, with the torture which tears Her bowels apart in the strain of overcoming the horror of having to say: “I love you, come to Me, I am your Mother” to each murderer of Her Son, born of the most sublime love that Heaven ever saw, of the love of a God with a virgin, of the kiss of Fire, of the embrace of Light which became Flesh, and made the womb of a woman the Tabernacle of God?

“How much pain to be a mother!” says Elizabeth. So much! But nothing when compared to Mine.

• Passion of Jesus Christ - Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary
• Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary - Co-Redemptrix

23.10 “Let me press my hands on Your bosom”. Oh, if you always asked Me for that when you suffer!

I am the Eternal Bearer of Jesus. He is in My womb, as you saw last year, like the Host in the monstrance. He who comes to Me, finds Him. He who leans on Me, touches Him. He who addresses Me, speaks to Him. I am His Robe. He is My Soul. My Son is united to His Mother more, much more now, than He was in the nine months that He was in My womb. And every pain is appeased, every hope flourishes and every grace flows for those who come to Me and rest their heads against My bosom.

I pray for you. Remember that. The beatitude of being in Heaven, living in the ray of God, does not cause Me to forget My children who are suffering on the earth. And I pray. And all Heaven prays, because Heaven loves. Heaven is living charity. And Charity has mercy on you. But even if I were all by Myself, My prayer would be sufficient for the needs of those who hope in God. Because I never stop praying for you all, for the holy and the wicked, to give joy to the holy, to give repentance to the wicked that they might be saved.

Come, come, o children of My sorrow. I am waiting for you at the foot of the Cross to grant you graces.»

• Intercession of the Virgin Mary
• Prayer of the Virgin Mary
• Praying with the Virgin Mary
• Rosary
• The Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary - Co-Redemptrix

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

24.1 I see the house rejoicing. It is the day of the circumcision.

Mary has made sure that everything is beautiful and in good order. The rooms are bright with light, the most beautiful cloths, the nicest furnishings are shining everywhere. There are a lot of people. Mary moves agile amongst the various groups. She is very beautiful in Her most beautiful white dress.

Elizabeth, respected by everybody as a matron, is enjoying her feast most happily. The child is laid on her lap, sated with milk.

• Elizabeth of Hebron (mother of John the Baptist)
• Jean-Baptiste
• The Virgin Mary

24.2 It is now the moment for the circumcision.

«We will call him Zacharias. You are old. It is only fair that the child be called after you,» say the men.

«Not at all!» exclaims Elizabeth. «His name is John. His name must be the witness of the power of God.»

«But has there ever been a John in our kinship?»

«It does not matter, his name is to be John.»

«What do you say, Zacharias? You want your name, don’t you?»

Zacharias shakes his head in denial. He takes his tablet and writes: «His name is John.» And as soon as he finishes writing, he adds, with his tongue now free: «because God has granted a great grace to me, his father, and to his mother, and to this new servant of His who will spend his life for the glory of the Lord, and will be called great forever in the world and in the eyes of God, because he will give converted hearts to the Most High Lord. The angel said so, and I did not believe. It but now I believe, and the Light is now in me. The Light is amongst us, but you do not see it. It is its destiny not to be seen, because the souls of men are encumbered and idle, but my son will see It, and will speak of It, and will turn to It the hearts of the just in Israel. Oh! Blessed are those who believe in It and will always believe in the Word of the Lord. And blessed be You, o Eternal Lord, God of Israel, because You have visited and redeemed Your people, and You have raised up for us a powerful Saviour in the house of Your servant David. As You promised by mouth of the holy Prophets from ancient times, that You would save us from our enemies and from the hands of all who hate us, to show Your mercy to our ancestors, and thus remember Your holy covenant. This is the oath You swore to our father Abraham; that You would grant us, free from fear, deliverance from the hands of our enemies, to serve You in Heaven and thrive in Your presence all our days» and he continues to the end.

The people present are most surprised at the name, at the miracle, at the words of Zacharias.

Elizabeth, who at the first words of Zacharias had uttered a cry of joy, is now weeping, embracing Mary, Who is caressing her happily.

• Elizabeth of Hebron (mother of John the Baptist)
• Jean-Baptiste
• Zacharie (father of John the Baptist)