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Anne d'Elqana

Theme: Old Testament

Reading comfort

Aa

GRM 3.4

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

3.4 The night is more and more crowded with stars and the camp with lights. Then little by little many lights go out. They are the lamps of those who were the first to have supper and who now go to sleep. Also the buzzing slowly decreases. No more children’s voices are heard. Only some babies still unweaned raise their lamb-like little voices seeking their mothers’ milk. The night blows her breath over places and people and obliterates pains and memories, hopes and ill-feelings. Or perhaps these last two survive in dreams, although alleviated by sleep.

Anne says so to her husband while lulling Alphaeus who is falling asleep in her arms: «Last night I dreamt that next year I will be coming to the Holy City for two feasts, instead of one only. And one will be the offering of my creature to the Temple… Oh! Joachim!…»

«Keep on hoping, Anne. Did you not perceive anything else? Did the Lord not whisper anything to your heart?»

«Nothing. Only a dream…»

«Tomorrow is the last day of prayer. All the offerings have already been made. But we will renew them again tomorrow, solemnly. We shall gain our favour from God by our faithful love. I always think that it will happen to you as it did to Anne of Elkanah.»

«May God grant it… and I wish I had someone say to me now: “Go in peace. The God of Israel has granted the grace you asked for!”»

«If the grace comes, your child will tell you turning over for the first time in your womb; and it will be the voice of an innocent, therefore the voice of God.»

Annotation

I still think the same thing will happen to you as to Hannah of Elkanah. Reference to 1 Samuel 1:1-20

- May God grant it... and may I soon hear a voice say to me: "Go in peace. The God of Israel has granted you the grace you asked for!" Reference to 1 Samuel 1, 17. This reference to Hannah of Elkanah is repeated in Volume 1, chapter 5, page 25 (EMV 4).

First Book of Samuel 1, 1-20

Sa 1, 1-20: There was a man of Ramathaim-Sophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, named Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliu, son of Thohu, son of Suph, an Ephrathite. He had two wives, one of whom was called Hannah, and the other Phenna; and Phenna had children, but Hannah was childless. This man went up from his city every year to worship Yahweh of hosts and offer sacrifices to him at Shiloh. There were Heli's two sons, Ophni and Phinehas, priests of Yahweh. On the day Elkanah offered his sacrifice, he gave portions of the victim to Phenna, his wife, and to all his sons and daughters; and he gave Hannah a double portion, for he loved Hannah, and Yahweh had made her barren. His rival still afflicted him exceedingly, in order to embitter him that Yahweh had made her barren. And every year Elkanah did so, whenever she went up to Yahweh's house, and Phenna mortified her in the same way. Then she wept and ate nothing. Elkanah, her husband, said to her: "Hannah, why do you weep and not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

Anne got up, after they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. - Heli, the high priest, was sitting on a seat before one of the posts of Yahweh's temple. - Her soul full of bitterness, she prayed to Yahweh and shed many tears; and she made a vow, saying, "Yahweh of hosts, if you deign to look upon the affliction of your handmaid, if you remember me and do not forget your handmaid, and if you give your handmaid a male child, I will give him to Yahweh for all the days of his life, and the razor shall not pass over his head." As she remained in prayer before Yahweh for a long time, Heli observed her mouth. Anne spoke in her heart and moved only her lips, without her voice being heard. So Heli thought she was drunk, and said to her, "How long will you be drunk? Pass your wine." Anne replied: "No, my lord, I am a woman afflicted in her heart; I drank neither wine nor intoxicating liquor, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh. Do not take your servant for a wife of Belial, for it is in the excess of my sorrow and pain that I have spoken thus far." Heli spoke again and said to her, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel answer your prayer to him!" She said, "May your servant find favor in your sight!" And the woman went her way; she ate, and her face was not the same. They got up early in the morning, bowed down before Yahweh and returned to their house in Ramah. Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and Yahweh remembered her. When the time was up, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel, "because," she said, "I asked Yahweh for him."

GRM 4.3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

I was hoping because the last day while I was praying in the Temple, as close as possible for a woman to be to the House of God, and it was already evening… remember that I was saying: “A little longer, a little more”. I could not withdraw from the place without receiving the grace! Well, in the growing darkness, from inside the sacred place, where I was watching from the depth of my soul, to obtain assent from the everpresent God, I saw a light, a spark of beautiful light depart. It was as white as the moon and yet it had in itself all the brightness of all the pearls and gems that are in the world. It seemed that one of the precious stars of the Veil, the stars placed under the feet of the Cherubim, had become detached and bright with a supernatural light… it seemed that beyond the sacred Veil, from the Glory itself, a fire started which came quickly towards me and while cutting through the air, it sang with a heavenly voice chanting: “May what you asked for, come to you”. That is why I sing: “A star will come to you”. What child will ours ever be, since it reveals itself as the light of a star in the Temple and in the Feast of Lights says: “I am”? Did you perhaps foresee rightly when you thought I would be a new Anne of Elkanah?

Detail

Mary's conception. Anne, Mary's mother, recounts when her wish was granted:

Annotation

Were you right in seeing in me a new Anne of Elkanah? Joachim had indeed spoken of the prophet Samuel's mother in EMV 3.

Under the feet of the cherubim: Cherubim (Kerubim) abounded in the decoration of Solomon's Temple (e.g. 1 Kings 6:23-35). The stars are probably the stars of David or Solomon's seal.

I had the impression that a fire was starting from behind the sacred Veil, from Glory itself, that it was coming rapidly towards me and that, as it crossed the air, it was singing in a celestial voice: "May what you have asked for happen to you! "This is the voice of the Redeemer, as we read in EMV 4.5: "Wisdom herself came down (...) and became a word to the barren woman" (p. 31).

What kind of child will ours be, then, to appear like the light of a star in the Temple and say: "I am" during the Festival of Lights? The star is part of Balaam's prophecy. Num 24:17-19. " I see him, but not as present; I contemplate him, but not closely. A star comes out of Jacob, a scepter rises from Israel. He breaks Moab's two flanks, he exterminates all the sons of tumult. Edom is his possession; Seir, his enemy, is his possession, and Israel displays his valour. Out of Jacob comes a dominator; he destroys in the cities what remains of Edom."

"I am" : the very name of God as defined to Moses, according toExodus 3:14-15. You will speak to the sons of Israel: "The one who sent me to you is: I AM". See the fact sheet on the Divine Name.

GRM 4.4

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«How shall we name our creature, whom I perceive talking to me in my womb as sweetly as the melody of waters, with its little heart beating repeatedly like the heart of a pretty turtle-dove held in one’s hands?»

«If it is a boy we shall call him Samuel…»

Annotation

Samuel is the son born to Hannah of Elkanah (1 Sa 1:20: Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and Yahweh remembered her. When the time was up, Hannah conceived and bore a son, whom she named Samuel, "because," she said, "I asked Yahweh for him"). This choice also echoes the fate of Hannah Elkanah, whom the bride and groom have already quoted in EMV 3 and 4.