GRM 25.1-2
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
25.1 This is what I see the night between the Wednesday and Thursday of the Holy Week.
I see Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary and Samuel getting off a comfortable waggon, to which Mary’s little donkey is also tied. Mary is holding little John in Her arms and Samuel has a lamb and a basket with a pigeon in it. They get off at the usual stable, which must be the stopping place for all the pilgrims to the Temple, who leave their mounts there.
(...) [They go to the Temple.]
25.2 Zacharias is received with honour by the guards, and is greeted and congratulated by other priests. He is very handsome today, in his priestly robes and his joy of happy fatherhood. He looks like a patriarch. I think that Abraham must have been like him when he rejoiced offering Isaac to the Lord.
I see the ceremony of the presentation of the new Israelite and the purification of his mother. The ceremony is more stately than Mary’s, because the priests celebrate it solemnly for the son of another priest. They all rush round the group of women and the child, and are happily engaged with them.
Also some curious people have come near and I can hear their comments. Since Mary is holding the child in Her arms while they move to the appointed place, the people think She is the mother.
But a woman says: «It’s not possible. Can’t you see that She is pregnant? The baby is only a few days old and she is already with child.»
«And yet,» points out another one «only She can be the mother. The other woman is old. She must be a relative. But she certainly cannot be the mother at her age.»
«Let us follow them, and we will see who is right.»
And their surprise becomes even greater when they see that it is Elizabeth who fulfils the purification rite: she offers the bleating lamb in holocaust and the pigeon for sin.
«She is the mother. Didn’t I tell you?»
«No!»
«Yes.»
The people whisper, still incredulous. They whisper so much that a peremptory «Ssst!» comes from the group of priests present at the rite. They are silent for a moment, but start whispering even louder when Elizabeth, radiant with holy pride, takes the child and moves forward in the Temple to make the presentation to the Lord.
«It is she!»
«It’s always the mother who makes the offering.»
«What miracle can this be?»
«What will that child be, who has been granted to that woman at such an old age?»
«What sign can it be?»
«Don’t you know?» says one, who has just arrived panting. «It’s the son of Zacharias, the priest of the house of Aaron, the one who became dumb when he was offering incense in the Sanctuary.»
«It’s a mystery! A mystery! And now he speaks once again! The birth of his son has untied his tongue.»
«I wonder what spirit spoke to him and paralysed his tongue to accustom him to be silent about the secrets of God!»
«It is a mystery! What secret truth does Zacharias know?»
«Will his son be the Messiah expected by Israel?»
«He was born in Judaea. Not in Bethlehem and not of a virgin. He can’t be the Messiah!»
«Who is he, then?»
But the answer remains in the silence of God and the people are left to their curiosity.
The ceremony is over. The priests are now joyfully paying compliments to the mother and her child. The only one who is hardly noticed, even avoided almost with disgust when they become aware of Her condition, is Mary.
Detail
Luke 1, 65-66 : Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosened, and he [Zechariah] spoke and blessed God.
Fear seized all the people in the neighborhood, and throughout the mountainous region of Judea, all these events were recounted. All who heard of them kept them in their hearts and said, "What then will this child be?" Indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.