|

The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
4. JOSEPH TAKES THE BABY JESUS FROM MARY BECAUSE OF DANGER.
|
[December 27 ^th:] The Blessed Virgin told her mother all about the
three kings, and they looked at all the things that the latter had
yesterday left behind in Maraha's grave. I saw two shepherds come and
warn the Blessed Virgin that people were coming from the authorities to
look for her Child. Mary was in great distress at this, and soon after
I saw St. Joseph come in and take the Infant Jesus from her arms. He
wrapped Him in a cloak and took Him away; I can no longer remember
where to. I now saw the Blessed Virgin for at least half a day alone in
the cave without the Infant Jesus and full of a mother's fear and
anxiety. When the time came near for her to be called to give suck to
the Child, she did as all good mothers are wont to do after being
alarmed or upset: before suckling the Child she pressed out from her
breast the disturbed milk, letting it fall into a little hollow in the
white stone bench in the cave. This she told to a good devout shepherd
who came to her (probably to lead her to the Child). He, deeply
sensible of the holiness of the Mother of the Redeemer, afterwards
scooped carefully out with a sort of spoon the virgin milk enclosed in
the little white hollow of the stone. In his simple faith he brought it
to his wife, who was suckling a child but had not enough milk to feed
it. The good woman drank this holy nourishment with reverent
trustfulness, and at once her faith was rewarded, so that she was able
to feed her child abundantly. Since then the white stone in this cave
was given a similar healing power, and I saw that right up to our own
day even Mohammedans, though unbelievers, use it as a remedy in this as
in other bodily ailments. The earth from this place was for ages
cleansed and pressed into small moulds by the guardians of the Holy
Land and distributed throughout Christendom as a pious remembrance.
These relics bear the inscription de lacte sanctissimae Virginis
Mariae' (of the milk of the Most Holy Virgin Mary').
|