|

The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
4.2 MARY'S BIRTH.
|
Several days before the Blessed Virgin's birth Anna had told Joachim
that the time was approaching for her to be delivered. She sent
messengers to Sephoris, where her younger sister Maraha lived; to the
widow Enue (sister of Elizabeth) in the valley of Zabulon; and to her
niece Mary Salome at Bethsaida, asking these three women to come to
her. I saw them on their journeys. The widow Enue had a serving lad
with her; the other two women were accompanied by their husbands who,
however, went back on approaching Nazareth. I saw that on the day
before Anna was delivered Joachim sent his many menservants out to the
herds, and among Anna's new maidservants he kept in the house only
those who were needed. He, too, went out into his nearest pasture. I
saw that Anna's firstborn daughter, Mary Heli, looked after the house.
She was then about nineteen years old and was married to Cleophas, one
of Joachim's chief shepherds, by whom she had a little daughter, Mary
Cleophas, now about four years old. After praying, Joachim chose out
his finest lambs, kids, and cattle, sending shepherds to take them to
the Temple as a thank-offering. He did not return home until nightfall.
I saw the three cousins arriving at Anna's house in the evening. They
went to her in her room behind the hearth and embraced her. After Anna
had told them that the time was near for her to be delivered, they
stood up and sang a hymn together: Praise the Lord God; He has shown
mercy to His people, and has redeemed Israel, and has fulfilled the
promise which He gave to Adam in Paradise that the seed of the woman
should crush the head of the serpent,' and so on. I can no longer
recite it all by heart. Anna prayed as though in ecstasy. She
introduced into the hymn all the prophetic symbols of Mary. She said:
The seed given by God to Abraham has ripened in me.' She spoke of the
promise to Sarah of Isaac's birth and said: The blossoming of Aaron's
rod is perfected in me.' At that moment I saw her as though suffused
with light; I saw the room full of radiance, and Jacob's ladder
appearing above it. The women were overcome with astonishment and joy,
and I think that they also saw the vision. When the prayer of welcome
was over, the travelers were refreshed with a slight meal of bread and
fruit, and water mixed with balsam. They ate and drank standing up, and
then lay down till midnight to rest from their journey. Anna did not go
to bed, but prayed, and at midnight woke the other women to pray with
her. They followed her to her praying-place behind a curtain.
Anna opened the doors of a little cupboard in the wall which contained
a casket with holy objects. On each side were lights--perhaps lamps,
but I am not sure. They had to be pushed up in their holders, and then
little bits of shavings put underneath to prevent them from sinking
down. After this the lights were lit. There was a cushioned stool at
the foot of this sort of little altar. The casket contained some of
Sarah's hair (Anna had a great veneration for her), some of Joseph's
bones (brought by Moses from Egypt), and something belonging to Tobias,
I think a relic of his clothing; also the little shining, white,
pear-shaped goblet from which Abraham had drunk when blessed by the
angel. (This had been given to Joachim from the Ark of the Covenant
when he was blessed in the Temple. I now know that this blessing took
the form of wine and bread and was a strengthening and sacramental
food.)
Anna knelt before the little cupboard with one of the women on each
side and the third behind her. She recited another hymn; I think it
mentioned the burning bush of Moses. Then I saw the room filled with
supernatural light which became more intense as it wove itself round
Anna. The women sank to the ground as though stunned. The light round
Anna took the exact form of the burning bush of Moses on Horeb, and I
could no longer see her. The whole flame streamed inwards; and then I
suddenly saw that Anna received the shining child Mary in her hands,
wrapped her in her mantle, pressed her to her heart, and laid her naked
on the stool in front of the holy relics, still continuing her prayer.
Then I heard the child cry, and saw that Anna brought out wrappings
from under the great veil which enveloped her. She wrapped the child
first in gray and then in red swaddling bands up to her arms; her
breast, arms, and head were bare. The appearance of the burning bush
around Anna had now vanished.
The women stood up and received the newborn child in their arms with
great astonishment. They shed tears of joy. They all joined in a hymn
of praise, and Anna lifted her child up on high as though making an
offering. I saw at that moment the room full of light, and beheld
several angels singing Gloria and Alleluia. I heard all their words.
They announced that on the twentieth day the child was to be called
Mary.
Anna now went into her bedroom and lay down on her couch. The women in
the meantime unwrapped the child, bathed it, and wrapped it up again,
and then laid it beside its mother. There was a little woven wicker
basket which could be fastened beside the bed or against the wall or at
the foot of the bed, whichever was wanted, so that the child could
always have its place near its mother and yet separate.
The women now called Joachim, the father. He came to Anna's couch and
knelt down weeping, his tears falling on the child; then he lifted it
up in his arms and uttered his song of praise, like Zechariah at John's
birth. He spoke in this hymn of the holy seed, implanted by God in
Abraham, which had continued amongst God's people by means of the
covenant ratified by circumcision, but had now reached its highest
blossoming in this child and was, in the flesh, completed. I also heard
how this song of praise declared that now was fulfilled the word of the
prophet: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse.' He
said, too, in great humility and devoutness, that he would now gladly
die.
It was only then that I noticed that Mary Heli, Anna's elder daughter,
did not have sight of the child until later. Although she had become
the mother of Mary Cleophas several years before, she was not present
at the Blessed Virgin's birth--perhaps because, according to Jewish
rules, it was not considered seemly for a daughter to be with her
mother at such a time.
Next morning I saw the serving men and maids and many people from
nearby gathered round the house. They were allowed to enter in groups,
and the child was shown by the women to them all. Many were greatly
moved, and some led better lives thereafter. The neighbors had come
because they had seen in the night a glowing light above the house, and
because the birth of Anna's child after long unfruitfulness was looked
upon as a great favor from heaven.
|