6. The Purification of Anne and the Offering of Mary.
28th August 1944.
In Jerusalem I see Joachim
and Anne, together with Zacharias and Elizabeth, coming out from a
house, which must belong to friends or relatives, and they are
turning their steps towards the Temple for the ceremony of the
Purification.
Anne is carrying the Baby, all wrapped
up in swaddling clothes, nay, all tied up in a wide garment of light
wool, which, however, must be soft and warm. It is impossible to
describe how carefully and lovingly she carries and watches her
little creature, lifting the edge of the fine warm cloth to see if
Mary is breathing freely, and then she readjusts it to protect Her
from the sharp air of a clear but cold winter day.
Elizabeth is holding some parcels in
her hands. Joachim is pulling with a rope two big and very white
lambs, that are more like rams than lambs. Zacharias has nothing in
his hands. He is handsome in his linen garment, which can be seen
under a white heavy woolen mantle. Zacharias, much younger than the
one already seen at the birth of the Baptist, in his full manhood, as
Elizabeth is a mature woman, but still fresh in her appearance, and
she bends in ecstasy over the tiny sleeping face every time Anne
looks at the Baby. She also looks beautiful in her blue almost dark
violet dress and in her veil that covers her head and then falls on
her shoulders, and on the mantle which is darker than her dress.
But Joachim and Anne are certainly
solemn in their best clothes. Unexpectedly, he is not wearing his
dark brown tunic. Instead he has on a long garment of a very deep
red, which we would now call St. Joseph's red, and the fringes
attached to his mantle are new and beautiful. He, too, is wearing a
kind of a rectangular veil on his head and it is secured with a
leather band. Everything is new and of excellent quality. Anne, oh!
She is not wearing dark clothes today! Her dress is a very pale
yellow, almost the colour of old ivory, tied at her waist, neck and
wrists with a large belt that seems of silver and gold. Her head is
covered by a very light damask veil, held at her forehead by a thin
but precious plate. She has a filigree necklace round her neck and
bracelets at her wrists. She is like a queen, also because of the
dignity with which she wears her dress, and particularly her cape,
which is of a light yellow colour hemmed with a Greek fret
beautifully embroidered in the same shade.
« You look exactly as the day you got
married. I was just a little older than a girl, then, but I still
remember how beautiful and happy you were » says Elizabeth.
« But now I am even more so... and I
decided to wear the same dress for this rite. I had kept it for
this... and I was no longer expecting to put it on for this .»
« The Lord has loved you very much...»
says Elizabeth sighing.
« And that is why I am giving Him the
thing I love most. This flower of mine. »
« How will you be able to tear it from
your heart when the time comes? »
« Remembering that I did not have it
and that God gave it to me. I shall always be happier now than then.
When I know She is in the Temple I will say to myself: "She is
praying near the Tabernacle, She is praying the God of Israel also
for Her mummy" and I will have peace. And a greater peace I will
have in saying: “She belongs entirely to Him. When these two old
but happy parents, who received Her from Heaven, are no longer alive,
He, the Eternal, will still be Her Father.” Believe me, I am fully
convinced, this little creature is not ours. I was not able to do
anything more... He put Her in my bosom, a divine gift to wipe away
my tears and fulfill our hopes and our prayers. That is why She
belongs to Him. We are the happy guardians... and may He be blessed
for this! »
They have now reached the walls of the
Temple.
« While you go to Nicanor's Gate, I
will go and inform the priest. And then I will come, too » Zacharias
says. And he disappears behind an arch leading into a large yard
surrounded by porches.
The group continues to proceed along
the ensuing terraces. I do not know whether I have said this before:
the enclosure wall of the Temple is not on level ground but it rises
up higher and higher by means of successive terraces. Each terrace is
reached by means of a flight of steps and on each terrace there are
yards and porches and beautiful portals wrought in marble, bronze and
gold.
Before reaching their destination they
stop to take out the contents of the parcels: cakes, I think, which
are wide and flat and very greasy, some white flour, two doves in a
small wicker cage and some big silver coins: they are quite heavy but
fortunately garments did not have pockets in those days. They would
have made holes in them.
Here is the beautiful Gate of Nicanor,
all chiselled in heavy bronze silver plating. Zacharias is already
there beside a stately priest dressed in linen.
Anne is sprinkled with what I suppose
is lustral water and then she is instructed to move towards the altar
of the sacrifice. The Child is no longer in her arms. Elizabeth, who
has stopped at this side of the Gate, has taken Her.
Joachim, instead, enters behind his
wife, dragging a miserable bleating lamb. And I... I do exactly what
I did on the occasion of Mary's purification: I close my eyes not to
see any slaughter.
Now Anne is purified.
Zacharias whispers something to his
colleague, who nods smiling. He then approaches the group which has
reassembled and congratulating the mother and father on their joy and
their loyalty to the promises, he is given the second lamb, the flour
and the cakes.
« So this daughter is sacred to the
Lord? May His blessing be with Her and with you. Here Anna is coming.
She will be one of Her teachers. Anna of Phanuel of the tribe of
Asher. Come here, woman. This little one is offered to the Temple as
a victim of praise. You will be Her teacher and She will grow holy
under your guidance.»
Anna, already completely grey, fondles
the Child, who has awakened and is looking with Her innocent and
surprised eyes at all the white and gold lit up by the sun.
The ceremony must be over. I did not
see any special rite for the offering of Mary. Perhaps it was
sufficient to tell the priest, and above all God, at the sacred
place.
« I would like to give the offering to
the Temple and go over there where I saw the light last year.»
They go accompanied by Anna of Phanuel.
They do not enter the actual Temple; since they are women and it is
the case of a little girl, it is understandable that they do not even
go where Mary went to offer Her Son. But very close to the wide open
door, they look into the half-dark inside from which sweet songs of
girls can be heard and where precious lamps are lit and spread a
golden light on two flower beds of white veiled heads: two real
flowerbeds of lilies.
« In three years' time You will be
there too, my Lily » promises Anne to Mary, Who looks fascinated at
the inside and smiles at the slow song.
« You would say that She understands »
says Anna of Phanuel. « She is a beautiful child! She will be as
dear to me as if She were my own. I promise you, mother. If I shall
be granted to be so.»
« You shall, woman » Zacharias says.
« You will receive Her amongst the sacred girls. I also shall be
there. I want to be there that day to tell Her to pray for us from
the very first moment...» and he looks at his wife who understands
and sighs.
The ceremony is over and Anna of
Phanuel withdraws, while the others leave the Temple speaking to one
another.
I hear Joachim say: « Not only two
lambs and the best, but I would have given all my lambs for this joy
and to praise God! »
I do not see anything else.
-------------
Jesus says:
Jesus says:
« Solomon in his Wisdom says: "Whoever
is a child, let him come to me". And really from the stronghold,
from the walls of her city, Eternal Wisdom said to the Eternal
Maiden: "Come to Me", longing to have Her. Later the Son of
the Most Pure Maiden will say: "Let little children come to Me
because the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, and those who do not become
like them will not have any part in My Kingdom". The voices
follow one another and while the voice of Heaven cries to little
Mary: "Come to Me", the voice of Man says, and thinks of
His Mother in saying so: "Come to Me if you can be like
children".
I give you My Mother as a model.
Here is the perfect Maiden with the
pure and simple heart of a dove, here is the One Whom years and
worldly contacts do not make defiant in the cruelty of a corrupted,
twisted, false spirit. Because She does not want it. Come to Me,
looking at Mary.
Since you see Her, tell me: Is Her
glance as an infant very different from the one you saw She had at
the foot of the Cross or in the delight of Pentecost or when Her
eyelids closed upon Her innocent eyes for Her last sleep? No. Here is
the uncertain and astonished glance of an infant, then it will be the
amazed and modest look of the Annunciation, and then the happy one of
the Mother in Bethlehem, then the worshipping glance of My first and
sublime Disciple, then the tormented one of the Tortured Mother on
Golgotha, then the radiant glance of Resurrection and Pentecost, then
the veiled look of the ecstatic sleep of the last vision. But whether
it opens at the first sight, or closes tired on the last light, after
seeing so much of joy and horror, Her eye is the clear, pure, placid
piece of the sky that always shines below Mary's forehead. Wrath,
falsehood, pride, lewdness, hatred, curiosity never soil it with
their smoky clouds.
It is the eye that looks at God
lovingly, whether it cries or laughs, and that for God's sake fondles
and forgives and bears everything, and by the love of God is rendered
unassailable to the assaults of Evil, that so often makes use of the
eye to penetrate the heart. It is the pure, restful, blessing eye
that the pure, the saints, the lovers of God possess. I said: "The
lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body
will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole
body will be all darkness". Saints possessed this eye which is
the light for the soul and salvation for the flesh, because like Mary
throughout their lives they looked only at God. Even more: they
remembered God.
I will explain to you, My little voice,
the meaning of this word of Mine.»
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