Chapter 8. Mary Is Presented in the Temple.
30th August 1944.
I see Mary between Her father and
mother walking in the streets in Jerusalem.
Passers-by stop to look at the
beautiful Girl all dressed in white and wearing a very light mantle.
The mantle, because of its design in branches and flowers, which are
a little darker against the soft background, seems to be the same one
that Anne was wearing on the day of her Purification. The only
difference is that while it reached down to Anne's waist, in the case
of Mary, Who is only a little girl, it reaches down to Her ankles and
envelops Her in a small light and bright cloud of rare beauty.
Her fair hair, loose on Her shoulders,
or rather, on Her gentle neck, shines through the veil where there is
no pattern, but only the very light background. The veil is held on
Her forehead by a very pale blue ribbon, on which small lilies are
embroidered with silver threads, certainly the work of Her mother.
As I said, the snow white dress reaches
down to the ground, and Her little feet can just be seen, as She
walks, in Her white sandals. Her hands are like two magnolia petals,
peeping from the long sleeves. Apart from the blue ribbon, there is
no other colour. It is all white. Mary seems to be dressed in snow.
Joachim is wearing the same garment he
had on for the Purification. Anne, instead, is wearing a very dark
violet dress. Also the mantle, which also covers her head, is dark
violet. She is holding it lowered below her eyes. Two poor eyes of a
mother, red with tears, that do not wish to weep and above all do not
wish to be seen crying, but can but shed tears under the protection
of the mantle, a protection that serves its purpose with regard to
passers-by and also to Joachim, whose eyes, usually clear, are to-day
red and dull, because of the tears he has shed and is still shedding.
He is walking with a stoop, his head is covered by a veil worn in the
fashion of a turban, with the folds hanging down along his face.
A very old Joachim. Whoever sees him,
must think that he is the grandfather or the great grandfather of the
little girl he is holding by the hand. The pain of losing Her causes
the poor father to drag his feet and he is so weary that he looks
twenty years older. He is so sad and tired that he looks like an old
sick man. His mouth trembles slightly between the two wrinkles that
at the sides of his nose are so deep today.
They are both endeavouring to conceal
their tears. But if they are successful with many people, they are
not with Mary, Who, because of Her height, sees them from below, and
lifting Her head looks at Her father and mother alternately. They
make an effort to smile at Her with their trembling mouths and they
hold Her tiny hand tighter every time their little daughter looks at
them and smiles. They must be thinking: « There. A smile to be seen
one time less.» They proceed slowly. Very slowly. They seem to be
wishing to protract their journey for as long as possible. Everything
serves as a pretext to stop... But a journey must come to an end! And
this one is about to end. Up there, at the top of this last stretch
of the road, there are the Temple walls. Anne utters a groan and
holds Mary's hand tighter.
« Anne, my dear, I am here with you! »
a voice utters, coming out from the shade of a low arch built over a
cross-roads. And Elizabeth, who was waiting for them, approaches her
and embraces her. And since Anne is crying she says: «Come into this
friendly house for a little while. Then we shall go together. Also
Zacharias is here. »
They all enter a low dark room where
the only light is a big fire. The landlady, obviously a friend of
Elizabeth's, but unknown to Anne, kindly withdraws and leaves them
alone.
« You must not think that I am
repenting or I am giving my treasure to the Lord unwillingly, »
explains Anne crying, « but it's my heart... oh! how my heart aches,
my old heart that is returning to its childless solitude! If you
could only feel... »
« I know, my dear Anne... But you are
good and God will console you in your solitude. Mary will pray for
the peace of Her mother. Won't you, Mary? »
Mary caresses Her mother's hands and
kisses them. She presses them to Her face to be caressed and Anne
holds Her little face tightly in her hands and kisses it repeatedly.
She is never tired of kissing Her.
Zacharias enters and greets them
saying: « May the peace of the Lord be with the just. »
« Yes » replies Joachim, « implore
peace for us, because our hearts are trembling in our offer, as
Abraham's did, while he was climbing the mountain, but we shall not
find another offer to replace this one. Neither do we want it,
because we are faithful to the Lord. But we are suffering, Zacharias.
Since you are a priest of God, please understand us and do not be
perturbed. »
« Never. On the contrary, your sorrow
which does not go beyond reasonable limits and does not shake your
faith, teaches me how to love the Most High. But take heart. Anna,
the prophetess, will take care of this flower of David and Aaron. At
present She is the only lily of David's holy issue in the Temple and
She will be taken care of as a royal pearl. Although we are
approaching the time when the Messiah is to come, and the women
belonging to the house of David should be anxious to consecrate their
daughters to the Temple, because the Messiah will be born of a virgin
of David's issue, yet, because of the general weakening of faith, the
places of the virgins in the Temple are empty. They are too few and
none of the royal offspring, since Sarah of Elisha left three years
ago to get married. It is true that there are still thirty years to
the appointed time, but... Well let us hope that Mary will be the
first of many virgins of David's offspring before the Sacred Veil.
And then... who knows...» Zacharias does not say anything else. But
he looks at Mary thoughtfully. Then he resumes: « Also I will watch
over Her. I am a priest and I have power in here. I will make use of
it for this angel. And Elizabeth will often come to see Her. »
« Oh! Certainly! I am in such need of
God that I will come and tell this little Girl, so that She may tell
the Eternal One. »
Anne has taken heart again. To relieve
her anxiety even more Elizabeth asks her: « Is this not the veil of
your wedding? Or have you been weaving new byssus? »
« It is. I am consecrating it to the
Lord with Her. My eyes are no longer so good... and also our wealth
has been reduced by taxation and misfortunes... I could not afford
heavy expenses. I have only seen to Her clothing for the time She
will be in the House of the Lord and afterwards... Because I do not
think that I shall be there to dress Her for Her wedding... but I
want it to be the hands of Her mummy, even if cold and motionless,
which prepare Her for the wedding and weave Her linens and dresses.»
« Oh! Why think of that!? »
« I am old, my dear cousin. I have
never felt it so much as I do now in my great pain. I have given the
last ounce of strength in my life to this flower, to bear Her and to
nourish Her, and now the pain of losing Her is drawing my last
strength away and dispersing it. »
« Don't say that, for Joachim's sake.»
« Yes, you are quite right. I will try
and live for my husband. »
Joachim pretends he has not heard,
intent as he is on listening to Zacharias, but he has heard and he
sighs deeply, his eyes shining with tears.
« It is between the third and the
sixth hour. I think we ought to go » Zacharias says.
They all get up to put on their mantles
and set off.
But before going out Mary kneels down
on the threshold with Her arms stretched out: a little imploring
cherub. « Father! Mother! Your blessing, please.» She is not
crying, the little brave girl. But Her lips are trembling and Her
voice, broken by a sob, resembles more than ever the trembling cooing
of a little dove. Her face is pale, and Her eyes have the look of
resigned distress which I will see again on Calvary and in the
Sepulchre, where it was so much more intense that it was impossible
to look at Her without deep suffering.
Her parents bless Her and kiss Her:
once, twice, ten times, they are never satisfied... Elizabeth is
weeping silently and Zacharias, notwithstanding his efforts to
conceal his tears, is deeply moved.
They go out. Mary is between Her father
and mother as before. Zacharias and his wife are in front of them.
They are now inside the walls of the
Temple. « I will go to the High Priest. You go to the Great,
Terrace.»
They go across three yards and through
three halls, set one upon the other. They are now at the foot of the
huge marble cube crowned with gold. Every dome, convex like a huge
half orange, blazes in the sun, which now, at midday, is shining down
directly on to the large yard surrounding the solemn building and is
filling with its dazzling light the large square and the wide flight
of steps leading up to the Temple. Only the porch facing the steps,
along the façade, is in the shade and the very high bronze and gold
door is even darker and more solemn looking in so much light.
Mary looks whiter than snow in so much
sunshine. She is now at the foot of the steps, between Her father and
Her mother. How violently their hearts must be throbbing! Elizabeth
is beside Anne, but a little behind her, about half a step.
Upon the blare of silver trumpets the
door rotates on its hinges, which seem to be emitting the sound of a
cithern, while turning on the bronze balls. The interior appears with
its lamps in the far end and a procession is moving towards the door,
a stately procession with silver trumpets, clouds of incense and
lights.
It is now at the threshold. In front is
the High Priest... a stately old man, dressed in very fine linen, and
wearing over his linen dress a short linen tunic and on top of it a
kind of chasuble, something multicoloured between a chasuble and a
deacon's vestment: purple and gold, violet and white alternate and
sparkle like gems in the sun: two real gems are shining more brightly
at the top of his shoulders. Perhaps they are buckles with their
precious settings. On his breast there is a large metal plate shining
with gems and held by a gold chain. Pendants and trimmings gleam on
the hem of his short tunic and gold shines above his forehead on his
mitre, that reminds me of the mitre worn by Orthodox priests, a mitre
shaped as a dome instead of being pointed like the Roman Catholic
one.
The solemn personage moves forward,
alone, as far as the beginning of the steps, in the golden sunshine
that makes him look even more splendid. The others stand waiting
under the shady porch, in a circle outside the door. On the left
there is a group of girls, all dressed in white, with prophetess Anna
and other elderly ladies, obviously teachers.
The High Priest looks at the little
Girl and smiles. She must look very tiny at the foot of the flight of
steps worthy of an Egyptian temple! He lifts his arms to the sky in
prayer. They all bow their heads in perfect humility before the
priestly majesty communicating with the Eternal Majesty.
Then, he beckons to Mary. And She
departs from Her mother and father, and as if fascinated, climbs the
steps. And She smiles. She smiles in the shade of the Temple, where
the precious Veil is hanging... She is now at the top of the steps,
at the feet of the High Priest, who imposes his hand on Her head. The
victim has been accepted. Which purer victim had the Temple ever
received?
Then he turns round and holding his
hand on Her shoulder as if he were leading the immaculate little Lamb
to the altar, he takes Her to the Temple door. Before letting Her in,
he asks Her: « Mary of David, are You aware of Your vow?» When She
replies « Yes » in Her silvery voice, he cries out: « Go in, then.
Walk in my presence and be perfect .»
Mary enters and is swallowed up by the
darkness. The group of virgins and teachers, then the Levites hide
and isolate Her more and more... She can no longer be seen... Also
the door is now closing on its sweet-sounding hinges. Through the gap
which is becoming narrower and narrower, the procession can be seen
advancing towards the Holy of Holies. Now it is only a thread. Now it
is no more: it is closed.
The last chord of the harmonious hinges
is replied to by a sob from the two old parents and by a joint cry: «
Mary! Daughter! » and then two groans, the one invoking the other: «
Anne! » « Joachim! » and they finish whispering: « Let us give
glory to the Lord Who is receiving Her in His House and is leading
Her along His path.»
It all ends thus.
--------------------
Jesus says:
Jesus says:
« The High Priest had said: “Walk in
my presence and be perfect”. The High Priest did not know that he
was speaking to the Woman Who is inferior in perfection only to God.
But he was speaking in the name of God, and therefore his order was a
sacred one. It is always sacred, particularly with regard to the
Virgin Full of Wisdom.
Mary had deserved that “Wisdom should
precede Her and show Itself to Her first,” because “from the
beginning of Her day She had watched at Its door, and wishing to be
taught, out of love, She wanted to be pure to achieve perfect love
and deserve to have Wisdom as Her teacher.”
In Her humility She did not know that
She possessed Wisdom before being born and that the union with Wisdom
was but the continuation of the divine pulsations of Paradise. She
could not imagine that. And when God whispered sublime words to Her
in the depths of Her heart, in Her humility She considered them
thoughts of pride and raising Her innocent heart to God, She besought
Him: “Lord, have mercy on Thy Servant!”
Oh! It is true that the True Wise
Virgin, the Eternal Virgin, has had only one thought from the dawn of
Her day: to raise Her heart to God from the morning of life and to
watch for the Lord, praying before the Most High, asking forgiveness
for the weaknesses of Her heart, as Her humility convinced Her, and
She was not aware that She was anticipating the request for
forgiveness for sinners, which She would later make at the foot of
the Cross, together with Her dying Son.
“When the great Lord will decide, She
will be filled with the Spirit of intelligence” and will then
understand Her great mission. For the time being She is only a child,
who in the sacred peace of the Temple, establishes and re-establishes
closer and closer connections, affections and memories with Her God.
This is for everybody.
But for you, My little Mary, has your
Teacher nothing special to tell you? “Walk in My presence, be
therefore perfect.” I am slightly modifying the sacred phrase and I
am giving it to you as an order. Be perfect in love, perfect in
generosity, perfect in suffering.
Look once again at Mother. And consider
what so many ignore or wish to ignore, because sorrow is too irksome
to their taste and their spirit. Sorrow. Mary suffered from the very
first hour of Her life. To be perfect as She was, implied the
possession of a perfect sensitivity. Consequently sacrifice was to be
more piercing. And thus more meritorious. He who possesses purity
possesses love, who possesses love possesses wisdom, who possesses
wisdom possesses generosity and heroism, because he knows why he
makes a sacrifice.
Raise your spirit, even if the cross
bends you, breaks you and kills you. God is with you. »
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