Part 1 - Life of Mary
Marida Ignacio
DISCLAIMER: This compilation was based on saints, blesseds,
visionaries (4 in all) accounts of the "Life of Mary" as
"revealed" to them. It is NOT officially approved by the
Church as essential to our faith and belief. It is up to
individual reader's discretion to believe it or not.
This is here for simple contemplation on what "Holy life of
Our Blessed Virgin Mother" was and what virtues we can derive
from it.
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>From the book:
The Life of Mary as Seen by Mystics
Compiled by Raphael Brown
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Summary:
Chap.1. St. Ann and St. Joachim
Before the beginning of time, the Holy Trinity decreed that after
creation, the fall of man and several years after it, the Son of
God would be born of a virgin and this virgin was to be miraculously
exempt from all stains of original sin.
The Blessed Trinity then chose some Jews and guided them to live their
lives as peaceful, charitable, prayerful, austere, detached and much
endurance of the scorn by others who failed to achieve such type of
devotion to the Lord.
The grandparents of Mary descended from this devote, chosen people.
St. Ann, Mary's mother, was born of rich parents in Bethlehem and after
her birth, they moved to Sephoris near Nazareth. They regularly gave,
to the poor, a large part from their possessions and earnings.
St. Ann was a pious and a model daughter that other mothers tell their
daughters to be like her. After knowing about the coming of the Redeemer,
she always included in her prayers that God would hasten His plan.
Before Ann's mother died, she told her daughter that she was a chosen
vessel and that she should pray for a husband who would be worthy of
her.
While Ann prayed for somebody who would help her live according to
Divine Law, St. Joachim, a pious, middle-aged man, knew Ann and admired
her but dared not think she was to be his wife.
The angels saw and presented St. Ann's and St. Joachim's prayers to
the throne of the Blessed Trinity and God decided that they pleased Him
and so they should be married.
The Archangel Gabriel was sent to announce to:
- St. Ann, while she was praying, that she should continue to pray for
the coming of the Savior and also accept Joachim to be her husband.
- St. Joachim, that he should take Ann to be his wife.
So, St. Joachim, age 42 then, asked St. Ann's father for his daughter's
hand in marriage (St. Ann was 24 yrs. old).
Once married, though they were wealthy, they lived very economically
and charitably.
Each year they divided all their rents and income into 3 parts: 1/3 to
the Temple of God's services, 1/3 to the poor and kept only what was
left.
They frequently talked together about God and prayed for the coming
of the Redeemer.
Neither told the other about the message of the angel.
God purified them still by giving them a cross that grew heavier to
bear as the years passed: they remained childless through these years.
They received insults from neighbors because it was such a misfortune
and disgrace to remain childless in those days.
After 7 years, without answer to their prayers, they moved to a smaller
farm near Nazareth.
They thought it was their fault that they remained childless and so
they increased their charity and gifts to the poor.
And they trained themselves to continence for they aspired for greater
purity.
They made a vow to God that they would dedicate their child, if God
gave them one, to His service in the Temple.
Thirteen years passed and still no child.
Once when Joachim was offering his sacrifices to the Temple, the
priest rebuked and insulted him saying that his offerings are not
acceptable to the Lord.
This hurt and put him more to shame. He prayed at a corner of the Temple
but he could not contain such shame anymore and so he took some of his
flocks to a distant slopes of Mt. Hermon. He stayed there for several
months without communicating to St. Ann.
St. Ann, through friends, learned of the insults by the priest to St.
Joachim and she too was deeply hurt and this added to her sufferings.
She was then 44 years old and while praying fervently for the coming
of the Redeemer and for whomever the holy mother chosen by God,
Archangel Gabriel appeared before her in resplendent human form. He
told her that her petitions were heard by God and the delay was in order
to prepare her and be worthy for God's plans.
He told her that she would give birth to a daughter who would be the
mother of the Redeemer. Joachim was not to know that their daughter
were to give birth to the Redeemer, though.
Joachim was also visited by Archangel Gabriel while he slept among
his flock and he told St. Joachim that Ann was going to have a blessed
child and must be consecrated to the Temple.
Both St. Ann and St. Joachim were told by the Archangel to meet at the
Temple's Golden Gate.
Reunited, together they renewed their vow to offer their child to His
Temple.
While they were praying, they were infolded by heavenly light and angels
hovered above them. The Blessed Trinity further purified them and
gave them special blessings.
With overwhelming happiness and gratitude, St. Ann and St. Joachim wept
tears of joy and love. They then gave alms to the poor more abundantly.
God did prepare and purify Mary's good parents until the glorious
mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God took place.
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The Blessed Virgin to St. Bridget:
"It is a truth that I was conceived without Original Sin and not in sin.
A golden hour was my conception. My Son joined my father and mother
in a marriage of such chastity that a purer union has never been seen.
Sensuality was extinguished in them. Thus, my flesh was formed through
Divine Charity."
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(__ \/ ) His Peace through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Marida
* )XxXx/
* | / "Human-kind: Where protection of valuable life starts and
* ) / takes off."
* \/ Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you..."
*