Part 6 - 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. 6. The Espousals
At age 13, with Mary's intense love for chastity, she felt heavily
burdened as if feeling Abraham's pain when he offered his son's life
to God, when God commanded her to enter the state of matrimony. She
was astonished and afflicted because of this decree from her Lord.
Submitting her faith and hope to God's will she hoped against hope
and meekly replied, "Eternal God, Thou, O Lord, canst dispose me,
Thy worthless worm, according to Thy pleasure, without making me fail
in what I have promised. And if it be not pleasing to Thee, my good
Lord, I renew my desire to remain chaste during all my life."
With some human uneasiness and sadness, Mary obediently resigned
entirely to God's decree, though. The Lord answered her: "Mary,
let not thy heart be disturbed, for thy resignation is acceptable
to Me. And by My disposition, that will happen which is best for
thee."
Mary then tried to wash away her uncertainty by fervent prayers
and inner acts of love, faith, humility, obedience and chastity
as God intended.
God spoke to Simeon, the current high priest, in his sleep, and
told him to arrange marriage of Mary whom He had special love.
Simeon consulted the other priests and set up a day when bachelors
of the line of David, which was also Mary's, were assembled in
the Temple.
Nine days before the date, Simeon told Mary that since she was of
considerable age, orphaned and with inheritance, they were finding
her a husband. Mary gave her consent with composure and modesty,
saying that, Simeon, being her master, would know God's will though
she explained honestly that she had no intensions to marry.
Mary's prayers during these 9 days were filled with tears and sighs
and God, upon seeing this, assured her that she should not worry and
that He would guide the priests in the selection to make sure that
whoever they choose would not hinder Mary's holy desires.
God already had somebody in mind to become the foster father of
the Word Incarnate. It was St. Joseph, a humble, unmarried
carpenter who worked for a master in Galilee. St. Joseph's holiness
began 7 months after his conception in his mother's womb. At 7,
he attained perfect use of reason and a high degree of holiness.
As a boy, he was quite, likeable, humble, serious, solitary and
lacking in ambition. Like Mary, he was prayerful and meditative.
He was also subjected to tease and hurt by his brothers. He was
3rd of 6 brothers. He was content with manual labor and learned
apprenticeship from a poor carpenter. From the age of 12, he
had made and perfectly kept a vow of chastity.
One day while working on an oratory, an angel appeared to Joseph
and told him to stop work. The angel said that as God gave the
Patriarch Joseph the superintendence of the grain of Egypt, he was
confided the granary of salvation. Joseph did not understand this
message. Later he heard news that he was called to the Temple
of Jerusalem, being an unmarried descendent of King David. At that
time, Joseph was 33 years old.
The bachelors gathered to the Temple on Mary's 14th birthday.
Joseph, though renewed his vow of chastity, resigned himself to the
will of God. A dry branch was given to each men and the priests
instructed them to pray fervently to God that whoever was worthy
would be singled-out by Him to be Mary's groom. Joseph was the
last on the line and on his turn to place the branch to the altar,
his dry branch blossomed into a white lilylike flower and a dove of
purest and most dazzling whiteness descended and rested on his head
for a moment. Joseph then heard God in his heart: "Joseph, My
servant, Mary shall be thy spouse. Receive her with all care and
respect, for she is pleasing in My sight. She is just and pure in
mind and body. And thou shalt perform all that she shall ask."
The priest then summoned Mary and introduced her to Joseph as the
chosen spouse for her. As the custom, the two parted until the
wedding.
In a rented house on Mt. Sion, Mary's teachers and friends from
the Temple, some relatives of her parents (who did her lovely
sky-blue wedding gown and cape), Mary and Joseph were married.
After the wedding, Mary thanked all her companions and teachers
in the Temple. She offered her wish to remain in the Temple
and then with keen grief, she and Joseph set out to face the
life that God gave to them in Nazareth.
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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..."
*