Apparitions of Mother Mary

According to the histories of the twelve tribes of Israel, Joachim was a very wealthy man. He brought his offerings twofold to the Lord, saying to himself, “This from my abundance will be for all the people, and this which I owe as a sin offering will be for the Lord God as a propitiation for me.”

Now the great day of the Lord drew near, and the children of Israel brought their offerings. Reuben stood up and said “It is not permissible for you to bring your offerings first, for you did not produce offspring in Israel.”

Deeply ashamed, Joachim left the city. In the desert he pitched a tent, saying, “I shall fast and do penance until the Lord deems me worthy.” He went into the desert and fasted for 40 days and nights. Anna wept to see her husband go.

All alone, she went into the garden and sat down beneath the laurel tree. Looking toward the heavens, she saw a nest of sparrows in the tree. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes. How she longed to have a child of her own. Anna entreated the Lord, saying” Woe is me! To what am I likened? I am not likened to this earth, for even the earth brings forth her fruit in its season and blesses you, O Lord.”

And behold an angel of the Lord appeared, saying “Anna, the Lord God heard your prayer, and you will conceive and give birth, and your offspring shall be spoken of in the whole inhabited world.” Anna said, “As the Lord my God lives, if I give birth, whether male or female, I will present it as a gift to the Lord my God, and it shall be a ministering servant to him all the days of its life.”:

And behold two angels came saying to her “Behold your husband Joachim is coming with his flocks.” Anna ran and throw her arms around his neck saying “Now I know that the Lord God has blessed me very greatly, for behold the widow is no longer a widow, and she who was barren has conceived.”

Anna gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, in gratitude to the Lord, Joachim vowed that once the child turned three years old, she would be sent to the Temple to be educated.

When she was six months old her mother stood her on the ground to see if she could stand. Walking seven steps, she came to her mother’s bosom. Anna held the baby to her and said, “As the Lord is my God, and He has sent me a miraculous child.” Anna then caught her up, saying “as the Lord my God lives, you shall not walk on this earth again until I bring you to the Temple of the Lord”. Then she made a sanctuary in her bedroom and prohibited everything common and unclean from passing through it.

The priest received her, and kissing her he blessed her and said, “The Lord God has magnified your name in all generations, in you at the end of todays will the Lord God manifest his deliverance to the children of Israel”. He set her on the third step of the alter, and the Lord God gave grace to her, and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her. At last it was time for Mary to climb the steps to the Temple. A halo of light encircled the blessed child and filled with joy, she began to dance. The child’s bright spirit could not be contained anymore than the sun can be kept from rising. Her parents returned marvelling and giving praise and glorifying the Lord God that the child did not turn back.

“And to glory in His kindness,” said Mary softly. Startled, the old priest looked at her. “The little one is fearless and yet all gentleness,” he told himself as the others exchanged smiles.

“The Lord can be merciful. That is true Mary,” he replied. “You are wise, for one so young.”

“Is it wisdom, good father, to see what is all around us?” asked the child. “The Lord must love us very much to have given us this earthly paradise to look after.”

One day, as she bathed the brow of a young girl so sick with fever that she was not expected to survive the night. Mary heard angelic singing. She looked to her patient, wondering if the girl had heard it too. No, her friend was sleeping peacefully for the first time in days. Touching the girl’s forehead, Mary realised that the fever had passed. Surely it was a miracle – the girl would recover, just as Mary prayed she would. “Mary,” a voice suddenly said. “The Lord has seen fit to bring you into this world without the stain of sin. And you use His good favor to help others. By doing so you honour Him greatly.”
 

When Mary turned fourteen, Zaccharia told her, “It is customary for all young maidens at your age to marry.” That night an angel appeared to the old priest in a dream and said, “Do not worry, Zaccharia. Tomorrow have each suitor bring with him a staff. The Holy Spirit will give a sign as to who shall be Mary’s husband.”
 

The next day the suitors crowded into the Temple, each holding a staff in his hand. Kneeling, they prayed for a sign. All at once a lily was seen to bloom from the staff held by the widower Joseph, a builder and carpenter. And then a snow white dove alighted upon the staff before flying off. “How can it be that the Lord has chosen

"Me?” Joseph said, astonished “I have been widowed for some time and have sons nearly as old as this tender young girl.” But Zaccharia shook his head “The Lord has given a sign, Joseph.” And turning to Mary the priest asked “Mary what is your wish?” Moved by the events and Joseph’s humble words, Mary extended her hand to Joseph, saying, “I accept.”

That day the marriage contract was signed, and in twelve months the wedding ceremony would be celebrated. In the meantime, Mary returned to her parents while Joseph departed for a distant town where he was about to begin work on the building of a Temple. The commission was a great honour, but it would separate the couple for nearly a year.

At day break one spring morning, Mary went to draw water from the well before her parents awakened. All at once she heard a voice. “Hail Mary,” it said. “The Lord is with you. Holy is your name.” And the angel stood before her. “Mary, do not be afraid, “he said. “I am the angel Gabriel, God’s messenger. He has sent me to tell you that He wishes you to bear a son.”

“But how can such a thing be possible? I am not yet wed,” said Mary.

“The Holy Spirit will pass through you as a ray of sunlight passes through a drop of water, and so the child will be called the Son of God.” Mary shook her head in wonder.

“Your kinswoman Elizabeth has in her old age conceived a son, and she, like your own mother was once called barren,” the angel continued. “But now, thanks to the Lord, Elizabeth is in her sixth month. Indeed, only your consent is needed for such a miracle to be possible, for nothing is impossible for God.”

As she listened, Mary was filled with courage. She replied, “Then I give my consent.”

Bowing before her, the angel Gabriel Kissed the hem of Mary’s robe and then vanished.

Alone, Mary wondered what kind of destiny she had carved for herself. How was she to explain this to her parents? And to Joseph?
 

The next morning Anna surprised Mary with news. “I have just received a letter from our cousin Elizabeth. The Lord has blessed her, for at last she has conceived a child. It is truly a miracle!” The following day they left for Elizabeth’s home to help her as she awaited the birth of the baby. Now, as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary at the door, she called out, “Hail Mary. Mother of God!” and at the same moment, the infant Elizabeth carried leapt for joy within her. Rushing to embrace them both, Elizabeth said to Anna, “Of all the women, Mary is the most blessed and blessed is the infant she carries.”

When Mary was alone with her mother, she tried to explain. Anna took her daughter into her arms. “My dearest child, I believe you,” said Anna. “But what of Joseph? Will he trust in you as completely?”

When Joseph was told, he blamed himself, for he felt he had failed to protect her, crying “who is he who has deceived me? Who did this evil thing in my house and defiled her?”. Then Mary wept and said that she was pure. To spare Mary any public shame, it was decided that she was to go into seclusion, and that the engagement would be broken. But that very night an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived her child through the grace of the Holy Spirit. It will be a son, and you must name him Jesus, for he will be the salvation of the world.”

On the way to Bethlehem where they were going to be ‘enrolled’, Mary came down from her donkey, knowing that her time had come. Joseph took her into a cave and while the heavens stood still and the birds of heaven rested, while time itself throughout nature and humanity came to a stop, there, Mary gave birth to Jesus. A great light appeared in the cave as the baby was born. For a moment he was pure light, then as the light faded a child appeared.

Early manuscripts of the Gospel of James exist in Greek, Syriac, Ethiopic and Georgian, reaffirming the significance of the role of Mary in the divine play.

The reoccurring themes of purity, chastity, love and compassion dominate the life of Mary, indeed she is the embodiment of these qualities. The qualities of a Mother. But greater than any Mother born of this earth. She is the perfect example of how the feminine power of God manifests itself as a “Mother”, just as Christ is the perfect example of the power of God when embodied as a “son”.

The most comprehensive stories about the early childhood of Mary are attributed to the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of James. This has been documented by historians as being written prior to the year 200 AD.

In a document called God the Father of Mercy there is an entire chapter devoted to Mary, the Holy Trinity’s Sign of Mercy. Mary is the object of God’s mercy. This document states:

 “Mary becomes the prophet of God’s mercy, as well as it’s icon. She, more than anyone else knows the mystery of mercy that reaches its climax on Calvary. The Virgin who became the Mother of Jesus at Christmas, enabling God’s mercy to become incarnate.”

The qualities of mercy, compassion, comforting and counselling have long since been seen as feminine qualities, all of which Mary emanated. They are also the qualities of the future incarnation promised by Christ, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, shall teach you all things” (John 14:26) Could it be that he was telling then of the age of the Mother, when the feminine power of God would grace this earth.

If God Almighty deemed Her pure enough to bear his Son, then it could be suggested that She has a special place in the Holy Trinity. We talk much of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. We have this trinity in the birth of Christ – God the Father, Christ the Son and Mary the Mother. This begs the question: “Is the Holy Ghost a feminine power, a mothering power that came on this earth to bear the Son of God and teach mankind of the mercy and love of God?”.

According to tradition Mary has been called upon as the Mother of Mercy since the 3rd century.

Churches built in honour of the Virgin Mary have been well documented; for example the Emperor Justinian built a splendid church dedicated to Mary in the Temple area in Jerusalem. It was dedicated on November 21, 543AD but was destroyed by the Persians within a century. Mary was also held in the highest regard by early church Fathers praising her – “ She was planted in the House of God, nourished by the Holy Spirit and kept her body and soul spotless to receive God in her bosom. He Who is all-holy rests among the holy.”

James describes the day Mary is presented to the temple by her parents Anna and Joachim. “When the day arrived, the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews were invited to accompany Mary with their lamps burning to the Temple. There the priest received her, blessed her and kissed her in welcome”.

He proclaimed, “The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel.” Mary was placed on the third step of the Temple and there danced with joy and all the house of Israel loved her. Without looking back, Mary climbed the stairs of the temple. It was there that she was nurtured and her parents returned glorifying the Almighty. This shows that even in her childhood Mary was completely dedicated to God. It is from this very account that arose the feast of Mary’s Presentation.

Despite its recent definition as dogma, the story of the assumption dates back to the early centuries of the church. The earliest narrative is the so-called Liber Requiei Mariae (The Book of Mary's Repose), a narrative which survives intact only in an Ethiopic translation Probably composed by the fourth century, this early Christian apocryphal narrative may be as early as the third century. Also quite early are the very different traditions of the "Six Books" Dormition narratives. The earliest versions of this apocryphon are preserved by several Syriac manuscripts of the fifth and sixth centuries, although the text itself probably belongs to the fourth century. This mystery is celebrated on August 15.

Later apocrypha based on these earlier texts include the De Obitu S. Dominae, attributed to St. John, a work probably from around the turn of the sixth century that is a summary of the "Six Books" narrative. The story also appears in De Transitu Virginis, a late fifth-century work ascribed to St. Melito of Sardis that presents a theologically redacted summary of the traditions in the Liber Requiei Mariae. An Armenian letter attributed to Dionysus the Areopagite also mentions the event, although this is a much later work, written sometime after the sixth century. Other saints also describe it, notably St. Gregory of Tours, St. John Damascene, and St. Modestus of Jerusalem.