The Life of Mary as Seen by the Mystics

by Raphael Brown

  Then he led the shepherds into the grotto, where the Blessed Mother of God was sitting on the ground beside the crib in which the beautiful Babe of Bethlehem was lying. And as they gazed down at the tiny Jesus, He looked up at them, and from His radiant little face and eyes a mystical current of divine love streamed forth and touched the sincere hearts of those poor but fortunate men, changing and renewing them spiritually and filling them with a new grace and understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation and of the Redemption. “And when they had seen, they understood what had been told them concerning this Child.” Still holding their shepherd’s staffs in their hands, they very humbly knelt down before the Infant Jesus and prostrated themselves on the ground, weeping tears of joy as they adored their God. For a long time they were so deeply moved with supernatural happiness that they could not say a word. Finally they began to sing together the words and melody which the angel had taught them.

  Meanwhile the lovely Mother of God modestly observed all that they did and felt, for she also saw into their inmost hearts. And when they had finished singing their beautiful hymn, she spoke to them, urging them to persevere in the love and service of the Lord. They stayed in the cave from dawn until noon, when Mary graciously gave them something to eat. As they were about to leave, she allowed each of them in turn to hold the divine Babe for a moment, and each one, as he reverently gave the Child back to her, wept tears of sweet joy and gratitude. Then they left, filled with heavenly consolation and understanding, “glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, even as it was spoken to them.”

  “But Mary kept in mind all these words, pondering them in her heart.”

  “And all who heard marveled at the things, told them by the shepherds.” The following day the latter returned with their wives and children, bringing gifts of eggs and honey and cloth. The men helped St. Joseph to make the grotto somewhat more habitable, and some devout women who had known him as a boy in Bethlehem brought firewood and did some cooking and washing for the Holy Family.

  Once during these happy days after the Nativity, while Mary and Joseph were alone, absorbed in contemplating the Christ Child, their donkey came into the stable and suddenly knelt down on its forelegs and bowed its head to the ground before the Babe in the crib.

  Most of the time the loving Mother of God held her divine Son in her arms. Whenever she took Him up, she first made three genuflections and humbly kissed the ground before kneeling at the crib and touching the tiny Jesus. And when she thought that she should nurse Him, she first asked His permission. All her angels remained present and visible to her until the Flight into Egypt, and on rare occasions she gave her Baby into the hands of the Archangels Gabriel and Michael. She would not sleep except when the Lord Himself commanded her to do so. With her angels and with St. Joseph, she often composed and sang beautiful hymns in honor of the holy Child. And she often gave her good husband the intense pleasure of hearing her refer to Jesus as “our Son.”

  Many times in caressing her beloved Son, she humbly kissed His feet, and she always asked His consent before kissing His sacred face. And often He returned her affection by putting His little arms around her neck.

  At such times Mary said to Him:

  “O my Love, sweet Life of my soul, who art Thou, and who am I? What return shall I make for the great things which Thou hast done to me?”

  Speaking of the Nativity, the Mother of God said to St. Bridget of Sweden:

  “And when I gave birth to Him, I brought Him forth without pain, just as I had also conceived Him with such great joy of soul and body that in my rapture my feet did not feel the ground on which they were standing. And as He had filled my soul with happiness on entering my body, so did He again come forth in such a way that my whole body and soul exulted with indescribable joy and in such a way that my virginity was not impaired.

  “How overwhelmed I was when I perceived and gazed at His beauty, and when I realized that I was not worthy of such a Son. And then, too, when I looked at the places where the nails would be driven into His hands and feet, how my eyes filled with tears and how my heart was torn with grief! And when my Son saw the tears in my eyes, He was sad unto death.

  “But then, when I contemplated the power of His Divinity, I regained confidence, for I knew that it was His will and that it would be for the good, and I made my whole will conform to His.

  “Thus my happiness was ever mixed with sorrow.”

  and to the Venerable Mother Mary of Agreda:

  “Who would be so hardened as not to be moved to tenderness at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying on a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world? Who will dare to love the vanity and pride which was openly scorned and condemned by the Creator of heaven and earth in His actions? No one should despise the humility, poverty, and indigence which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the Way of Eternal Life. Few there are who stop to consider this truth and this example, and as a result of this rank ingratitude only the few reap the fruit of these great mysteries.”

  The Adoration of the Shepherds

  XV

  The Circumcision

  uring the first days after the Nativity, whenever Mary thought of the painful ceremonial operation known as Circumcision, which the Law of Israel prescribed for every male child on the eighth day after birth, she suffered intensely. Although she had received no intimation of God’s will, in her humility and prudence she refrained from asking either the Lord or her angels whether her divine Son had to submit to this purifying rite. When she spoke of it to St. Joseph, they both wept tears of compassion.

  Then one day while Mary was kneeling in prayer, the Lord said to her:

  “My Daughter, do not let your heart be afflicted because your Son is to be subjected to the pains of circumcision. I have sent Him into the world as an example. Therefore resign yourself to the shedding of His blood.”

  Whereupon the Blessed Virgin prayed:

  “Supreme Lord and God, I offer to Thee this most meek Lamb. But if His pains may be mitigated at the expense of my suffering, Thou hast power to effect this exchange. . . .”

  Rising from prayer, she told St. Joseph that since the time for the Circumcision was near and they had not received any orders to the contrary, it seemed necessary that they should comply with the Law. She also informed him that the rite was to be performed in the usual way, except that she herself would hold the Child. Then with reference to the name to be given to the Infant Saviour during the ceremony, St. Joseph said:

  “The holy angel told me that your sacred Son should be called Jesus.”

  And Mary answered:

  “The same name was revealed to me when He assumed flesh in my womb, and we will propose this name to the priest.”

  While they were conversing thus, innumerable strikingly beautiful angels in human form, clothed in shining white garments, descended from on high, each holding on his breast a shield on which was engraved the word Jesus. Their two leaders, the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, said to Mary:

  “This is the Name of your Son, which the Blessed Trinity has given Him as the sign of salvation for the whole human race. But now He is to shed His blood in receiving it, since it is that of the Saviour. This will be the beginning of His sufferings in obedience to His Father’s will. We have come to accompany Him and to minister to Him until He ascends into heaven.”

  St. Joseph also witnessed this marvelous sight, and both he and Mary were filled with supernatural joy and admiration.

  On the eighth day therefore, after having duly prepared everything in the stable, St. Joseph went to Bethlehem and returned with a dignified elderly priest and his two assistants. At first, the priest was somewhat astonished and shocked at the primitiveness and poverty of the Holy Family’s home. But the young Mother of God welcomed him with such modes
ty and grace that he was soon moved to deep respect and devotion toward such a saintly person. And when he saw the divine Child in her arms, his soul was filled with tender mystic reverence for the adorable Babe of Bethlehem.

  The ceremony was to take place at the entrance to the grotto, not far from the crib. St. Joseph lighted two candles, and the priests began to recite some prayers. When the old priest asked Mary to give her Son to the two assistants and to withdraw a bit so that she should not have to witness the painful sacrifice, the Mother of God hesitated, torn between her spirit of humble obedience on the one hand and her love and reverence for Jesus on the other. Finally she meekly requested to be allowed to stay and to hold her Son in her arms, as she did not wish to leave Him at such a moment. She asked only that the operation be performed as delicately as possible on account of the Child’s unusual sensitiveness.

  The priest consented, and Mary then unwound her Baby’s swaddling clothes and drew from her bosom a linen towel which she had placed there in order to warm it, as the weather was very cold that day. After sitting down and spreading out this towel on her lap, she placed her Child on it, and the priest then proceeded to perform the ceremony of Circumcision with a small flint knife, while St. Joseph recited the ritual prayer:

  “Blessed be Jehovah the Saviour. He hath sanctified His well-beloved from the womb of His mother and hath written the Law in our flesh. He hath signed His son with the sign of His Covenant, that He may impart to Him the blessings of Abraham our father.”

  To which the assistants responded:

  “Blessed be He whom Thou hast chosen for Thy child!”

  Now, with infinite love, the divine Son of God offered up to His Father in heaven the sacrifice of this first shedding of His Precious Blood as a pledge that He would one day give it all for the Redemption of mankind. True to His human nature, the tiny Babe of Bethlehem cried as other children do, though His tears were caused more by supernatural sorrow over the hardheartedness of men than by His physical pain, which was intense.

  As usual His holy Mother perceived and felt all that He was doing and suffering, and she too wept. When the rite was over, in mutual love and compassion the Child clung to His Mother while she tenderly caressed and comforted Him as she wrapped Him again in His swaddling clothes.

  After some more prayers, the priest asked the parents what name they wished to give the Child. Both Mary and Joseph now said at the same time:

  “Jesus is His name!”

  Then, while the old priest recited a prayer, a luminous angel appeared before him and showed him the name Jesus written on a piece of wood. Profoundly moved and shedding tears of supernatural joy, the priest inscribed the Holy Name on a parchment register. And under the inspiration of divine grace, he exclaimed:

  “I am convinced that this Child is to be a Prophet of the Lord! Take great care in raising Him, and let me know how I can relieve your needs.”

  The ceremony being completed, Joseph and Mary gratefully offered a light meal to the priests and two shepherds who had also been present. And when the visitors left, Mary gave the old priest some candles as a gift. The three priests were good and devout men, and they later attained salvation.

  When the Holy Family was alone again, as the Infant Jesus was crying from pain, Mary withdrew to the end of the grotto with Him, and, sitting down, she lowered her veil and soothed Him by nursing Him, weeping quietly as she did so.

  During the day some poor persons came to the stable and St. Joseph generously gave them alms. But among them were some wandering beggars who insulted and cursed him because they were not satisfied with his presents.

  That night Jesus’ pain was so severe that He could not rest, and He often cried. So Mary and Joseph took turns walking up and down the grotto with Him. In moments when they were not grieving over His suffering, they sang canticles of praise and joy in honor of the Holy Name of Jesus.

  A few days later St. Elizabeth came with an old servant to pay the Holy Family a visit. Mary was overjoyed when she affectionately embraced her cousin, whom St. Joseph respectfully welcomed. Elizabeth wept as she reverently and lovingly clasped the Infant Jesus to her breast.

  Mary and Elizabeth now had several long, intimate talks together, sitting side by side next to the crib. The Blessed Virgin told her cousin all that she and St. Joseph had experienced, and when she described the trouble they had had in finding a lodging, St. Elizabeth wept a great deal. And after the Mother of God had told her about the miraculous birth of her Son, Elizabeth said to her:

  “The birth of my John was indeed quite painless, but it certainly was very different.”

  After St. Elizabeth left, various visitors came to see the Infant Jesus, bringing gifts. But Mary asked a woman who helped her to distribute most of these presents among the poor families in Bethlehem.

  XVI

  The Adoration of the Magi

  he Mother of God knew by supernatural enlightenment that on the night of the Nativity an angel had been sent to announce the birth of the Saviour of mankind to the three Magi Kings of the East, and she also knew that they would soon come to adore the Infant Jesus in the stable, for which she had a real affection. Yet when St. Joseph suggested that they move to a more comfortable dwelling in Bethlehem, Mary simply answered, without revealing the mystery:

  “My husband and master, wherever you wish to go, I will follow with great pleasure.”

  Just then the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel appeared to them both and said:

  “Divine Providence has ordained that three kings of this world shall come from the East in search of the King of Heaven, and shall adore the Word Incarnate in this very place. They are already ten days on the way and will shortly arrive.”

  Joseph and Mary therefore set about preparing the grotto for the visit of the Kings, and during the following days the Blessed Virgin saw in visions the Magi traveling together across the deserts east of the Holy Land.

  The three Kings, whose names (according to tradition) were Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior, ruled over what is now Iraq and Iran. Gaspar of Mesopotamia, the youngest, was light brown in appearance, Balthasar of Parthia was dark brown, while Melchior of Media, the oldest, was rather stout and had an olive-colored complexion. All three were unusually just and honorable men who were also great scholars and students of religion. Through their knowledge of the Old Testament prophecies and of certain traditions of their own peoples, they believed in the coming of the Saviour of mankind. And because they were kind and generous and good men, on the night of the Nativity they earned the privilege of being told by the angels in a dream that the long-awaited King of the Jews had just been born, that He was the Promised Redeemer, and that they were chosen by the Lord to seek Him and to honor Him. Though each one received this revelation separately, each was made aware that it had also been given to the other two. The three Kings awoke at the same hour of the night, filled with extraordinary joy, and prostrating themselves on the ground they humbly thanked and worshiped Almighty God. Then they decided to leave immediately for the Land of Israel in order to adore the divine Child. Without delay they prepared gifts and procured the necessary camels, provisions, and servants for their journey.

  As each King set out that evening, he suddenly perceived a beautiful mystic star, which was formed by the angels, and in this star he saw a symbolic vision of a Virgin and a Child with a cross, who was the King of a heavenly city and whom all the kings on earth worshiped. The star then guided the three Magi in such a way that within a few days they came together, Melchior having traveled more rapidly than the others from his more distant kingdom. All three, who were already intimate friends, after conferring about their revelations, became still more inflamed with devotion for the newborn King, and they now pursued their trip together, always under the guidance of the star, which they could see as clearly during the day as at night. Each King was accompanied by four or five relatives and friends and a large number of servants, all riding on camels, dromedaries, or horses, and conse
quently the caravan consisted of about two hundred persons. The journey across the deserts, mountains, and rivers of Chaldea and Syria took nearly a month, despite the fact that the camels and horses were unusually fleet footed. The whole caravan traveled in perfect order, and everyone seemed filled with simple joy and devotion. At times, while contemplating the mystic star, the good Kings spontaneously composed and sang lovely canticles, with words such as: “Beyond the mountains we yearn to kneel at the feet of the newborn King!”

  At last, after crossing the river Jordan, they arrived before the walls of Jerusalem, which, because it was the capital of Israel, they thought was the logical birthplace of the new King of the Jews. However, they were already disturbed by the fact that, contrary to their expectations, they had observed no signs of rejoicing among the people over the birth of the Messiah. Also as they approached the great city, the star almost faded from their sight. At the city gate they questioned some of the guards, saying:

  “Where is the newly born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”