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9/8 THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Newsletter No. 184–- September 8, A.D. 2017

The Nativity of the Blessed Virigin Mary

Even though we cannot trace the celebration of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary back any further than the sixth century, the source for the story of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is much older. The  earliest documented version is found in the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal gospel written about 150 A.D.

From the Protoevangelium of James, we learn the names of Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, as well as the tradition that the couple was childless until an angel appeared to Anna and told her that she would conceive.

Golden Legend: Sept 8: Nativity of the Virgin Mary: [Saint Jerome] relates therefore that Joachim, who was of Galilee and of the town of Nazareth, took to wife Saint Anna of Bethlehem. Both were just, and walked without reproach in all the commandments of the Lord. They divided all their substance in three parts, allotting one part to the Temple and its ministers, and another to the poor and the pilgrims, reserving the third part to themselves and the uses of their household.

Thus they lived for twenty years, and had no issue of their wedlock; and they made a vow to the lord that if He granted them offspring, they would dedicate it to the service of God. For this they went to Jerusalem to celebrate the three principal feasts of each year. And once, when Joachim and his kinsmen went up to Jerusalem at the feast of the Dedication, he approached the altar with them, in order to offer his sacrifice. A priest saw him, and angrily drove him away, upbraiding him for daring to draw near the altar of God, and calling it unseemly that one who lay under the curse of the Law should offer sacrifice to the Lord of the Law, or that a childless man, who gave no increase to the people of God, should stand among men who bore sons. At this Joachim was covered with confusion, and was ashamed to return to his home., lest he have to bear the contempt of his kindred, who had heard all….He went off therefore and dwelt for some time among his shepherds. Protoevangelion, I,5-6: …he was exceedingly distressed, and would not be seen by his wife:But retired into the wilderness, and fixed his tent there and fasted forty days and forty nights.

Meanwhile Anna wept bitterly, not knowing where her husband had gone. Then the same angel appeared to her, and revealed to her the same things which he had announced to Joachim, adding that as a sign she was to go to the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, to meet her husband at his return.But one day when he was alone, an angel appeared to him, surrounded by dazzling light. He was affrighted at the vision,but the angel bade him be without fear, saying: “I, the Lord’s angel, am sent to thee, to announce to thee that they prayers are granted, and thine almsworks have ascended in the sight of the Lord. I have seen thy shame, and heard the reproach of barrenness wrongfully cast upon thee. For God indeed punishes not nature, but sin; and therefore, when

He closes a womb, it is only that He may later open it more wondrously, and that all may know that what is born thereof is the fruit of lust but of the divine munificence. Did not Sara, the first mother of your race, bear the shame of barrenness until her ninetieth year, and yet bear Isaac, to whom was promised the blessing of all nations? Did not Rachel also long remain barren, and yet beget Joseph, who was the ruler of all of Egypt? Who was stronger than Samson or holier than Samuel? Yet both of these were the sons of barren mothers! Therefore believe my words and these examples: those conceived after long delay, and begotten of sterile mothers, are wont to be admirable! Thus Anna thy wife will bear thee a daughter, and thou shalt call her name Mary. In accordance with your vow, she shall be consecrated to the Lord from her infancy, and shall be filled with the Holy Spirit from her mother’s womb; nor shall she abide without, among the common folk, but within the Temple of the Lord, lest aught of evil be thought of her. And as she will be born of a barren mother, so will she herself, in wondrous wise, beget the Son of the Most High. Whose name will be called Jesus, and through Whom salvation will come to all nations! And this will be a sign to thee: when thou shalt come to the Gold Gate of Jerusalem, Anna thy wife will meet thee there, who now grieves at thy tarrying, and then will rejoice to see thee!” And with these words the angel left him.

Thus it was, following the angel’s command, they came face to face [ at the Golden Gate], and shared their joy over the vision which they had both seen, and over the certainty that they were to have offspring. Then they adored God and set out for their home, awaiting the Lord’s promise in gladness of heart.

The traditional date of the feast, September 8, falls exactly nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Perhaps because of its close proximity to the feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not celebrated today with the same solemnity as the Immaculate Conception. It is, nonetheless, a very important feast, because it prepares the way for the birth of Christ. It is also an unusual feast, because it celebrates a birthday. The feasts of saints are traditionally celebrated on the day of their death, because that is the date on which they entered into eternal life. And, indeed, we also celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary’s entrance into Heaven on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption.

There are only three people whose birthdays have traditionally been celebrated by Christians. Jesus Christ, at Christmas; Saint John the Baptist; and the Blessed Virgin Mary. And we celebrate all three birthdays for the same reason: All three were born without Original Sin. Christ, because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit; Mary, because she was kept free from the stain of Original Sin by the action of God in His foreknowledge that she would agree to be the mother of Christ; and Saint John, because he was blessed in the womb by the presence of his Savior when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, came to aid her cousin Elizabeth in the final months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy (we celebrate in the Feast of the Visitation).

Day Ten

The Queen of Heaven in the Kingdom of the Divine Will.

The Dawn that rises to put to Flight the Night of the HumanWill: Her Glorious Birth.

Lesson of the Newborn Queen:

Child of my Heart, my birth was prodigious; no other birth can be said to be similar to mine. I enclosed in Myself the heaven, the Sun of the Divine Will, and also the earth of my humanity – a blessed and holy earth, which enclosed the most beautiful flowerings. And even though I was just newly born, I enclosed the prodigy of the greatest prodigies: the Divine Will reigning in Me, which enclosed within Me a heaven more beautiful, a Sun more refulgent than those of Creation, of which I was also Queen, as well as a sea of graces without boundaries, which constantly murmured: “Love, love to my Creator…” My birth was the true dawn that puts to flight the night of the human will; and as I kept growing, I formed the daybreak and called for the brightest daylight, to make the Sun of the Eternal Word rise over the earth.

My child, come to my cradle to listen to your little Mama. As soon as I was born, I opened my eyes to see this low world, to go in search of all my children so as to enclose them within my Heart, give them my maternal love and, regenerating them to the new life of love and of grace, give them the step which would let them enter into the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat, which I possessed. I wanted to act as Queen and Mother, enclosing everyone in my Heart, to bring everyone to safety, and to give them the great gift of the Divine Kingdom. In my Heart I had a place for everyone, because for one who possesses the DivineWill there are no constraints – only infinite expanses. I looked also at you, my child – no one escaped Me. And since on that day everyone celebrated my birth, it was also feast for Me. But upon opening my eyes to the light, I had the sorrow of seeing the creatures in the thick night of the human will.

Oh, what an abyss of darkness envelops the creature who lets herself be dominated by her will! It is the true night, but a night with no stars – with, at most, a few fleeting lightnings – lightnings easily followed by thunders which, in roaring, thicken the darkness even more, and unload the storm over the poor creature – storms of fear, of weakness, of danger, of falling into evil. My poor Heart was pierced in seeing my children in this horrible storm, in which the night of the human will had overwhelmed them. Now listen to your little Mama: I am still in the cradle, I am little – look at the tears I shed for you! Every time you do your will, it is a night that you form for yourself; and if you knew how much this night harms you, you would cry with Me! It makes you lose the light of the day of the HolyWill; it turns you upside down; it paralyzes you to good; it breaks true love in you, and you remain like a poor ill one, who lacks the necessary things to be healed. Ah, my child, dear child,listen to Me: never do your will; give Me your word that you will make your little Mama content….

 

9/8 The Gift of the Divine Will

L_Luisa with trumpets

Luisa received the gift of the Divine Will in its fullness which is the perennial possession of the Three Divine Persons, concealed in the three theological virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity), on September 8 A.D. 1889, Feast of the Nativity of Mary. Luisa was 24 and a half years old. When Luisa was 13 she saw the vision of Jesus carrying the cross, so it took about 11 years of training by Jesus and sufferings before she was given the gift of the fullness of the Divine Will.

On February 28 A.D. 1899, Luisa began to write her volumes (large notebooks) in the form of a diary. Most likely she wrote at the same time volume 2, as a diary, and volume 1, in which she narrates her past life, from the age of 12 on (more or less, between 1877 and 1899). Subsequently, in 1926, she had to write a “Notebook of childhood memories” in order to complete volume 1. The last chapter of the last volume (vol. 36) was written on December 28 A.D. 1938.

Afterwards she did not write any more, as the order to do it ceased.

9/8 The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Maria Bambina

About 15 B.C. was The Nativity of the Blessed  Virgin Mary

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU BLESSED  MOTHER!

On this day in 1889 the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta receives the Gift of the Divine Will; Mystical Marriage renewed in Paradise; Jesus presents Luisa the ring with three precious stones: white, red, green.

Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God
Volume One

The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

“After this, on that morning (Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary), in order to dispose my heart more, Jesus spoke about the annihilation of myself. He also spoke of the immense desire which I was to excite within me in order to dispose myself to receive that grace. He (Jesus) told me  (Luisa) that desire makes up for the lacks and imperfections that may be in the soul; it is like a mantle that covers everything. But this was not a simple speaking – it was an infusion in me of that which He was saying.While my soul was exciting itself with ardent yearnings for receiving the grace that Jesus Himself wanted to give me, Jesus came back and transported me outside of myself, up to Paradise. And there, in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity and of all the Celestial Court, He renewed the marriage. Jesus put out the ring adorned with three precious stones, white, red and green, and He gave it to the Father, who blessed it and gave it back to the Son again. The Holy Spirit took my right hand and Jesus placed the ring on my ring finger. Then I was admitted to the kiss of all the Three Divine Persons, and each of Them blessed me.Who can tell my confusion when I found myself before the Most Holy Trinity? I will just say that as soon as I found myself in Their presence, I fell flat to the ground, and I would have remained there if it wasn’t for Jesus, who encouraged me to go into Their presence, so much was the light, the sanctity of God. I am only saying this; the other things I will leave out, because I remember them confusedly.”

Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God
Volume 26 – September 8, 1929

The birth of the Virgin was the rebirth of all humanity.

The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

My poor mind was wandering in the immense Sea of the Divine Fiat, in which everything is in act, as if there were no past and no future, but everything present and everything in act.  So, whatever thing it wants to find of the works of its Creator in the Divine Will, my little soul finds it as if It were just doing it, in act.

And since I (Luisa) was thinking about the birth of my Celestial Mama, to give Her my poor homages, and I was calling all Creation together with me to sing the praises of the Sovereign Queen, my sweet Jesus told me:  “My daughter, I too, together with you and with all Creation, want to sing the praises of the birth of the
height of My Mama.  You must know that this birth enclosed within itself the rebirth of the whole human family, and all Creation felt reborn in the birth of the Queen of Heaven.  Everything exulted with gladness—they felt happy to have their Queen.  Up to that moment, they had felt like a people without its Queen, and in their muteness
they were waiting for that happy day in order to break their silence, and say:  ‘Glory, love, honor to She who comes into our midst as our Queen.  We shall no longer be without defense, without anyone who dominates us, without feast, because She has arisen, who forms our everlasting glory.’

“This Celestial Baby Girl, by keeping Our Divine Will intact within Her soul, without ever doing Her own, reacquired all the rights of Adam innocent before Her Creator, and the sovereignty over all Creation.  Therefore, all felt themselves
being reborn in Her, and We saw in this Holy Virgin, in Her little Heart, all the seeds of the human generations.  So, through Her, humanity reacquired the rights lost, and this is why Her birth was the most beautiful, the most glorious birth. From Her very birth, She enclosed within Her maternal little Heart, as though in-between two wings, all generations, as children reborn in Her virginal Heart, so as to warm them, keep them sheltered, and raise them and nourish them with the blood of Her maternal Heart.

“This is the reason why this tender Celestial Mother loves creatures so much—because all are reborn in Her, and She feels the life of Her children within Her Heart.  What can Our Divine Will not do wherever It reigns and has Its life?  It encloses everything and everyone, and makes one the provider of good to all. So, all feel, under Her blue mantle, the maternal wing of their Celestial Mother, and they find in Her maternal Heart their little place in which to take cover.

“Now, My daughter, the one who lives in My Divine Will renews her rebirth and redoubles the rebirths for all human generations.  When My Supreme Will live inside a heart and lays the fullness of Its endless light within it, It centralizes everything and everyone, It does everything, It renews everything, It gives back all that, for
centuries upon centuries, It has not been able to give through the other creatures.  So, this creature can be called the dawn of the day, the daybreak that calls the sun, the sun that gladdens all the earth, illuminates it, warms it, and with its wings of light, more than tender mother, embraces everything, fecundates everything; and with its kiss of light, it gives the most beautiful tints to flowers, the most delicious sweetness to fruits, maturity to all plants.  Oh! if My Divine Will reigned in the midst of creatures, how many prodigies would It not operate in their midst?

“Therefore, be attentive; everything you do in My Divine Fiat is a rebirth that you have in It; and to be reborn in It means to be reborn in the Divine order, to be reborn in the light, to be reborn in the sanctity, in the love, in the beauty. And in each act of My Will, the human will undergoes a death, dying to all evils, and it lives again to all goods.”

9/8 Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

M_MariaBambina1
Maria Bambina

The Blessed Virgin and the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta

Book of Heaven
2/28/99 – Vol. 2

. . . I (Luisa) also understood that the words that the Lord says to His beloved souls – “I will espouse you in the Faith” – mean nothing less but that the Lord, in this mystical marriage, comes to endow the souls with His own virtues. It seems to me that it happens as to two spouses: as they join their properties together, the belongings of one can no longer be distinguished from those of the other, but both of them become their owners. However, in our case, the soul is poor – all the good comes from the Lord, who lets her share in His possessions. . .

***

On the Feast Day of the Purity of Mary Most Holy, the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, Little Daughter of the Divine Will, received the Gift of the Mystical Marriage.

Book of Heaven
Volume One 

The longed for day finally arrived, after not a little suffering. I remember that it was almost one year that I had been continuously in bed – it was the day of the purity of Mary Most Holy. On the night before that day, my lover Jesus made Himself seen all festive. He drew near me, took my heart in His hands, and He looked at it over and over again; He dusted it, and then He gave it back to me. Then He took a garment of immense beauty, whose background seemed to be a surface of gold streaked with various colors, and He clothed me with that garment. Then He took two gems, as if they were earrings, and He bejewelled my ears. Then He adorned my neck and my arms, and surrounded my forehead with a crown of immense value, all enriched with precious stones and gems, all refulgent with light; and it seemed to me that those lights were as many voices which resounded among themselves, speaking in clear notes of the beauty, the power, the fortitude, and of all the other virtues of my spouse Jesus. Who can tell what I comprehended, and in what sea of consolation my soul was swimming? It is impossible to say it.

Now, while He was crowning my forehead, Jesus told me: “Most sweet spouse, I place this crown upon you so that nothing may be missing in order to make you worthy of being my spouse; but then, after our wedding is finished, I will take it with Me to Heaven, to keep it for you at the moment of your death.” Finally, He took a veil and covered me completely with it, from head to foot; and He left me in that way. Ah! it seemed to me that there was a great meaning in that veil, because the demons, in seeing me all covered with that veil, were so frightened and had such fear of me, that they fled, terrified. The very angels were around me with such veneration, that I myself was confused and all full of blushing.

On the morning of the aforementioned day, Jesus made Himself seen again all affable, sweet and majestic, together with His Most Holy Mother and Saint Catherine. First, the angels sang a hymn, while Saint Catherine assisted me, Mama took my hand, and Jesus put the ring on my finger. Then, we embraced and He kissed me, and so did Mama also. Then we had a conversation, all of love – Jesus told me of the great love He had for me, and I also told Him of the love I had for Him. The Most Holy Virgin made me comprehend the great grace I had received, and the correspondence with which I was to correspond to the love of Jesus.

My Spouse Jesus gave me new rules in order to live more perfectly, but since it has been a long time, I don’t remember them so well; therefore I will skip them. And so it ended, for that day.

***

On September 8, the day of the nativity of the Mary Most Holy, the Gift of the Mystical Marriage was renewed in Paradise in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity; Our Lord Jesus Christ presented the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta with a ring of three precious stones, one white, one read, and one green.

 Book of Heaven
Volume One 

One morning – it was the eve of the nativity of Mary Most Holy – my always benign Jesus Himself came to dispose me. He did nothing but come and go continuously. He would speak to me now about Faith, and then He would leave me, and I would feel a life of faith being infused in my soul.  . . .

After this, on that morning, in order to dispose my heart more, Jesus spoke about the annihilation of myself. He also spoke of the immense desire which I was to excite within me in order to dispose myself to receive that grace. He told me that desire makes up for the lacks and imperfections that may be in the soul; it is like a mantle that covers everything. But this was not a simple speaking – it was an infusion in me of that which He was saying.

While my soul was exciting itself with ardent yearnings for receiving the grace that Jesus Himself wanted to give me, Jesus came back and transported me outside of myself, up to Paradise. And there, in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity and of all the Celestial Court, He renewed the marriage. Jesus put out the ring adorned with three precious stones, white, red and green, and He gave it to the Father, who blessed it and gave it back to the Son again. The Holy Spirit took my right hand and Jesus placed the ring on my ring finger. Then I was admitted to the kiss of all the Three Divine Persons, and each of Them blessed me.

Who can tell my confusion when I found myself before the Most Holy Trinity? I will just say that as soon as I found myself in Their presence, I fell flat to the ground, and I would have remained there if it wasn’t for Jesus, who encouraged me to go into Their presence, so much was the light, the sanctity of God. I am only saying this; the other things I will leave out, because I remember them confusedly. . .

 

 

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