''When Joseph came back into the cave and stood at the entrance to his sleeping-place, looking toward the Blessed Virgin he saw her with face turned to the east, kneeling and faced away from him. He saw her as if she were surrounded by flames; the whole cave was as if filled with supernatural light. He gazed at her like Moses when he saw the burning bush;

Then I no longer saw the roof of the cave; a pathway of light opened above Mary, rising with ever-increasing glory towards the heighth of heaven . . . Meanwhile the Blessed Virgin borne up in ecstasy, was now gazing downwards, adoring her God whose mother she had become and who lay on the earth before her in the form of a new-born child. I saw Our Redeemer as a tiny child shining with a light that overpowered all the surrounding radiance and lying on a carpet at the Blessed Virgin's knees.

It seemed to me as if He were at first quite small and then grew before my eyes. But the movement of the intense radiance was such that I cannot say for certain how I saw it.''

This is the vision of Anne Catherine Emmerich of the birth of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, from the Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, published around 1835.

I copy it here to share with our forum, from that great book which contains a wealth of such beautiful and holy events as she witnessed them during her own ecstasies; and related to her devoted secretary, Clemens Brentano, in Dulmen of Westphalia, in Germany circa 1820-24.

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), December 20, 2003

Answers

Thanks, Gino!

Have a Merry Christmas.

-- - (David@excite.com), December 20, 2003.