rough draft

   Birth of Yeshua the Christ

    As Christmas approaches I thought it would be good to hear the story of the birth

of our Savior, condensed from (150 pages) the journals of Clemens Brentano who

recorded what was shown to  Sr. Anne Catherine Emmerick the greatest visionary .

It is in volume  #1 of; "The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations", which you can

find at this link; Books worth reading. I will eventually write more  about the

genealogy and birth and early life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

    A couple of things about her background which I'll fill in with more details in the

coming days. Mary was from a sacred line within the Essenian community, which was

a very orthodox sect. They were descended from the priests who had carried the

Arc of the Covenant in the beginning. Advice on a marriage was sought from a prophet

who was the leader of the group. He always prophesied about the female line and

St Ann (Mary's mother) and her family always had daughters. The prophet had the rod

of Aaron which was used to show the line to Mary. He would pray about a marriage

with the rod in his hands and if the union would lead to the Messiah the rod would

bloom. The Virgin Mary was from this line. The parents of St. Anne had both had a

vision of the letter M and when St. Anne was born she had the letter M on her stomach.

Because of the nearness of the coming of the Messiah, instead of marrying a Levite

St. Anne married St. Joachim from the house of David because of the council of the

Prophet. Making Mary from the house of David.

                                  Mary is betrothed to Joseph

Joseph was about 18 and a very pious young man and prayed much for the coming of

the Messiah. Joseph had a vision from an Angel concerning the Messiah and was told

that as God had placed the Patriarch Joseph over the granaries in Egypt, so now to him

was the granary of Redemption to be wedded. He didn't understand this, so he prayed.

There were 7 other virgins with Mary at the Temple in Jerusalem waiting to be married.

A group of young men from the house of David were brought to the Temple and given

branches but none of them blossomed. So the priests went in search of another man

from the line of David where upon they found Joseph living a few miles from Jerusalem.

He was given a branch and as he was bringing it to lay on the altar, a white flower

sprouted from the end. So he was taken to Mary's chamber and she accepted him.

                                The Annunciation

Mary was deep in prayer, praying for redemption, for her intentions, for the coming

King and that her prayers may help His arrival. After a long period of time she looked

to her right and noticed a youth glowing with long blond hair. The Archangel Gabriel

was bathed in the light of his glory, as he came close to her. His message came forth

from his lips like glowing letters;

                     The Visitation

  The Birth of Yeshua the Christ

There is much speculation on the actual day Yeshua was born. What Sister

tells us is that Jesus died when He was 33 years, 4 months and 2 weeks old.

Then working backwards from the actual day of his death March 30th, this

story is recounted in the short bio I wrote; Sr. Anne Catherine Emmerick.

So that puts the day at about the 16th of November.

Joseph was returning from a journey to Jerusalem and it was about midnight

when an Angel appeared to him and told him  to take Mary to Bethlehem as soon

as he returned to Nazareth. For it was there that the Child was to be born. He was

told what to bring and that he should not bring any embroidered covers, also that

along with the donkey that Mary would ride that he should bring a female yearling

that had not yet foaled (this parallels what Jesus rides into Jerusalem later). They

were to let the yearling run free and follow it. Joseph informed Mary and Anne of

the news upon his return and they prepared to leave. Mary had had premonitions

that her child was to be born in Bethlehem, but had kept quiet. She also had the

prophecies that had been given her while she was staying at the Temple and had

also been taught by her teachers about them. She had prayed for the coming of

the Messiah and had hoped to be the mother's lowest handmaid, never realizing

that she was to be that woman. With what they were told to bring they set out for

Bethlehem following the yearling, Anne and Mary Cleophas went a short way and

then said good by.

While making their way through a very cold valley with frost and snow on the ground

Mary became very weak and asked to stop for awhile. Joseph made her a spot

under a small pine tree. She prayed very hard and she was filled with an inner

warmth that was so strong that she reached out her hands to Joseph to warm him.

They spent several nights at different locations along the way, once in an Inn they

stayed 2 nights because the next day was the Sabbath. Sometimes they stayed in

sheds if that was all they could find, after being turned away from an Inn. Thirty

years later Yeshua would heal a woman who had been sick for 30 years, He told

her it was because of her treatment of His relatives, His parents. Once on the

journey Joseph turned and went a short distance to a little place for travelers he

had been to before with a fig tree and some seats for travelers to rest upon. But

there were no figs, so they moved on. Later Yeshua would visit this same place 

 with the same results and curse the fig tree and it withered.

    Just outside of Bethlehem was a large estate that had been the paternal

home of Joseph's family that was now being used by the Romans as a

customs house for taxation and to sign in before you could enter the city

gate. Long ago the house had been lived in by David.

    When they entered Bethlehem Joseph thought they would be able to find

lodging since he had grown up in Bethlehem and still had a step brother there.

But this was not the case and as it grew dark and Joseph could not find a place

that would take them in he decided to take Mary to a cave that he had used as a

child to hide from his brothers as they used to pick on him. He also used to go

there to pray. When they arrived at the cave the yearling greeted them, for she 

had left them when they entered Bethlehem. She was very happy and playful and

Mary said: "Behold it is surely God's will that we should be here." Joseph

cleaned up the inner cave and made a place for Mary. It was the Sabbath when

they arrived and the birth was not until the following evening. Mary and Joseph

were about to become the Holy Family with the birth of the Messiah. During

the day Joseph continued to prepare the crib cave and told Mary that he knew

some devote women from Bethlehem who might come to assist her. But Mary

told him the birth would come tonight and that she didn't need any help. Joseph

had hung several lamps in the crib cave for Her as they waited.

    When she said it was time, he went to his area and began to pray. When he

looked back at Mary, she was kneeling in prayer facing east, with her back to

him. The cave was filling with light which was emanating from Mary and was like

he was looking at the burning bush of Moses. He then laid prostrate on the

ground in prayer and did not look back again. The glory that was consuming

Mary made it so you could no longer see the lamps. Mary knelt with her flowing

white robe laying before her. In the 12th hour her prayer became ecstatic and

she levitated off the ground. Her hands were crossed upon her breast and the

light grew even more vivid. Over Mary a stairway of light reached up to Heaven.

Upon the stairway one light came from another and different spheres of light

and heavenly figures issued. Mary continued in prayer with her head bowed

down to the ground. Then she gave birth to the infant, Yeshua, Emmanuel, for

God was with us. He was lying on the rug at Mary's knees and was more

radiant than all that had preceded him. Even the stones on the floor and the

rocky wall were radiating the glory of the Messiah. Mary  finally came out

of ecstasy and placed a cover over her Baby. But she did not pick Him up

or even touch Him for a long time. Finally He began to cry and she finally

recovered and brought the Child up into her arms. There were Angels

around her prostrate on the floor. It may have been an hour after the birth

when Mary called to Joseph who was still in prayer. When he approach he

fell to his knees with his face to the ground and she encouraged him again

to look upon our Lord, he then raised his eyes upon the Savior and took

him in his arms. Mary then wrapped the baby in swaddling cloths.

    On the night of the Birth, a spring gushed forth from the adjacent cave

which Joseph tended to the next day. In other parts of the world the good

people were filled with joy and the bad with dread. John the Baptist was

filled with joy and several others had visions of the birth including Anna

and Simeon who were at the Temple. The 3 old shepherds were gazing at

the light that shone over the crib cave when the Angels appeared to them.

Also in the Temple the writings of the Sadducees were thrown several

times from where they were kept, this was attributed to sorcery and a

substantial amount of hush money was paid to keep the matter quiet. In

Rome a well of oil gushed forth where some Jews lived. A great statue of

Jupiter came crashing down which caused a fright and when they sacrificed

to another idol, possibly Venus, the devil was forced to speak and say that

a virgin had conceived given birth to a son and also about the oil well. Where

this took place now stands a Church in honor of the Mother of God. The

pagan priests looked in there writings and found that a woman about 70

years before had prophesied the event, she was mocked at the time. Also

the Emperor Augustus had a vision of a rainbow with the Virgin and Son

sitting upon it. When he asked the oracle for an answer it was;

        "A Child is born and before Him we must all flee."

He at once erected an altar and offered a sacrifice to the Son of the Virgin,

the Firstborn of God. There were many other events also.

       The Birth of Jesus, revealed to St. Bridget      by Father Ryan Erlenbush

 

Over the past week, we have posted a few articles related to the temporal generation of the Son – on Mary’s pregnancy [here], on the miraculous birth itself [here], and on the rational perfection of the Child conceived [here].

In these articles, we showed that our Lady did not suffer any pain when giving birth to her Son, that the physical closure of her virgin womb remained intact even in the very act of giving birth (for Christ passed through without causing any harm to her virginal integrity), and that the Christ Child already knew all created things and loved each of us in his humanity from the very first moment of his conception (thus, while an infant, he was already a rational man).

While all of these articles were firmly rooted in the magisterial teachings of the Church and in the doctrines of the Church Fathers, it is always good to compare our theological insights with the lived faith of the great saints. We will not be the least surprised to discover that the mystical revelations given to St. Bridget of Sweden (surely, one of the greatest saint-mystics of the Church) wholly confirm all that the saint-theologians have taught and all that the Magisterium has declared.

 

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about

The following is taken from the revelations given to St. Bridget regarding the Nativity of our Lord – for a biblical proof that Christ really was born in late December, please look to the excellent article by Dr. Taylor Marshall [here].

“When I was present by the manger of the Lord in Bethlehem I beheld a Virgin of extreme beauty wrapped in a white mantle and a delicate tunic through which I perceived her virginal body. With her was an old man of great honesty and they had with them an ox and ass. These entered the cave and the man having tied them to the manger went out and brought in to the Virgin a lighted candle which having done he again went outside so as not to be present at the birth. Then the Virgin pulled off the shoes from her feet, drew off the white mantle that enveloped her, removed the veil from her head laying it beside her, thus remaining only in her tunic with her beautiful golden hair falling loosely over her shoulders. Then she produced two small linen cloths, and two woollen ones of exquisite purity and fineness which she had brought to wrap round the Child to be born, and two other small cloths to cover His head, and these too she put beside her. When all was thus prepared the Virgin knelt with great veneration in an attitude of prayer; her back was to the manger, her face uplifted to heaven and turned toward the East.

“Then, her hands extended and her eyes fixed on the sky she stood as in an ecstasy, lost in contemplation, in a rapture of divine sweetness. And while she stood thus in prayer I saw the Child in her womb move; suddenly in a moment she gave birth to her own Son from whom radiated such ineffable light and splendour that the sun was not comparable to it while the divine light totally annihilated the material light of St. Joseph's candle. So sudden and instantaneous was this birth that I could neither discover nor discern by what means it had occurred. All of a sudden I saw the glorious Infant lying on the ground naked and shining, His body pure from any soil or impurity. Then I heard the singing of the angels of miraculous sweetness and beauty. When the Virgin felt she had borne her Child immediately she worshipped Him, her hands clasped in honour and reverence saying: ‘Be welcome my God, my Lord, my Son.’

“Then, as the Child was whining and trembling from the cold and hardness of the floor where He was lying, He stretched out His arms imploring her to raise Him to the warmth of her maternal love. So His Mother took Him in her arms, pressed Him to her breast and cheek, and warmed Him with great joy and tender compassion. She then sat down on the ground laying the Child on her lap and at once began to bestow on Him much care tying up His small body, His legs and arms in long cloths, and enveloped His head in the linen garments, and when this was done the old man entered, and prostrating himself on the floor he wept for joy. And in no way was the Virgin changed by giving birth, the color of her face remained the same nor did her strength decline. She and Joseph put the Child in the manger, and worshipped Him on their knees with immense joy until the arrival of the Kings who recognized the Son from the likeness to His Mother.”

Lessons from the Revelations of St. Bridget

1) Though the unborn Child did truly weigh something in her womb and also he took up space (so that she was “heavy” and “showed), the Blessed Mary was not under a heavy burden in her pregnancy. Notice that, even in the moments just before giving birth, our Lady was able to prepare things herself and needed no assistance.

2) Mary was awake, aware, and at prayer when the Child was born. She did not suffer any contractions or the other pains associated with delivery. Neither was she exhausted or wearied.

3) Christ came forth from our Lady in such a way as to cause no harm whatsoever, for he did not damage the integrity of her womb’s virginal cloister.

4) The exact manner of the miraculous birth of our Savior is beyond man’s comprehension, but can be compared to light. We ought not to seek too specific an understanding of the mechanics of this mysterious birth – “So sudden and instantaneous was this birth that I could neither discover nor discern by what means it had occurred.”

5) The birth of our Savior was not bloody or violent, there was no afterbirth or defilement, but he came forth in all purity and cleanness. In a later place, St. Bridget specifies that, throughout his infancy, the Child never had tangled hair or any other such defect.

6) The Christ Child is truly man, for he was cold and shivered – he longed for the touch of his Mother. St. Bridget is by no means so carried away with Christ’s divinity as to forget his humanity, through the whole revelation the Child is seen to be both perfect God and perfect man.

7) Mary and Joseph recognize the Child as true God and worship him. Indeed, the theologians and mystics emphasize this point – Mary and Joseph knew who Jesus was all along, and they did not receive him as only a frail child but (as he truly is) the Son of God.

The revelations given to the mystic-saints confirm what the theologian-saints have taught and what the saintly popes have defined. How can any doubt the wondrous miracles associated with Christ’s Incarnation and Nativity?

                          HOME PAGE