It
was a precept of the law, given in the twelfth chapter of Leviticus, that a
woman who had given birth to a daughter should be deemed impure for two weeks
and should remain in the state of purification for sixty-six days after the
birth, just double the time required for purification in case of a man-child
Having completed the days of her purification she was to present herself in
order to offer a lamb one year old as a holocaust for the daughter or the son,
and also a young pigeon or turtle-dove as atonement for the sin. This she was
to do at the door of the tabernacle, beseeching the priest to offer them to the
Lord and to pray for her; thereupon she was accounted pure. The parturition of
the most happy Anne was pure and undefiled, as befitting her heavenly Daughter,
in whose purity the mother was a sharer. Although on this account there was no
need of a special purification, she nevertheless complied with the obligation
of the law to the very last point. Though not subject to its penalties, she
considered herself bound in the eyes of men.
Sixty
days of the purification having passed, saint Anne departed for the temple, her
mind inflamed with divine ardour and bearing in her arms her blessed Daughter
and Child. With the offerings prescribed by law and accompanied by innumerable
angels, she betook herself to the gate of the temple and spoke with the high
priest, who was none other than Simeon.
Saint Anne offered to him the lamb and the
turtle-dove with the rest of the gifts, and with tears of humility she asked
him to pray for herself and the Child, her Daughter, that the Lord forgive them
any fault of which perhaps they might be guilty. His Majesty certainly had
nothing to forgive in a Daughter and mother, who were so full of grace; but He
found Himself bound to reward the humility, with which notwithstanding their
holiness they presented themselves as sinners.
The holy priest received the
oblation and in his spirit he was inflamed and moved to extraordinary joy.
Careful not to manifest anything exteriorly and communing with himself, he
said: “What strange feeling is this within me? Are these women perhaps the
parents of the Messiah, who is to come?” Moved by this joyful suspense he
showed them great benevolence. The blessed mother Anne entered the temple,
bearing her most holy Daughter on her arms, and She offered Her to the Lord
with most devout and tender tears. For she alone in the entire world knew what
Treasure was given into her charge.
when
both entered the temple, the sweet Child seeing with her bodily eyes its
grandeur and magnificence, dedicated to the worship and adoration of the
Divinity, experienced wonderful effects of the Spirit and wished to prostrate
Herself in the temple, to kiss its floor, and adore the Lord. But as She could not
execute these desires in external actions, She supplied the defect with
interior fervor, and She adored and blessed the Lord with a love more ardent,
and a humility more profound than ever before or ever after was possible to be
rendered by any creature. Addressing the Lord in her heart, She offered the
following prayer:
“Most
high and incomprehensible God, my King and my Lord, worthy of all glory and
reverence, I, abject dust, but also a creature of thine, adore Thee in this thy
holy place and temple. I magnify and exalt Thee on account of thy infinite
Being and perfections, and I give thanks in as far as my insignificance is
worthy of thy regard. For Thou hast vouchsafed to permit my eyes to see this
holy temple and house of prayer, where thy holy Prophets and my forefathers
have worshiped and blessed Thee, and where thy generous mercy has wrought so
many wonders and mysteries in their behalf. Accept me, a Lord, in order that I
may serve Thee in this holy house according to thy blessed will.”
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| Grandeur and magnificence of the Temple |
Thus
She who was the Queen of heaven and of the universe, offered Herself as if She
were the lowest slave of the Lord. As a testimony of its acceptation by the
Most High, a most resplendent light shone down from heaven, enveloping the
mother and Child, and filling them with new splendours of grace. The holy
angels of her guard and innumerable others who were present on this occasion
sang sweetest songs of praise to the Author of these wonders; but they did not
therefore have a more perfect knowledge of these happenings than saint Anne or
her most holy Daughter, who perceived interiorly what was spiritual, and felt
exteriorly what was subject to the senses in these things. Saint Simeon saw
dimly the sensible light. Thereupon saint Anne, rich in her Treasure and
endowed with new gifts of the most high God, returned to her home.
