Second Book

STAR OF THE SEA

MARIA

We are going to start the book of “The Noble Virgin.”

Zorrilla a renowned writer, a Spanish poet wrote about the Virgin, and Murillo, a noble painter in his time, with his luxurious and elegant paintbrush, that with every stroke of his brush is a profound revelation of Mary’s beauty. They both concluded, without knowing each other, the feeling of denigration from Mary’s immense beauty and superiority. A humble Virgin with her Paramount beauty gushed forth pearls of tears from her sweet eyes. A Mother grieving and weeping in Golgotha or Calvary, mourning from the death of Her Son, is immeasurable. Mary’s Grandeur is from Heaven, where no human intellect on earth could ever comprehend.

Jose Zorrilla y Moral was a Spanish poet and dramatist who became a National Laureate. In his early years, Zorrilla was known as an extraordinary fast writer.

Born: Feb. 21, 1817 Valladolid Spain

Died: Jan. 23, 1893 Madrid

Murillo (Bartolome Esteban Murillo) a Spanish painter and a Baroque Painter known for his religious works. He produced considerable numbers of paintings of the Virgin Mary.

Born: Dec. 31, 1617 Seville Spain

Died: April 3, 1682 Seville Spain

Forgive me, of my little humble self, if I am of high spirited for being bold and daring to talk about your heartbreaking and distressing story. My Christian faith that makes me brave from my lack of strength. Your Honorable name may give me color from my pale mind; to you I hope to end my heavy burdens.

NAZARETH: The Virgin’s town, where God was born, still wrapped with His last shroud, covered by the dark night, quietly sleeping at the end of this charming terrain, the plain land of Jezreel.

YOUR HIGHNESS: “God Almighty!” From the highest will of his heart. Our Creator puts you into a haven of two hills like two loving mothers, to protect her children from the sudden attack of the wicked storm.

Nazareth, a blue dove from the far east, you placed your nest in the shades of Mount Hermon and indulged yourself from its’ fragrance sent to you from Canaan, this garden that was once desired by the Israelites from the Zabulon clans.

Nazareth, a delicate flower, a lily from plain land, from your heart enshrined those pearls from the orient, the granule of gold of Chistianism!………………………..Jerusalem!

Zoara and Beirut looked at you and watched you; they insulted you through pride, for their avarice of being the only Queen of Palestine, because they don’t know that you are commissioned to be the refuge, the respectable, the prophecies of the prophecies, a spring with the unending stream of healings from the heart; the beautiful and the charming bright light from the sun of faith and hope.

From the desert came down a mist from heaven. God greeted you from His Throne, with His bright light coming from the heart of the purest of pure; the Angels welcomed you, singing their beautiful and harmonious songs from heaven’s dazzling light, because the prophecies shall come to pass.

A beautiful child, a girl, like a star of the morning, from the pure bosom of her chest, escaped the very first heave of her breath to release the sorrows of pain. The very first cry of this newly born babe, signals a new life has begun, a child that cometh as Our Mediatrix forever and ever.

She was born without the luxury of the warm, comfortable bed, wrapped in linen made from Egypt. She was not adorned, and decorated with Persian’s gold. Her clouts (diapers) are not perfumed from spikenard’s incense and not steamed from myrrh of essential oils; the aromatic, biotic materials released fragrances when burned from the perfumed burner made of silver, a ritual that can only be made to a Hebrew Princes.

A miserable and rough fabric wrapped around her young body; a small cottage is her house, and a few needy and poor women from their town surrounded her bed; these women who receiveth her very first smile.

This weak child was born intended to be the Queen of Heaven, The Mother of the Angels, and Our Lord God’s housewife, “Our Father.” Conquerors of lands will offer their scepters as their gifts to her foot; the Kings will bow down in front of her with their proud crowned heads. The afflicted will invoke her affirmation and kneel to worship her in every shrine built by her faithful Christians. She will be a powerful solution to every problem, the universal healer of humankind from their ailment. She is the embossed of the defiled and the desolate from the sea of life. She will comfort the mournful, saddened and the grieving. Her noble name will be continuously called from the embittered moment of their lives because God chose her to be humanely human in the flesh, a mortal being with her graceful manner, to conform our dreadful sins by her not so precious blood. She is the righteous tree, shining and free from the sins that we inherit from Adam, down to the sins of the last generation, until the end of time. Her name is as sweet as the honey bee from the lips of those who are afflicted.

But don’t be forwarned of what can happen:

Nazareth, from Galilee’s lower side of town, there lived a nobleman named Joachim from Judah’s tribe, descendants of David, to Nathan. His wife was named Anne (means: “Goodness of Heart.”) They are both good in the heart; they are faithful and obey God’s commandments. But God’s eyes are far from them; Anne can’t conceive from their twenty years of marriage. In no time, Joachim can break and abolish their matrimony that bears no fruit. Anne can give Joachim the divorce that can be granted immediately under the Pharisee’s law. A merciless law where women considered a possession like a slave. A law that makes men more powerful with no regard to feelings and emotions of women. Anne lived a life of sorrow and sadness; married and childless in Israel is considered damnable. But Joachim loved his wife, and agreed with what God bestowed on them. Amid praying, working, and beg for charity, they prayed dearly with all their heart to grant their request to have a child, to dissipate the lewdness they are bearing. With so much fasting, and praying, their faith and hope to God were heard, their request were granted, the prayers that came from two pure loving hearts.

At last! A palpitation, a pulse from a womb, a seed of a new life. Emotionally overjoyed and true to her husband, she told him immediately. Months had passed, then days, then nights, and finally the moment has come; it was Saturday morning in September, blood propelled through, bursts from within, a new life was born, the pulsation, the heartbeat, throbbing from this new babe. Anne is now a mother, and Joachim presents his newly born child to his families, relatives, and friends in no time. A beautiful child valued like a granule of gold from Egypt’s merchants.

According to the Israelite’s customs, after nine days of giving birth to a child, the family should gather together at the husband’s parent’s house to give name a child. The father should choose the name, and in Joachim’s mind being his first child, the name should be a lovely name, a meaningful name still unknown, and haven’t been assembled in letters. But God had chose a unique name for her that will unite to her wholesome, because God enclosed her heaven’s unending sweet songs.

The name is “Miriam” (Maria), a name in Sirach means, “The Paramount; The Superior; The Upmost,” and in Hebrew means, “The Star of the Sea.”

Will there be more names that can be appropriate, worthy of holding the utmost, and supreme commitment? A pledge of a Virgin from her pure and Immaculate womb destined to carry the Martyr of Calvary!

Like St. Bernard says:

—“Truly that Mary is that beautiful, and the shining star that gives light to the tempest, and stormy sea of life in this immense world!”

A young girl that at the age of eight was seen in public openly cleaning the Temple. The Temple where they offer white sheep to the altar or two white doves if poor, and for the wealthy and rich is the golden crown. Anne is poor, a lonely woman, and can only offer one white dove for her sufferings. But to compensate God’s irreplaceable blessing that was granted to her, she promised God to offer her only child to be the “Handmaid,” for Maria to serve God in the Temple, but like a little rosebud that she also needs to be shaped and learn good from the bad.

Anne nourished Maria by breastfeeding her. Mother’s in Juda are the one to take care of their children, they devote themselves raising their children in Godly ways, and obligated to keep them pious. This beautiful girl is far from being affectionate to play with other children like her; she grew up praying most of the time, and contemplating. She is with precision, and with providence to God, but she most appreciate the sweet loving of her parents. She was the most admired, and beloved by the good and friendly people from her town, Nazareth.

Her eyes colored in blue, just like the heavenly sky from the east, she is the shining star from God in Heaven, her lips colored like nectar, similar to a rosebud, a tiny rosebud designed by God, a unique flower, different from those flowers circling the meadows of Jericho. Her pure and sweet smile is full of joy for those who greet her. Her curly and reddish hair, dashed with gold, are laid out like little drops of rain on her shoulder. Her wool coat, modest and delicate, colored in blue, covered her young body.

Springtime came, and all the surroundings are like new again. Trees, plants, and flowers are in bloom, and fresh again, the season of growth and a time to start anew. One afternoon, Maria’s father took her for a walk to show her around Esdraelon’s bountiful land. It was a beautiful day; the sun was warm and bright, and Maria was a little tired from running around chasing butterflies, and she decided to sit under a big tree, where no Arab merchants ever used for their resting place. She was delighted and in content for the pleasure of viewing her colorful surroundings; after the good sightseeing, she stopped and glared at the sky. She stood and gave a long and sweet stare at the bright light coming from the heaven of Galilee. Her father watched her with love and care, and observed her with a smile on his lips with no intention of distracting her; he believes and presumed that God could be whispering to her.

On their way home, her white and thin slender hand, like turpentine would pluck some sticks of narcissus, anemones, and lilies; and while walking, she would smell the aroma of their sweet fragrances. Most of the time, she would have her father pick some fruits for her; any fruits they see on the road, like sycamore and bananas. When they returned home, she would greet her mother with her sweet kisses and then she would give her valued picks, the fruits, and beautiful flowers to her mother and say:

—“Father thought of you, and so we brought this for you!”

The time came, and Maria reached a certain age, for her Presentation in the Temple. Her parents betrothed for her to become one of the Virgins in Israel. Joachim’s families, and relatives are inclined to escort Maria, because in Hebrew law, the families or relatives must render themselves for the ceremony.

And so, the small group of people left Nazareth, and head their way to Jerusalem. It was rainy season. The Cison river is dried up in summetime, but it is overflowing, flooded with reddish, and muddy water, a landslide in this rainy day. The travelers would usually avoid this river that can give a sure danger to their journey. A river that can give catastrophic threat to passersby when it’s flooded, this river is known in it’s chronic name as, “The torrent of Cison.”

So, the travelers decided to avoid, and deviate their route to Mount Carmel’s hillside, where the sweet smell of it’s fragrances coming from the hills are common, and the residents are accustomed to it, and from the Sharon’s terrain, they can see the bountiful and sandy desert land, a beautiful ambience that is often visited by the travelers from Galilee. This is where they have grown the grapefruits or pomelo’s, the palms and coniferous trees; a place where it is most visited. Very often are the Galileans.

Traveling for days, they finally arrived at their destination, the crowded city of Jerusalem, and from the wall of Jerusalem, they entered the gate of Ephraim.

to be continued………………………………………….