HERE I AM

 A Excerpt from Sr Moira Quinn's novel about John the Baptist

   Elizabeth’s labor began late in the night, yet she waited for the dawn before she whispered to her husband, “Arise.  Tell Mary to bid the midwife come.  Today you will have a son.

Such a flurry of activity erupted after Zechariah clapped his hands, signaling the time had arrived.  From then on the women took over.  Their servant, Abigail, was in and out of the room fetching and carrying out orders given by the mid-wife.  Mary sat by her aunt’s side, holding her hand and heartening her with encouraging words.
     At midday, Zechariah tapped on the bedroom door and beckoned Mary to come out.  With a twinkle in his eye, he pointed to the crowd below in the courtyard.  There, before her eyes, were her parents, Anna and Joachim, and her betrothed, Joseph.  There, too, were his parents, Jacob and Deborah, and his brothers and their families.  Her heart was filled with wonder and happiness.  She had not seen her parents for three months.  And as for her betrothed - she had left on uncertain terms and awaited word from him there in Ain Karim.
     When their eyes met Joseph spoke in a loud and clear voice, “I have come for my wife.”
     Mary blushed with excitement.   They had not faced each other since the day Mary had told him she was with child.  He had come!  She felt so honored that Joseph would make the long trip to claim her as his own.  At this point Mary’s parents rushed to embrace their child, and the others gathered around and exchanged eager greetings.  Finally, Joseph pulled her away from the crowd. 
    He was almost twenty; tall with square shoulders and the strong arms of a carpenter, and honest brown eyes.  Despite his outward calm, he too was excited to meet her.  She was fourteen with rosy cheeks, sparkling hazel eyes, and warm almond colored hair.  She had changed, though; there was a certain softness about her figure, and she had a glow about her that came from the bearing of life within.
     “You look beautiful, Mary.  You’ve gained weight,” Joseph blurted out when they were alone.  He blushed beneath his youthful beard.  Men do not comment on women’s appearance.  “I mean, how are you?”  Mary blushed also.
     They had been engaged a short while when Mary came into the carpenter shop to tell Joseph all that the angel of the Lord had said.  Though he knew her to be a guileless girl, he could not comprehend what she was telling him.  Confused and afraid to break their engagement outright for fear of exposing her to scandal, Joseph agreed that Mary should visit her kinfolk in Ain Karim so he could have time to think and decide what would be the best way to handle their troubling dilemma.

     Joseph told her of the days since she went away; of how he thought day and night weighing all the possibilities regarding her unexplainable pregnancy: his right to shun her knowing the child she carried was not his, but fearful that would leave her open to being accused of adultery.  Under the Law, the penalty for such a crime was stoning.  He cared too much for Mary to allow any harm to come to her.   He could marry her quickly, and they could move to another place where no one knew them, but that would mean leaving behind everyone and everything they had ever known and loved.  Or he could marry her, and stay and bear the scandal, shame and gossip that would afflict them for the rest of their lives. 
     Finally, he came to the conclusion that Mary should live with her relatives in Ain Karim and he would quietly release her from their betrothal.  Being a righteous man, his conscience would not permit him to marry her even though he knew her to be innocent of any wrong doing. 
      Sleep had been difficult with all this weighing on his mind, but after the decision was made he fell into a deep, dream-filled sleep.  He dreamt an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not be afraid, Joseph.  Take Mary as your wife.  It is by the touch of the Creator Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.  She will bear a Son and you, of the lineage of David, shall name him Jesus, for he will save his people by winning them back to the Lord.”
      And as he awoke, a passage from scripture came to him, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, whose name shall be God-with-us!” 

     His heart beat with exhilaration.  Joseph now understood all that Mary had told him.  The time of which the prophets had spoken had come to pass and his betrothed was the woman of whom they had foretold.  His heart was opened to the truth, and he believed.  Praising the Lord, he quickly went to his family, as well as to Joachim and Anna, and persuaded them all to come with him to claim his betrothed, marry her, and bring her back to their home. 
     “Mary,” Joseph began, taking her hands in his big, rough carpenter hands, “on the day we were betrothed, I declared before our families and friends that you are my wife and I am your husband.  Yet, now you are ‘the virgin with child’ our Holy Scriptures foretold.  You are to be the mother of our Messiah.  And the Messiah is to come from the House of David.”  He took a deep breath to compose himself and continued, “I, Joseph, son of Jacob, of the House of David, a humble carpenter, though a virgin myself, ask that I may be the father of your Son in this world.  I love you, Mary.   I want to be your protector, provider, the father of your child, your husband.”     
     Mary looked deep into his handsome face, his hopeful eyes and responded, “Joseph, I love you, too.  There is no man I know of who is more caring, gentle or wise.  And there is no better man that our Son could call father here on earth than you.  I will be proud and honored to be your wife and for you to be father to our Son.”       
     Suddenly, cries of a newborn were heard from above.  Mary jumped up clasping her hands in front of her.  Joseph watched from his seated position as the brightness of Mary’s face gradually became solemn.  Her hands slowly moved down to feel her own small yet growing belly.  He knew she wondered at the miracle of an elderly woman conceiving and giving birth, and herself, a virgin with child, and pondered what all their futures would hold.

You can purchase the novel HERE I AM by our Sr. Moira by clicking on the button to the right of this blog.