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Anonym (XV c.)
Anonym - MEDITATION ON THE LIFE OF JESUS
MEDITATION ON THE LIFE OF JESUS
(selections)
A reading about those signs which took place all over the world during the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
Various miracles and signs were seen all over the world when dear Jesus was born and they will be described here, and yet they cannot be reported for sure, so I would not dare to write it down, but for the honor and glory of dear Jesus Christ, as all creatures are subject to his might. On that night, when light appeared to the whole world, when Jesus was born of the pure Virgin Mary, a freshly flowing spring was seen in Rome, gushing with pure oil. Emperor Augustus, who then ruled the whole world, saw a star in the sky on that night, and in it he saw an image of a beautiful virgin carrying an infant in her hands. So he began to ask what could have happened. The prophet Sibyl told him: "I tell you that a great king, who has power in heaven and on earth, and in the sea, is born of a pure virgin". Then the emperor ordered his obelisk to be destroyed to pay honor and glory to the newborn king, because he knew that Jesus would be greater than he. The same emperor had ordered his statue to be put on the obelisk and ordered the whole world to pray to it as to a god. On that night, when the Son of God was born, honey was flowing throughout the whole world, because honey was coming from heaven, giving evidence of the true birth. On that night, rivers stopped for three hours all over the world and did not flow. On that night, an old ark of Noah that was in the Armenian mountains, gave evidence of the Holy Trinity and of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, from the Virgin Mary, because out of it, from that very ark, three trees fell, sprouted new branches, blossomed, and bore fruit. On that night, in the Bavarian land, in a town of Tusch, a heavy hail fell, and with it, from a cloud, a small statue fell down, as of a virgin carrying an infant in her arms. Nobody could divine what that could have been, and yet that statue did not melt from the heat, but they put it on the ground, where they prayed to their gods, and it lay there for thirty-and-two years and only then it began to melt; the glorious incarnation and the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ is made manifest through this.
About how Jesus was sitting under a palm tree and made a well with his finger and drew water, etc.
One day they suffered from the great heat of the sun and they and their livestock were very thirsty, but had no more water in the vessels which they carried, so they were looking for a well and could not find it. And they came to a palm tree and sat under it, very tired. So the infant, dear Jesus, began to dig with his finger in the ground and immediately a big spring gushed out, they drank, and gave water to all livestock. The very tree under which they sat was quite tall and a fruit hung from its very top. When Mary saw it, she had a great desire to have it, but did not tell anyone. Dear Jesus, having divined his dear mother's desire, could not restrain himself and saw to it that she did not suffer any wants. He immediately ordered the palm to bend down its fruit and its top to his mother, Virgin Mary, and they plucked the fruit with great joy, and having dispelled their hunger, took the rest for the journey. Then the holy gathering sat there all night long, because the tree gave them protection and food.
A reading about how Mary and Joseph sent Jesus for the fire
When dear Jesus served his Mother, she called him and sent for the fire. So he took the coals in the lap of his tunic and carried them. Other children wanted to do the same and burnt their clothes, and did not dare go home, but stood in the street crying and saying that a magician caused us harm, and having returned home complained to their mothers that the magician ,,ordered us to carry the fire in our tunics and we burnt them". Then they ran and told Joseph and Mary. And dear Jesus ordered them to take off their clothes and made them whole as before.
Translated by Michael J. Mikoś