* December 22 – Our Lady of the Milk (Italy)   * The stone of this cave is a remedy for new mothers  --- An initiative of the Mary of Nazareth Association December 22 – Our Lady of the Milk (Italy)   The stone of this cave is a remedy for new mothers  Outside the city of Bethlehem, near the Church of the Nativity, is the "Milk Grotto" (Grotto of Our Lady), also called the "Virgin’s Cave." According to tradition, this grotto holds the memory of times that Our Lady nursed the Baby Jesus. The visions of Saint Catherine Emmerich have shed some light on this tradition(1): "I saw two shepherds come and visit the Blessed Virgin, to warn her that some officials were on their way to inquire about her child. Mary felt a surge of fear, and soon after I saw Saint Joseph enter, take the Child Jesus from her arms, wrapped in a cloak, and take him away... Then I saw the Blessed Virgin assailed by maternal worries, left alone in the grotto..." "When the time came to nurse her child, she did what is customary for caring mothers who have been upset in one way or another... Before feeding the Child Jesus, she expressed some of her breast milk, which could have been altered by her anguish, and tipped it into a small cavity in the layer of white stone in wall of the cave..." Since then, the white stone of the cave has been considered a remedy for new mothers. _______ (1) Adapted from Saint Catherine Emmerich, in The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Chapter 41. The Mary of Nazareth Team www.mariedenazareth.com Let’s pray together  Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death. Amen.