Hello.
Today we celebrate of the major feasts in the Church calendar. In some places it is known as the “DORMITION” or the “falling asleep” of Mary. We in the West know it as the Assumption. It is a feast when Mary was taken up into heaven, body and soul.
As you know we do not have a great deal of firsthand information. Most of what we have from the early Church come down to us by stories told word of mouth. It is much earlier to remember stories than facts and figures.
St Bernard of Clairvaux gives us such a story about the falling asleep of the Blessed Mother. He tells us, “When finally the Blessed Virgin had fulfilled the course of this life, and was not to be called out of this world, all the apostles were gathered together form each region to her house and behold the Lord Jesus came with his angels, and received her soul . . . at the break of day the apostles lifted her body with the couch and laid it in the sepulcher, and they guarded it awaiting the coming of the Lord. And behold the Lord stood by them and commanded that the holy body be taken up and born on a cloud into paradise, where now, reunited with her soul . . . “
Much truth is relayed to us in story form. True, word for word, maybe not. But true non the less. Or Blessed Mother ascended to her rightful place with the One she bore in her womb, nursed and cared for and kept vigil at the foot of the Cross.
Queen of heaven and earth, she is that. But let us not forget, she is still our Mother who loves each one of us with a love only a mother has.
Peace and All Good
Fr. Vinnie, osf and the
Bros and srs of the
Franciscan House of Prayer.
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