It's the great Feast of the Assumption today, which some people object to because "it's not in Scripture." Neither is Sola Scriptura of course, but apologetics aside, I found this reflection helpful. Via Domini res gestas:
Today the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, Theotocos and Christotocos, is taken into heaven to that court where the King of kings sits upon his starry throne. While angels and saints rejoice together with Christ, it is fitting that we too celebrate and rejoice with them today. Our true Solomon, the King of Peace, seats his Mother, the true Bathsheba, at his right hand today in the heavenly Jerusalem above all the choirs of angels. Today the ark of the covenant of the Lord is brought into the temple and placed in the Holy of Holies. This is the same ark that John saw in the Book of Revelation. Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of the covenant could be seen in the temple. After writing this at the close of Chapter 11, as if to clarify the vision, he follows it immediately with the opening verse of Chapter 12:
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Without doubt this woman is the Virgin Mary, for John adds that she gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all nations... Her child was caught up to God and his throne. (St. Laurence Brindisi)
Note Serpent and Crescent crushed underheel
A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. I should be very wary of going up against that, to say nothing of her child. But here's a closing hymn from the Benedictines of Notre Dame de Fontgombault, Ave Maris Stella, Hail Star of the Sea:
Some say the Faith's dead. That's not true, though perhaps it's hiding, for a time.
Ave,
LSP
2 comments:
Mary indeed was a blessed woman. I visited her house in Ephesus. felt chills, and drank from the spring below the house, but does that mean that she is, as some claim, "Queen of the universe"? Christ is King, Mary was his mother, but more than Queen, she was the Theotokos, and should be honored as such.
There's a very old church in San Pedro, CA named "Mary, Star of the Sea". San Pedro at one time had the largest fishing fleet on the West Coast, and the old Slavic and Italian fishermen had strong church-going families, and the churches were centers of the community, providing comfort and charity to those in need.....
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