8.15.2012

the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

today is my birthday. i think the thing the i love the most about this day is that it is also the Solemnity of the Assumption, when Mary, the immaculate perpetually Virgin Mother of God, after the completion of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of heaven. (Pope Pius XII) 
my love for our mother Mary is very deep! in fact my love for the catholic church and the gift of faith makes my heart swell with gratitude. so why do i find it so difficult to talk about it here on my blog?! i don't know? maybe it's fear of criticism. fear that i'm not a good enough writer to even speak on the subject. fear of not being able to defend the church and her teachings. well, today and from now on i will try to shove those fears aside. it is my blog after all and i should feel free to talk about whatever i wish, right? 

although there are no scriptures to support the Assumption of Mary, it is known that the feast was celebrated long before it became a Dogma of the church in 1950. The Byzantine Emperor Mauritius (582-602) established the celebration of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15 for the Eastern Church. (Some historians speculate that the celebration was already widespread before the Council of Ephesus in 431). By the end of the 6th century, the West likewise celebrated the Feast of the Assumption. Fr. William Saunders goes on to say,Theoteknos of Livias (c. 550- 650) delivered one of the most comprehensive early sermons concerning the Assumption: "For Christ took His immaculate flesh from the immaculate flesh of Mary, and if He had prepared a place in heaven for the Apostles, how much more for His mother; if Enoch had been translated and Elijah had gone to heaven, how much more Mary, who like the moon in the midst of the stars shines forth and excels among the prophets and Apostles? For even though her God-bearing body tasted death, it did not undergo corruption, but was preserved incorrupt and undefiled and taken up into heaven with its pure and spotless soul."

another article by Fr. Clifford Stevens states, The Assumption completes God's work in her since it was not fitting that the flesh that had given life to God himself should ever undergo corruption. The Assumption is God's crowning of His work as Mary ends her earthly life and enters eternity. The feast turns our eyes in that direction, where we will follow when our earthly life is over.
The feast days of the Church are not just the commemoration of historical events; they do not look only to the past. They look to the present and to the future and give us an insight into our own relationship with God. The Assumption looks to eternity and gives us hope that we, too, will follow Our Lady when our life is ended.

along with church beliefs are all the devotions. when i was young, my sister would pray the rosary at night in bed. i remember wanting to be like her and trying to say it too. i'm pretty sure i fell asleep before i got to the first mystery! haha i guess that explains why she is the nun and i am not! i didn't reconnect with the rosary until my late teens, when i had my conversion. i have a book called Scriptural Rosary that has a bible quote for each Hail Mary. i have so many consoling memories with that little book. below is my favorite marian verse from it-

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Rev 12:1

i basically want to get across here how rad Mary is. yes, she is rad!  she intercedes for us, she appears to people like here and here, she is queen of heaven and earth. if that's not rad then i don't know what is! she is the surest and quickest path to Jesus. 

mary, dispenser of grace, morning star, mother of wisdom, ark of the covenant, the new eve- pray for us!


♥anne

11 comments :

  1. I appreciate you writing this. Putting your faith out into the world... I've been afraid to do it on my own blog. I'm not Catholic. I'm Episcopalian, and it's so important to me. And Mary?! What a woman. Great post.

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  2. I love you Anne!!!!!
    She is rad, and I love stopping by at grottos and looking at her starry crown, in her gorgeous blue and white gowns. I feel a really strong connection to Mother Mary energy and to Jesus. I light candleswith little M and we say prayers and always include her. She synbolizes so much compassion and complete love. And a complete faithfulness in life's process's. I pray to her for strength as a mom.

    I have a friends with all kinds of strong faiths in different things, but one thing is similar, a sense of faith and wonder in the mysteries, and a deep calling to follow in the footsteps of real love.

    blessinsg on your birthday, may it be filled to the brim with wonderful unexpected surprises. xxxxxxxx

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  3. you know how i feel about mary. she's my home girl, and has been since i was just a little girl. very cool post.

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  4. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY NEW FAV BLOGGER! Hope your day was filled with smiles. Great post!

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  5. Happy Birthday Dearest! You know I love this post. So much. And Am so proud and impressed to know you. It's so strange, I feel such affinity anyone religious and kind, no matter what their faith. Having longed for, well for the lack of a better word, God for so long, I immediately recognize religious/deeply spiritual folk as kin.

    When I first read the Holy Bible (imagine, though that ours of course is not the ubiquitous King James version. Languages are so funny.) I remember reading about the Woman with a crown of stars who later gets the wings of a great bird, an eagle I think (?) and being so delighted with this mythical figure, she was described so beautifully. I wash much too young to really understand a lot of what I read then, not quite following the allegories, but it made a great impression on me. Still it sends shivers down my spine.

    Many Blessings and belated birthday packages will arrive in a semi-timely manner ;)

    They will of course never quite be able to match your own sweet generosity. (I'm trying to catch up on posts and one is lined up.) I'm wearing your sweetest gift just now. It kinda makes me tear up a little when people ask about it.

    Love.

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  6. Wow. Embarrassingly long comment. Come fall I would really like to start some note swapping on email.

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  7. That's really special to have your day of birth coincide with something so spiritually significant to you. I hope your day was full of that deep love :)

    Faith can be so beautiful and so powerful. I'm glad you've decided to share more with us about yours. I actually find it fascinating and love hearing your thoughts and feelings on the matter.

    That image of Mary in the verse you quoted is so beautiful. Mary IS rad. And by the way, so are you <3

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  8. i am not catholic, but i looove mary. my mama was raised catholic and i think mary appears in many forms in many religions. blessed.

    you are so beautiful!

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  9. anne, i LOVE this post and that you took a risk in speaking about your faith and love for Mary. i am deeply touched to hear about your birthday connection and so curious to know more. so please know that i am one reader that, rather than judge how articulate your writing may be on the controversial subject of faith, instead wants to sit by the fire in your heart as you speak about your love. i was raised episcopal, but had a falling out with the church in my preteens. i have since reconnected with many of the teachings, especially gnostic ones and am crazy for the true arabic translations of prayers. but my faith has not returned. and so when i hear of true belief, i am always drawn in, always soothed, and feel nourished by hearing how the teachings are put into action in modern day life, by folks who are truly christian in the way that (i think) Christ meant them to be. this is beautiful and so are you, hair whipper! more please. xo

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    1. I feel very blessed, I don't tell you enough, that my childhood friend and I share this amazing connection to Mary in our hearts as well...it is so rare coming from our pretty wild adventures together and in the end coming to both our roots together, and almost simultaneously to boot! Our lives weave together and I'm humbled to have such a gift from God.

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  10. It's a beautiful thing when we have the courage to (((show up))) just as we are!
    To overcome the fear of judgement in sharing our beliefs.
    To make no excuses.
    To be our authentic selves.
    Love this post!
    Love and light.
    x V

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thank you so much for stopping by. please feel free to leave a comment! i love reading them :)


anne