O God, you have taken to yourself the blessed Virgin Mary,
mother of your incarnate Son: Grant that we, who have been
redeemed by his blood, may share with her the glory of your
eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen.
A Blessed Feast Day of St. Mary the Virgin!!
Our priest had a great sermon about Mary. He pointed out that she is the model for all Christians. She was with Jesus for his entire life, at his birth, his childhood, his death, and after his resurrection. So should we be with Christ for our whole lives. She humbly carried the infinite in her womb. What I think is interesting is that she is never depicted in icons without Jesus. Honestly, it’s hard to wrap my mind around sometimes. Thanks for the post, Fr. Neo!
When I was growing up, this feast day was called “The Assumption”, and commemorated the bodily raising of Mary to heaven, surrounded by angels. Since leaving the Roman Catholic church of my youth and reading the bible, I know of no scriptural account of this “miracle”. Am I out of date, you Catholic brothers and sisters out there? Has there been a feast day name change? Is August 15 still a Holy Day of Obligation?
It’s called the ‘Assumption’ in the RC Church and the ‘Dormition’ in the Orthodox Tradition. There is a story from Tradition that, upon Mary’s death, the apostles were summoned by the angels to be by her side. She died and was buried. Both in Eastern and Western Traditions, she was ‘carried away’ to heaven after death–hence becoming ‘chief among saints. Rome is a little more detailed about the account, but the Tradition stands in both traditions nonetheless. Anglicans, predictably, as the collect of the day implies, honor the tradition but not all parishes have festal celebrations. Many Anglicans are so protty that it is not even on the radar screen. Fr. Walker did it up last night of course.
PS
Looking at the icon from the Orthodox, Jesus is holding the soul of Mary much the same way she held him. Quite tender actually.
The tendency to worship and pray to Mary was part of what made me uncomfortable with the RC church of my childhood. It is true that you can take the girl out of the Vatican but not the Vatican out of the girl. Mary is a beautiful spiritual model, wow, what a woman. So brave, serene-the Magnificat? That would not be the first thing I’d come up with. She’s amazing.
Neo,
An interesting choice of words to describe Mary – the Theotokos. This reveals your interest in the Eastern church.
Do the Church of Rome and the Anglican church use the term “Theotokos” too?
Most Protestants blow past Mary as if she never even existed. An unfortunate overreaction to the Roman Catholic Marion dogmas.
Theotokos, Mater Dei, Mother of God–this was affirmed at Ephesus and Chalcedon. If you don’t believe she is the Mother of God, you are a Nestorian or Apollynarian heretic!
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death…Amen.
Is anyone else experiencing weird issues with blogger and reverting to the home page? when I press “home” it goes back to old post.
Hail Mary full of grace.
I was reading Luke. Jesus having dinner and the other Mary comes in. Talk about giving up of the old self and worshiping Jesus, with tears and oil. Pray that I can reach that dept of devotion.
Honest questions here. Your graphics enticed my inquiries. How do you know that you aren’t part of whatever it is that you are calling the “Matrix” and that you haven’t wondered down the rabbit hole yourself? How do you legitimately and authentically verify this one way or the other without engaging in some sort of circular reasoning?
Monco,
Good questions.
This blog, at least originally, is more about escaping the Matrix (or perhaps multitude of matrices) we live in for what is Real, and occasional analysis of what is and isn’t in the Matrix, and why.
If you have a spare hour or two, perhaps reading the archives from the beginning, but for your question, especially of February 2005 including the comments will let you know more of some of the thought on this here on Fr. Neo’s White Rabbit. Maybe even some of March. Then again, it can be a bit heavy in places. Morpheus even asked us to talk “in English”. Some of the characters from then are still here, some probably only lurk, and others have moved on.
Perhaps you’d like to say more or resurrect some of those old topics? Fr. Neo would probably enjoy more discussion on them, with another set of voices… I probably would too. (grin)
Ask the question in a different way Monco. What are you driving at?
No need to ask it in a different way. It was perfectly clear given the context of your blog. You knew what I meant and your response is exactly part of the problem I tend to have with much that is labeled “religion,” regardless if the perspective is left or right. Candor and honesty is paramount (and can be a breath of fresh air too) when speaking about matters of the spirit, even more so when the answer is by definition going to be less than definitive. Ambiguity is built into the nature of the spiritual.
Oh well. Such is life I suspect. I’m sure you could give me any number of answers, many that would be compelling, cogent, etc., but no need. I don’t intend to come off harsh, but was curious as your answer. Hope by its very nature seeks.