THE SLEEPING OF MARY
The actual word is ‘Dormition’, not ‘sleeping’, but it means
the same, It is the Greek Orthodox title
for the feast of August 15th which the Catholic Church calls the ‘Assumption’
of Mary. Even that word is a conundrum. It
is the word we use for Mary being taken up into heaven after her death. But
then we might ask why do we have this special word?
When Jesus says, ‘I am the bread of life’ or ‘I am the light
of the world’, we have some idea what he means. We know what bread is and what
light is. But when he says ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ do we have any
idea what this could mean?
Aretha Franklin, an African American singer, has just died.
A startling picture of her in a red robe appears today on the front page of the
Irish Times and inside the paper a whole page is devoted to her. She sang at Obama’s first Inauguration and
her voice “soothed and scalded” America for five decades. She suffered much in her early days but
clearly triumphed later. She was a lady
who fulfilled her dream.
Fulfilment is what we are born for and every person has the
seed of it within. The Catholic feast of
the Assumption of Mary, and the Orthodox equivalent, is a celebration of the
total fulfilment of everything Mary was born to be. And when we celebrate her
we celebrate every person who achieved fulfilment in life even in the most
simple things. I once met a mental and physically handicapped girl in the Ivory
Coast whose whole task in life seemed to be to give joy to others through her
smile. She died at 13, her life fulfilled.
The world is very competitive. We measure ourselves in relation to others;
their qualifications, achievements – even their looks. This can obscure the often hidden inner seed
in each of us which is longing to come out and blossom. Each of us has our own
measure. When we sleep for the last time
may it be the sleep of one who has fulfilled their own personal dream!
15 August 2018 The
Assumption of Mary
Revelations 11:19, 12:1-6,
10 1 Corinthians 15:20-26 Luke 1:39-56
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