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| Vladimir Mother of God |
This is the Vladimir Theotokos, perhaps the most well-known and highly revered icon of the Mother of God on earth. She resides in a chapel at the Tretyakov Museum in Moscow, Russia. The icon has played such an important role in Russia's long story of being invaded. It is said that Josef Stalin even had the icon flown around the perimeter of Moscow to protect the city during the Second World War.
Maybe that's just a story, but it suggests that if we keep very close to this image of God climbing all over us in an incarnate embrace and kiss, we might be surprised at how things turn around for the better. The Russians mean it when they say the icon is wonder-working!
Here the Mother of God seems to express an earthly anxiety for her Son. As we turn to her in the silence of our prayer, we might be mindful of the world's children in their profound suffering. Simply hold them consciously in your heart.
Maybe that's just a story, but it suggests that if we keep very close to this image of God climbing all over us in an incarnate embrace and kiss, we might be surprised at how things turn around for the better. The Russians mean it when they say the icon is wonder-working!
Here the Mother of God seems to express an earthly anxiety for her Son. As we turn to her in the silence of our prayer, we might be mindful of the world's children in their profound suffering. Simply hold them consciously in your heart.
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In the Assumption-Mystery we see the full power of Christ's Resurrection come true as Christ calls his Mother to the joy of home. Doesn't it make heart-sense that Jesus would call his Mother first to her completion? Fads come and go. Seasons come and go. Youth comes and goes. Even the words we use like rush and high, suggest fleeting realities. But the Assumption is about eternity.
Mary's Feast is celebrated in mid-August when the summer is mature in flowers and fruit. She's a sign of the maturity we're all called to: that when our own lives are ended here, we'll be brought to our maturation, our own lives lived as fully as Christ's.
Mary's Feast is celebrated in mid-August when the summer is mature in flowers and fruit. She's a sign of the maturity we're all called to: that when our own lives are ended here, we'll be brought to our maturation, our own lives lived as fully as Christ's.
