IT IS THE DAY OF MARY'S EASTER ~ her being taken up. But being taken up, not flying through space, but taken up and into the inner life of the Holy Trinity.
We've all been part of a circle dance before, perhaps in elementary school or at a wedding, as shown here. God's inner life is not static like a triangle, but circular and with a simultaneous sharing among the persons of Father, Son and Spirit of divine energies, friendship and love. And Mary, in a fullness which even includes her body already, is taken up into that circle of energies - leading the way for us who follow.
Great trouble is currently coming out of the Middle East and the militant elements of Islam. In the Quran, the holy book of Islam, the Virgin Mary is mentioned more often than in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The most lofty things are said of Mary in the writings of Islam. I have often thought that this veneration of Mary, shared by Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam, might be a point of shared love. Sadly that idea seems to have escaped notice.
We might pray these marvelous titles of Mary which come to the world through Islam, asking for those with militant, hateful and death-dealing hearts to think of her, turning to the world with love.
She who confirms the truth
She who has faith
She who believes completely
She who prostrates before God in worship
She who was purified
She who was chosen
She who fasts
She who is enveloped in God's mercy
 |
| Relic of Mary's Veil at Chartres Cathedral ~ France |
