PERHAPS IT IS APPROPRIATE TO REMEMBER THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS MONTH WE ARE NOT CELEBRATING "SAINT AUGUST" BUT THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY INTO HEAVEN

In the first centuries, indeed, as the divinity of Jesus ceased to be questioned by heretics, the Church dealt with the opposite problem: affirm the truth of his Incarnation. It is in this context that the figure of Mary became crucial and important, because her availability tied her inextricably to her son, to the Son of God who became flesh, in her flesh.

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

PDF print format article

.

After Benedict XVI so refined in his manner and measured in his words, more than one was surprised by some of the sentences, especially those uttered in one go by the Supreme Pontiff Francis, his successor. Which as well, it must be said, they are best remembered by simple people who probably don't remember even one of their predecessors. Among these there is one that he has repeated several times and on which I imagine there is everyone's consensus, that is, that we are experiencing a "piecemeal third world war"[1]. One of these "pieces", the conflict in Ukraine, concerns us more closely since it has been causing destruction and deaths every day for some time and for the fact that from the point of view of the relationship between the Churches it has caused estrangements, divisions and discord which will require years and years of healing.

For this reason it is so significant that the Feast of the Assumption[2] as the Catholic Church calls it or of the Dormition as it is defined in the Eastern Churches is celebrated liturgically by all these communities on the same day of 15 of August. For the entire month the Eastern Church sings of joy in the liturgy:

«In your motherhood you remained a virgin, in your dormancy you have not abandoned the world, O Mother of God. You have been transferred to life, you who are the Mother of Life and redeem our souls from death with your intercession"[3].

The belief that Mary's body, the Virgin mother, has not suffered the corruption of the tomb dates back to the first Judeo-Christian communities. The oldest nucleus (2nd-3rd century) of the apocryphal saying Dormition of Mary in fact it already contains the narrative, imaginative in terms of the story but univocal in terms of content, of Mary's transportation to heaven. And Jerusalem, it is known, there was an unbroken tradition regarding the place of burial (or of temporary deposition) of the body of the Virgin in that tomb of Gethsemane on which, towards the end of the 4th century, Emperor Theodosius I had a church built. Precisely from the celebration that the 15 August was held in this ancient center of Marian worship, the date of the feast of the Dormition of Mary was resumed and extended to the entire Christian East in the 4th century[4].

Both Western texts, by Gregory of Tours (538 ca.- 594) to Pius XII who adopted the terminological precision required for a dogmatic pronouncement, than the ancient works of the Fathers of the Church, over all those of Giovanni Damasceno (676 ca.- 749) with his repeated "it was convenient"[5], they explain the faith content of this Marian celebration and refer to the theme of life. An incorruptible life of which the Theotòkos it is a privileged image and hence the symbolism of light that pervades both artistic representations in the West (from Titian to Tintoretto and Guido Reni), than Byzantine iconographic images; both the plot of the liturgical texts, that the prayers of invocation in the east, like this very old one that reads:

«Maria, please, Mary light and mother of light, Mary life and mother of the apostles, Mary golden lamp who carries the true lamp, Mary our queen, plead with your Son"[6] .

Naturally beyond tradition which dates back to the time of the United Churches is the Holy Scripture, and the Gospel stories in particular, the source from which to draw the reason for so much attention given to Mary, the Mother of the Lord. If today we celebrate Mary's transit to God it is because she herself recited God's passage into her existence, as expressed in today's Gospel passage [cf.. LC 1, 39-56]. In response to Elisabetta's greeting, Maria pronounces the words of Magnificat, which distract attention from her and make her turn totally to the Lord. She didn't do anything, but the Lord did everything: this is the basic meaning of the Magnificat. This hymn, indeed, celebrates the God who did everything in Mary because Mary's story has God as its subject. And God's action in Mary is defined by her as a look: «The Lord looked at the littleness of his servant» [LC 1,48]. This divine gaze rested on her from the preparatory moment, transforming it through grace[7], so that she would become the Mother of the incarnate Word and will accompany him throughout his life, right up to the cross where she will receive the new motherhood over the nascent Church and beyond.

A beyond that Maria already glimpses in the passage of Magnificat when he lists the works of God that unfold from generation to generation in favor of the humble and the hungry, while the powerful, the rich and proud already satisfied will be adjusted unlike the little ones who will be raised while the powerful, the rich and proud already satisfied will be devalued. A drama that, as Jesus will teach when announcing the Kingdom of God does not happen in heaven, but here: it's history, it is life in the world, lived in the flesh that is born and that one day will die. In this story, Mary becomes a protagonist from the moment of the call, she will be the friend and model of those who want to follow an authentic journey of faith.

Maybe that's why only the Virgin Mary and no other characters, in the west, it has had so many artistic representations that depict it close to the daily experience of men and women. When it was painted with the clothes of a particular historical period, on backgrounds that reproduced the life of that time, under architectures of a specific era, in the most disparate contexts. From Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks, to the sumptuous Madonna by Piero della Francesca, from the common Maria, even one prostitute drowned in the Tiber who inspired Michelangelo Merisi known as Caravaggio, to follow with the Virgin with her arms wide open of the many Neapolitan mysteries, under a ruined Roman temple. Mary was able to take on the role of the woman of every period because she, more than anyone, was the protagonist of the great mystery of the incarnation in which

«the mystery of man finds true light. Adamo, indeed, the first man, he was a figure of the future [cf.. RM 5, 14], that is, of Christ the Lord. Christ, who is the new Adam, precisely revealing the mystery of the Father and his Love, it also fully reveals man to man and makes known to him his very high vocation... Since in him human nature was assumed, without being destroyed thereby, for this very reason it has also been raised to a sublime dignity for our benefit. With his incarnation, indeed, the very Son of God he united in a certain way with every man. He worked with human hands, he thought with the mind of a man, he acted with the will of man, he loved with the heart of a man. Born of the Virgin Mary, He truly made himself one of us, similar to us in everything except sin"[8] [The joy and hope].

In the first centuries, indeed, as the divinity of Jesus ceased to be questioned by heretics, the Church dealt with the opposite problem: affirm the truth of his Incarnation. It is in this context that the figure of Mary became crucial and important, because her availability tied her inextricably to her son, to the Son of God who became flesh, in her flesh. "And the Word became flesh" says the Gospel according to John [GV 1, 14] and Paul echoes him in the letter to the Galatians: «But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons" [Gal 4, 4-5].

That's why in churches almost immediately it began to be said that the flesh of Mary, after having given life to the Son of God, could not suffer the affront of corruption. And if he couldn't, its natural location was with the Son where from there it could become a "lively fountain of hope"[9].

"No, you are not just like Elijah 'ascending towards heaven', you were not like Paolo, transported to the 'third heaven', but you have reached the royal throne of your Son, in direct vision, in joy, and stand next to Him with great and unspeakable security... Blessing for the world, sanctification for the whole universe; relief in punishment, consolation in tears, healing in illness, port in the storm. For sinners forgiveness, benevolent encouragement for the afflicted, for all those who call upon you for always ready help"[10] (Saint John Damascene).

This is Mary's path which anticipates that of every child adopted in the Son as Paul said in the words quoted above.

There are two icons of the Byzantine tradition which tell us a lot about today's celebration. The first is that of the meeting between Maria and her cousin Elisabetta, which is the episode that preludes the Magnificat reported in the Gospel of this solemnity. In some of these icons the two women, the barren and the virgin, they hug each other tightly and their faces touch almost as if the eye of one borders on that of the other. This is a true fraternal meeting that we need so much in this time of conflict and division. That embrace and that fusion of looks between the two women reveals the exchange of the gift that each has received, it is a new Pentecost in which each recognizes the other in their peculiarity, in his calling without rivalry or jealousy.

The other icon is that of the Dormition of Mary that radiates great hope and peace. I always thought it would be cool, for instance, place it in the church during the celebration of Christian funerals. Because in these times of hospitalized and privatized death, watching a scene where we see that at the moment of passing away we are not alone is of great consolation. The Virgin was painted lying down with her cloak reminiscent of the nativity. Pietro is at the head of the bed and Paolo at the foot, while John places his head on the pillow as he had placed it on Jesus' chest. All the apostles are bent over her as well as some bishops of the primitive Church and the Christian people: no one is missing. In ancient times the dead descended to the lower regions or were ferried to them. However, they entered a dark condition, shady. If we look at the icon we can see that the whole thing is a boat, a hull that does not go to dark regions, but towards the light.

All the gazes of those present converge downwards towards Mary's body stretched out horizontally to signify human nature. Now we would expect, as the dogma says, that Mary ascended to heaven. Instead here it is the sky that descends and on the horizontal line of the Virgin the figure of Christ who occupies the scene appears in a vertical and central line, on whose face we read the strength and determination of the Risen One, of the one who has conquered death and holds a little girl in his hand. While the horizontal figure represents human nature lying on a mantle, the little girl would be the soul of Mary. A meeting, so, between visible and invisible. The horizontal space of sleep/death is intercepted by a vertical of light to form a cross.

The point where the planks of the cross meet it is the life and light brought by the figure of Christ. Even the rays surrounding him indicate the rising movement of the Son who came to take his Mother. With an atypical twist of the body to the right, towards his mother's head, the Risen One takes her soul in his arms and supports it since it is he who makes the transition from this life to the next.

But the beautiful thing is that Jesus holds his mother's soul in his arms with the same tenderness with which she held him as a child. The gestures that the Mother made to her Son, the Son now remembers them and rescues them from death. We saw the Mother holding her Son in her arms, now the situation is reversed and it is the Son who carries Mary in his arms. Only love makes things eternal. The risen Christ bears the marks of the nails to indicate that it is truly him, assumed by the love of the Father he could not remain at the mercy of the tomb. Thus Mary's body which, due to motherhood, was entirely at the service of love, cannot be left at the mercy of putrefaction.. This Feast of the Assumption is a Feast of Love and only lovers can understand it because they know that every gesture of love will be remembered forever..

Happy Assumption Day to everyone.

from the Hermitage, 15 August 2023

 

NOTE

[1] World war to pieces, see in The Osservatore Romano.

[2] The Dogma in the West was promulgated by Pius XII with the constitution the generous the 1 November 1950.

[3] Troparion t.1 of the great Vespers of the feast of the Dormition.

[4] Bagatti B., At the origins of the Church, LEV, Rome, 1981, p.75.

[5] Saint John Damascene, In Dormition, I, PG 96:«It was fitting that she who had preserved her virginity intact during childbirth should preserve her body intact from corruption after death. It was fitting that she who had carried the Creator made child in her womb should dwell in the divine abode. It was fitting that the Bride of God should enter the heavenly home. It was fitting that she who had seen her own son on the Cross, receiving into her body the pain that she had been spared in childbirth, contemplated him sitting at the right hand of the Father. It was fitting that the Mother of God should possess what was due to her because of her son and that she should be honored by all creatures as the Mother and slave of God.".

[6] Bagatti B., The apocryphal early church, Rome, 1981, pg 75

[7] from La Potterie I., Keharitomeni en Lc 1,28 Exegetical and theological study, Biblical, Vol. 68, No. 4 (1987), p. 377.382

[8] The joy and hope n. 22; S. John Paul II, The Redeemer of Man, no 8.

[9] Dante, Paradiso, Canto 33, 12

[10] on. cit PL 96, 717 AB.

.

San Giovanni all'Orfento. Abruzzo, Mount Maiella, it was a hermitage inhabited by Pietro da Morrone, called in 1294 to the Chair of Peter on which he ascended with the name of Celestine V (29 August – 13 December 1294).

.

Visit the pages of our book shop WHO and support our editions by purchasing and distributing our books.

.

______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

n Agency. 59 From Rome
Iban code:
IT74R0503403259000000301118
For international bank transfers:
Codice SWIFT:
BAPPIT21D21

If you make a bank transfer, send an email to the editorial staff, the bank does not provide your email and we will not be able to send you a thank you message:
isoladipatmos@gmail.com

We thank you for the support you wish to offer to our apostolic service.

The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

.

.

.