The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Godbearer – Br. Curtis Almquist

Br. Curtis Almquist

The Dormition of Saint Mary the Virgin, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 1:46-55

We find nothing in the Bible about the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we celebrate today. The word “dormition” is from the Latin, dormitio, from which comes the English word “dormitory.” Dormitio is the act of sleeping.[i] Since the early centuries, this is how the church has remembered the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She simply “fell asleep” and was miraculously taken up into heaven. Mary has been heralded the saint of the saints: her death as mysterious as the birth she gave to Jesus.

If you were raised in an Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic tradition, today’s celebration will likely be familiar and comforting. If you come from a Protestant tradition, or no church tradition, today’s celebration may be quite foreign, perhaps quite inviting. There is an “assumption” of meaning around Mary which has grown through the centuries, where many have found Mary’s life story worthy of veneration, and a channel of help and hope. Over the centuries the Blessed Virgin Mary’s importance has grown for two reasons: because of recollection and because of revelation.

The church’s recollection traces back to the ancient predictions about the long-awaited Messiah. Centuries prior to Jesus’ birth, Isaiah had prophesied: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”[ii] But this does not fit Jesus’ pedigree. Jesus was born without title. Neither were his mother Mary nor his “stepfather,” Joseph, of noble lineage. Jesus’ birth to Mary would not only have been a disappointment to some, she could have been a scandal. Mary is a peasant, and she is unmarried. Mary clearly knows this. When she received the announcement from the angel Gabriel that she was to bear the Christ child, Mary was both afraid and incredulous. “How can this be?” she cries out.

Mary would have known the ancient Messianic prophesies about the greatness of the long-awaited Messiah. But no, she learns that the Messiah was not going to appear on the horizon, a fully formed and fully empowered adult with regal authority. The angel Gabriel’s announcement was that the Messiah would be born to Mary as an infant. “How can this be?” she asks. I can only imagine this same question revisiting Mary as her child, Jesus, grew into adolescence and manhood: “How can this be?” Jesus was about 30 years old before he publicly showed signs that he was, indeed, the Messiah. Thirty years for a mother watching and waiting, and perhaps worrying. “How can this be?” was surely a question that kept visiting both Mary and Jesus as he grew up.

And it also took the church several centuries to recollect, that is, to make sense of what had been prophesied about the coming Messiah, what then had been revealed to Mary and Joseph, and what had finally come of Jesus: his birth, his death, his resurrection, his parting gift of the Holy Spirit, and his ascension to heaven. Momentarily we will repeat what the church concluded in the 4^th century as we confess the Nicene Creed.

Down through the ages, the church has imagined Mary cuddling Jesus as an infant, observing Jesus as he grew up, holding Jesus’ slain body as an adult – Michelangelo’s Pietà[iii] – then imagining Mary’s being received into the heavens, taken into the arms of Jesus. An ancient Greek title given the Blessed Virgin Mary is Theotokos, translated as “Mother of God,” or “Godbearer.” Jesus, in his humanity, is Mary’s son; Jesus, in his divinity, is Mary’s Savior. I’m calling this the fruit of recollection, how the church has recollected the lives of both Jesus and Mary.

Alongside this recollection of Mary has also been the revelation of Mary: how the Blessed Virgin Mary has been seen, heard, and experienced down through the centuries, throughout the world. Mary’s appearances have been just as mysterious and miraculous as her own conception of Jesus. One’s imagination cannot stretch too far concerning Mary, when our starting point is at the announcement of the Angel Gabriel that the most unimaginable event would happen with and through Mary.

In the Anglican tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary is always in relationship to Jesus. She does not stand alone. You may find in Mary an invitation to an enlarged relationship with Jesus which includes his mother. Mary will not get in the way. She will point to the way, Jesus.[iv] You may find the Blessed Virgin Mary’s companionship a real grace in your experience of life and in your practice of prayer.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God:
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.[v]

i] The Eastern Orthodox Churches have continued to call this day of remembrance “The Dormition of the Mother of God.” Since the late Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church has called today’s remembrance “The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.”

[ii] Isaiah 9:6. Isaiah chapters 1-39 are thought to have been written by the prophet Isaiah in the 8^th century bce.

[iii] La Pietà is a marble sculpture by Michelangelo (1475-1564) of Mary holding Jesus’ slain body at Golgotha.

[iv] Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.…” John 14:6.

[v] From the “Angelus,” Latin for “angel,” a devotion named for the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, “The Annunciation.” The “Angelus” commemorates Christ’s becoming human – his Incarnation – and is prayed aloud in the SSJE chapel twice every day.