Posts Tagged ‘Isaiah 61:10-11’

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Br. Lain Wilson

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

Isaiah 61:10-11, Luke 1:46-55

Today we celebrate the feast of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Specifically, we celebrate her “dormition,” that is, her “falling asleep” in death. “Dormition” isn’t just a pious euphemism, but speaks to the peaceful quality of Mary’s death that tradition records, unlike the martyrdoms of so many other followers of Jesus.

The phrase, though, captures something more. The eighth-century patriarch of Constantinople Germanos writes that Mary “had to undergo [her] passage from this world as an awakening to [her] own reality as Mother of Life.”¹ Mary’s death wasn’t just a passing away, but a falling asleep into life and a waking up into joy. Read More