Personal Note:
After the attendees received the Eucharist (under the two forms together) at the Mass, my oxygen tank became empty which alarmed my daughter and myself as well as a number of friends around us. Thank God, my wife came to the rescue on time while the closing blessing was being given! Thanks also to the priests who came to see us and offer their help after the Mass...Last night, August 15, 2018 I attended the magnificent Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother of God at Jesus the King Greek Melkite Catholic parish in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration north of Toronto which was consecrated by Pope Saint John Paul II in his 1984 first visit to Toronto. The Mass was celebrated by the pastor and his two assistant pastors, and served by the renowned Homsy choir. In his homily, the pastor Fr. Ibrahim El-Haddad spoke about the reason that the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed to heaven body and soul. Her utter humility expressed in her own response to the Archangel Gabriel "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38). The "Dormition of the Theotokos" refers to the same celebration in the Eastern Churches. Dormition refers to the death of Mary which she underwent as her Son did. However, her purity and immaculate life seen by God could not be left in the tomb. As the risen Christ ascended to heaven, he also took up his mother to heaven in both body and soul. This is an old tradition in both East and West. In response to questions by separated Christian brothers, an extensive consultations with the Bishops, was followed by a dogmatic definition, infallibly pronounced by Pope Pius XII on the occasion of the Marian Year in 1950 (see Munificentissmus Deus by Pope Pius XII here).
Since the Mother of Jesus was given to John the Apostle by Christ on the cross, she lived with John. Both Ephesus, where St. John the Apostle preached, and Jerusalem where the Apostles first preached, claimed the honor of having the Mother of Christ before her dormition and assumption. In the 3rd century, St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, wrote that Mary is the new Eve whose obedience cancelled Eve's disobedience (see St. Irenaeus' Against Heresies Book V Chapter 19 in The Catholic Encyclopedia here). In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Alexandrian Bishops played a significant role in defending the Virgin Mary's role in Christ's incarnation and redemptive act. This is evident in St. Athanasius "De Incarnatione Verbi Dei" and St. Cyril of Alexandria momentous leadership at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD in which he vigorously defended the title given to the Virgin Mary being "Mother of God" because she is the mother of the "Word of God" (John 1, 1) who in her womb he became Man. In the same period, Churches in Antioch expressed veneration of Christ's mother. St. Ephraim the Syriac and St. Romanos the Melodist composed hymns of praise to the Virgin Mary as the one chosen by God for the Son's incarnation and redemptive acts. In the 8th century, St. John of Damascus actively fought by his pen the Iconoclastic heresy enforced by the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isorian. He was helped by the fact that he resided in Islamic territory. The most important icon defended is that of the Virgin Mary carrying Jesus. It can be seen in Eastern Churches today. Another popular, but rare, icon is that of the "Dormition of the Virgin Mary" in which Mary in her coffin is carried by Jesus. It shows the early devotion in the Eastern Churches accorded to the Virgin Mary in her death and assumption where her risen son carries her. In Coptic art, the face of Jesus is disproportionately larger than his body. Although Mary is at his side in the icon, the theological meaning is based on the description of heaven. In heaven, the King Jesus Christ sits on the throne, while his mother, the most pure among creation, stands on his right side. In his 13th century Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas distinguished the veneration given to the Virgin Mary as the holiest of creatures by calling it "hyperdulia" as opposed to "Latria" owed only in worship to the Triune God. In the Mass or Divine Liturgy, there is a definitive moment in which Mary is pre-eminently proclaimed above all angels and saints. It is evident then that veneration of the Virgin Mary as the holiest of all creation is as old as the beginning of Christian Era. Her participation in the redemptive act of Christ under his cross and her sorrowful tears carrying the dead body of Jesus after the crucifixion have been the subject of artful works such as LaPieta by Michael Angelo and repeated calls to proclaim her "Mediatrix of Graces". In the 16th century, Pope Saint Pius V established the Holy Rosary prayer, based on a long custom. The prayer consists of 3 groups meditating on the redemptive love of Christ from the Annunciation to the Ascension and beyond known as the "Joyful Mysteries"; the "Sorrowful Mysteries"; and the "Glorious Mysteries." Pope Saint John Paul II added "The Luminous Mysteries." Each group starts with The Lord's Prayer ("Our Father") and 10 Hail Marys and followed by "Glory be...". For further information the reader may wish to read this site...
In our time, Venerable Fulton Sheen observed that Muslims too consider the Virgin Mary "the purest of all women". He thought that this time belongs to the Virgin Mary whom with her intercession the Lord may, in his love, bring them to the fold of the Church...
