First: The hymn was sung by Feiruz to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lebanon in Arabic (here). As I have been listening to the above hymn, I have thought again of the tradition that Christians in most Churches of the East and West have believed since Patristic times...As I understand it, the Virgin Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven - Called the Assumption, it is a dogma of the Catholic Church officially declared by Pope Venerable Pius XII in 1950 in his encyclical "MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS" (here). In the East it is given the name "Dormition" of the Mother of God - See also this homily by Fr. Georges Farah at Jesus the King Greek Catholic parish in Toronto (here on my blog recorded on August 16, 2008). Fr. Georges Farah explained too why the Virgin Mary is believed to be full of grace (here). The dogma "The Immaculate Conception" of Mary Mother of God was defined by Pope Blessed Pius IX in 1854 - See the Pope's acts here.
If the Virgin Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven, she would have a glorified body. This is why, in my opinion, although she lived for many years after the Ascension of Christ, she looks a young virgin in all her apparitions in history. If we look at the pictures of her apparition to Saint Bernadette in Lourdes, or in Fatima to the 3 children, or at her picture in her apparition in San Diego, or the medal ordered by the Virgin Mary to St. Catherine Labouré to print and distribute. Statues of the Virgin Mary have been made in Europe for centuries. In all of them she is a pure young lady - Some icons in the Christian East show the Virgin Mary crowned with Jesus wearing a crown and sitting in her lap, or without a crown but still carrying Jesus in her arm.
One homily that was watched by many Coptic Orthodox faithful is the one uttered in October 2005 by the late Pope Shenouda III in which he commented on Christ's words "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28) and started crying in it for the problems that Christians in Egypt faced (here). He said that God always answers our prayers but we better be silent to hear him. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us in praying to the Father in heaven 'Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil.' God is the One who delivers us from our burdens and problems - We submit our problems to God and leave them in His hands praying 'Thy Will be done'. If You want to solve the problem, 'Thy Will be done', and if You want us to take the blessing of a cross that we carry, 'Thy Will be done.' In a subsequent interview with him given by Lemis El-Haddidi of the Egyptian TV in early January 2012, Pope Shenouda answered her questions frankly (here). While Lemis attempted to contain the blow-up of the Saints church in Alexandria (which resulted in the death of some Christians and many more injured) to the Egyptian authorities, Pope Shenouda III voiced his agreement that Pope Benedict XVI and the European Union condemned the violent act as an act of Islamic terrorism. By the same token, Pope Shenouda agreed that Pope Benedict XVI was right to condemn the Islamic terrorism in Iraq since Iraqi Christians are mostly Catholic. Since Dr. Ahmed Altayeb the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar stopped the religious dialogue with the Vatican upon Pope Benedict XVI's condemnation of the killing of Christians in the blow-up of the Saints church in Alexandria, the question was raised in the interview. Pope Shenouda III found Al-Azhar's decision objectively wrong since it does not solve the problems.
A quite beautiful homily that I watched in the past few days is the one uttered on Sunday January 26 by the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad in Egypt (here in French titled: "Eglise, quitte tes sacristies !"
). In his homily, Fr. Boulad reflects, with deep knowledge and challenge to his audience as always, upon the Gospel's reading (Matthew 4:12-23) - He said that, after Jesus accepted to be baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus still continued his challenge to Judea the sacred land of the Holy City Jerusalem in settling in Galilee of the Gentiles - province of the pagans since it was the road from Babylon to the Sea traversed by Pagans - It is far from Judea, above Samaria, already considered a region of heretics that thought the worship of God is not in Jerusalem but on Mount Gerizim. In Galilee Jesus called his first Apostles who would leave everything and follow him. "He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people." The very point that Fr. Boulad made clear to us is that Jesus challenged the authorities in choosing Galilee of the Gentiles where he called his first followers, proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom, and cured the sick! He also said that Jesuits of whom he is a member have a mandate to go to the frontiers in order to preach Jesus Christ to non-Christians offering them Christ without whom there could be no salvation. According to the constant teaching and tradition of the Church, "Christ gives us in the Eucharist the pledge of glory with him. Participation in the Holy Sacrifice identifies us with his Heart, sustains our strength along the pilgrimage of this life, makes us long for eternal life, and unites us even now to the Church in heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the saints." (CCC 1419).
In my reflection on Fr. Boulad's homily, I wrote to him
Dear Fr. Henri Boulad,
Your Sunday homily, so beautifully said, reminded me by what Bishop Barron and other Biblical scholars said:
"To read the Bible and understand it, start with the last book of the Bible" - That is the Book of Revelation. But first, here is an interpretation of the words "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." by Fr. George Montague: The earth was waste and void, darkness covered the abyss, and a mighty wind was blowing over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2). . . .Why do we find this mention of the wind—or “spirit” of God (as the Hebrew word is also translated)— before God spoke his creating words? We have to look at the verb used to describe the spirit’s action. Some translations use the word “blowing,” others “moving”; but I believe that the best translation is “hovering.” The spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The only other place where this verb is used is in Deuteronomy 32:11, where it describes a mother bird beating her wings over her little ones, encouraging them to fly. Unlike the Babylonian myth of creation, in which the chaos is an enemy to be conquered, this formless mess is to be loved and fostered into being. One of the earliest Jewish commentaries on this text, dating from New Testament times, interpreted it this way: “A spirit of love before the Lord was blowing (hovering) over the face of the waters.” This holy wind is not a part of the chaos, it is God’s motherly love conveying the promise of life, order, and beauty to what was of itself a mess. Because God’s spirit was hovering over it, chaos became promise. And so we recognize the relevance of this image for our own lives. At times we feel like our lives are a mess. There is no light, and we are floating about like a cork lost at sea. We try to fight it, to no avail. We try to flee, but there is no exit. What do we do? We fall on our knees and ask the Holy Spirit to hover over our mess, to embrace it lovingly and prepare it for the light of God’s word. If any of our chaotic depths surface, we then turn them over to the Lord. As the powerful but wordless Spirit of God prepared for God’s cosmic word, the Holy Spirit in our wordless prayer lovingly prepares our chaos for the word that will give shape and meaning to what made no sense before. The Spirit will show us how “God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). Now let us move to the Book of Revelation and see the connection of the last Book of the Bible to the first Book of the Bible...Bishop Robert Barron spoke about the Book of Revelation (You may wish to listen to it subtitled in English here). In it he identifies the two important tasks of Christians: The missionary work where, as you say. new frontiers are established with Christian evanglization to non-Christians and participating in the Mass (The Divine Liturgy). The New Jerusalem comes down full of light as the "Lamb of God" Christ and his Father are in the unity of the Holy Spirit on the eternal throne where thousands upon thousands will worship God. So who are the 144,000 ? They are the multitudes the 12 tribes of Israel multiplied by the 12 Apostles as the base of faith and love multiplied by 1000 which is the symbol of perfection.
Fr. Boulad replied to me in writing that the Book of Revelation is one of his favoured books in the Bible. He appreciates - among many other things - the role of the Spirit in transforming chaos into cosmos. "I would call it Redemption before redemption." He also appreciates Bishop Barron's quotation: "To read the Bible and understand it, start with the last book of the Bible" - That is the Book of Revelation.
My dear friends: Let us share reading Psalm 51: "
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." (Psalm 51).
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