The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Solemnity

Luke 1:48-49

All generations will call me blessed,

for he who is mighty has done great things for me.

The Greek root of the word Dogma attests to the original spirit of its meaning.  The Assumption was a kind of no-brainer, a given, clearly something the faithful just knew for centuries.  The Greek root means, what seems good, fitting, becoming.  Perhaps if the synonym, beauty, had been chosen the meaning wouldn't have been so obscured. 

“What do you think about the beauty of Mary?”

Would gallons of ink have spilled debating the wholeness of her beauty?

I have an icon of the Dormition of Mary…the Eastern Church’s title.  As an Icon, it teaches, reminds, and invites.  It teaches and reminds and invites me into a promise.  The promises made real in Mary are open to all disciples.  It is a question, I suppose, of if and when. Today, as I pass by that icon I will touch her beauty and in doing so call myself to more careful imitation.

As Mary was on earth, the generous and constant disciple of her son, so she is in heaven.  Isn't it a simple and logical conclusion to her vocation on earth?  She leads the may.  For this disciple, it is not only good and fitting, but BEAUTIFUL!

Beautiful Mary, Pray for me.

“Dogma is an instrument for penetrating reality.  Christian dogma is about the only thing left in the world that surely grounds and respects mystery”   ---Flannery O’Connor