The Assumption/Dormition: Mystery of Mary, Meaning of Life

Catholic Online ^ | 8/15/09 | Deacon Keith Fournier

[tcg]

...The “Fiat” is more than a prayer and the “Magnificat” more than a hymn of praise. Together they constitute a lesson book, a guide, for our own lives. This lesson book is desperately needed by Christians, indeed all people of good will, in an age characterized by pride and arrogance.

The pattern of the life of Mary, the first disciple of the Lord, reveals a trajectory of surrendered love. If we embrace the mystery of Mary, we will find the meaning of our own lives. We were created out of Love, in Love and for Love. As the beloved disciple John, who stood with her at the Tree of the Cross, reminds us in his first letter, “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 Jn 4:16)

Mary said "Yes" to the invitation to participate in the communion of God’s love. She confronted her own fears and entered into a new way of living; so must we. Christians use the word “mystery” in a manner quite different than the contemporary west perceives the word. Christian “mysteries” are not puzzles to be solved, but gifts to be received, in faith.

The Greek word “mysterion” (later translated “sacramentum” in Latin) is the word used for the Sacraments in the Eastern Church. They are “mysteries” of our faith. It is in that light that Mary is viewed as a “mystery”; she reveals the very heart of that faith. She also teaches us the meaning of our own lives. Like her, we are invited into communion with the Trinitarian God, in and through Jesus Christ.She shows us the way....

[tcg]

'What came about in bodily form in Mary, the fullness of the godhead shining through Christ in the Blessed Virgin, takes place in a similar way in every soul' (Gregory of Nyssa)

[Iscool]

'What came about in bodily form in Mary, the fullness of the godhead shining through Christ in the Blessed Virgin, takes place in a similar way in every soul' (Gregory of Nyssa)

Greg is mistaken...The fullness of the Godhead shining thru Jesus Christ does not take place in every soul...Only the Christian soul...Perhaps Greg only mis-spoke...

[Kolokotronis]

From the Divinbe Liturgy of +John Chrysostomos, appropriately right after the consecration and chanted by the People of God: "Ἄξιόν ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς μακαρίζειν σε τὴν Θεοτόκον, τὴν ἀειμακάριστον καὶ παναμώμητον καὶ μητέρα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν. Τὴν τιμιωτέραν τῶν Χερουβεὶμ καὶ ἐνδοξοτέραν ἀσυγκρίτως τῶν Σεραφείμ· τὴν ἀδιαφθόρως Θεὸν Λόγον τεκοῦσαν, τὴν ὄντως Θεοτόκον, σὲ μεγαλύνομεν." "It is truly right to bless you, Theotokos, ever blessed, most pure, and mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, without corruption you gave birth to God the Word. We magnify you, the true Theotokos."