On Saturday, August 15, churches celebrate Mary, the mother of Jesus. The day has many titles: The Assumption, the Dormition, the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary… In some places the feast is regarded as so special that it is moved to Sunday (or, one might argue, it is not regarded as special enough, and there’s a fear that not enough will turn up to celebrate the feast on a Saturday…)
There are some resources here: The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary mother of Jesus, and Mary Consoles Eve.
I am also conscious, as one of the founding Associates of NZ’s only Cistercian Monastery, Kopua, that on Saturday Br John Pettit will be ordained priest and installed as the superior of the community. Please join me in prayer for that and for the community, its life, mission, ministry, and all associated.
The image, above, is that of The Southern Madonna, by Julia Lynch (Sister Mary Lawrence of the Trinity RSM). It hangs in the church at Southern Star Abbey, Kopua.
A regular here recently sent me a reflection by Protestants in a Coptic Orthodox context as they reflected on the place of Mary as the community prepared for this feast. [I was taken aback that they thought these Orthodox would re-baptise them. Unless they are clear that they have not been validly baptised, re-baptism, surely would be regarded as sacrilege – and Orthodox would share a similar understanding?]
What resources, thoughts, reflections can you add to enrich the lives of those who gather around this site? Please add them in the comments.
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Thanks Bosco. I find myself unexpectedly preaching this Sunday at one of the St Mary’s in our Diocese …
Blessings as you prepare for that, Peter.
The recognition of baptisms by non-Orthodox Christian communities is a matter of debate within the Orthodox Church.
http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/reception_of_converts.htm
Thanks, Paul. Or that article could be read as it being a matter not open for debate 🙂 I was rather surprised, in the list in that article, to see how widely they accepted baptism by non-Orthodox. It was also noticeable how they referred to non-Orthodox as “churches”. Blessings.
Dear Bosco, as a devotee of the BVM (“ALL generations will call me Blessed” – Gospel of Luke); I joined others in the parish of Saint Michael and All Angels, here in Christchurch, on Sunday, 16 August, to celebrate the life and witness of Christ’s Mother within the context of the Mass. Fr. Andrew’s sermon was an excellent note on the relevance of this remarkable woman to the basic doctrinal belief in the Incarnation of Jesus as the Son of God and Mary.
As the touchstone of God’s relationship to us in Christ, I have no problem in celebrating Mary’s part in the epic story of God’s newly-wrought relationship with humanity.
And, if Elijah was found good enough to be whisked up to heaven in a whirlwind; I find it difficult to understand why the mother of Christ should not receive the same, or similar ‘special’ treatment. But that’s my opinion, not stated as an ‘Article of Faith’ in the sacred 39 revered by protestants.!