With the Great Feast Assumption of Our Lady looming up on Thursday our thoughts naturally turn to this great mystery. A long time ago when I was praying this mystery in the rosary it suddenly hit my that Mary went up in bodily form into heaven. This may seem very obvious but I think we Catholics often don't give enough importance to the body in prayer and its physical effects on our life. We think of the spirit and of souls but very, very rarely of prayers wonderful effects on the physical. Sometimes when I am thinking of the miracles and lives of the saints I am tempted to think of phenomena surrounding them as subjective, but then along come physical evidence..such as the incredible cures at Lourdes...and I am reminded, no it is not all in the mind these things are really happening. St Phillip Neri for instance very,very often talked up a his heart being on fire with love. After his death they did an autopsy which showed his ribs displaced and his heart actually pierced. Which is why in representations of St Phillip you often see a heart on fire. St Joseph of Cupertino , the flying monk, innumerable independent witnesses saw him levitate and levitate to great heights.So he wasn't just getting the 'feeling' of being lighter he was actually taking off. http://www.miraclesofthesaints.com/2010/10/levitation-and-ecstatic-flights-in.html'Certainly the most prominent witnesses to the Saint's levitations was Pope Urban VIII. During the Saint's first stay in Rome he went with the Father General to visit the Pope. While bending over the feet of the Pontiff the Saint became enraptured and rose in the air until the Father General commanded that he return. The Pope marveled at the phenomenon and told the Father General that he himself would bear witness to the occurrence should the Saint die during his pontificate. To satisfy the curiosity of the Spanish Ambassador to the Papal Court and his wife who went to Assisi on purpose to see St. Joseph, the Saint was told by Fr. Custos to go into the church and visit Our Lady's statue. Upon entering the church he looked toward the statue of the Immaculate Conception on an altar, and flew over the heads of those present, and remained in the air at the feet of the statue. After a few moments he flew back and then retired to his cell."'
What a great feast day , we as catholics have here, what a powerful mystery of the rosary this mystery is. My life, my hope, and my sweetness, pray for me oh Holy Mother of God, that I may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. I pray for all members of this forum, and all my loved ones, that Our Lady will give them this grace of a happy death, taken to heaven in her loving arms. Amen!
I was at early mass yesterday and it was crowded for the Feast. One thing I noticed was the great joy in the Church. Everyone seemed so happy. It seems to me that the joy in heaven is reflected on Earth and we all take fire from it. I notice this right from the vigil the evening before right on through. he Feast I notice this most on is Christmas. Especially on Christmas Eve. Its as though I just want to keep right on laughing. There was a beautiful description of the Assumption from the German mystic Blessed Catherine Emmerich posted on Spirit Daily; have you seen it? http://www.spiritdaily.com/emmerichmarylife1.htm#Emmerichsee I was thinking of how Mary died of the fire of love. Also of my own mothers death. She was dying of cancer and unable to speak. I had had an accident and my arm was in a sling. My mother, though she could not speak or hardly move actually rose of the bed the bed slightly when she saw this , her face full of concern. My sister noticed this and was startled as my mother had hardly moved for days. She asked me what was happening and I explained. While dying she had been deeply moved by concern for one of her children, both our eyes filled with tears. When we shared this with my other sisters and brothers they cried too. In a sense too my mother was dying of love, in love as all good Christians do. As Mary did. Could there be any better death? Mary went through the doorway of death as we all must . As we do so may we all of us be raised up in love from the grave.
Funny you should say this, towards the end of the Mass yesterday evening I realised I was bubbling with joy. I guessed it must be a wee present from our Blessed Mother You mention Catherine Emmerich's vision of the Assumption - in her vision, she sees Our Blessed Mother's soul separated from her body - death, in other words. Oddly enough, Bernard Gallagher's blog this week contains a statement from the early days of Medjugorje in which it's claimed Our Lady says she went to Heaven before death. http://www.crownofstars.blogspot.ie/2013/08/living-heaven-on-earth.html Who knows? Thankyou for that lovely video of Mary's house. I'd love to visit that some day. Funny enough, that cruise ship at the beginning - Costa Magica - I spotted that last Sunday as we drove out of Dubrovnik.
Its a little bit of a downer leaving Medugorje or any Marian Pilgrimage site. Its like leaving heaven and coming back to Earth with a huge bump. I remember driving back to the airport and seeing some kids drinking on the city streets and feeling low, low, low. Wishing I was back. Then I prayed to our Lady and she explained it was now my job to create Medugorje in my heart and all around me. This gave me such hope. It is like the priet at the end of mass who sends us out after mass with the words, 'God forth and proclaim the Gospel with your lives!' ...and I just think to myself, 'Well alright then, I will', and am so happy..
