The beautiful feast of the Assumption celebrates the death, the entrance to heaven and the coronation of the Virgin Mary. The first Christians in the Holy Land quickly wanted to celebrate the last moments of the Mother of God, Mother of the Church, because in his Mother, Christ confirms his own victory over death. This certainty gave to the first Church, confidence in Mary’s intercession and in celebrating her, believers contemplated up until now their own destinies. The Church of the Dormition in Jerusalem, is a well-known destination for pilgrims. Located on Mount Sion, the church shows its semicircular apse remarkable for its simplicity and beauty. It is visible from many points of the city. In the center of the crypt of the church there is a sculpture of Mary “asleep” that reminds us that this land is not the final homeland and that death does not have the last word. We must seek Mary with the Risen Christ in the heart of the beautiful feast of the Assumption.
After the Ascension of Our Lord, Mary gathered with the apostles and some women, “aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers.” (1). Mary is a woman of Israel, a people who knew the call to pray before God. It is the call of the “eternal love” (2). In the Christian tradition, Mary personifies the “daughter of Zion” so closely identified with the people of Israel. Carmel in the Middle East follows this call today, to pray together before our Lord, as the Virgin Mary, the woman who following Christ is in prayer stand in solidarity with her people
The last letter of Pope Francis to the priests “to encourage and support them” (3) is a call of love and closeness, an invitation to become like a true and faithful answer in the bosom of the Church at this time. Pope Francis wanted to thank the priests who still today,in the call received, offer their lives to God and his people. The beautiful letter of the Pope also reminds the Mother of God, who “teaches us the praise capable of opening our sight to the future and to bring hope to the present” (4). As the Mother of God in the first Church, let us pray for the priests who give their lives to the Bride of Christ. As Discalced Carmelites we have the mission to pray especially for the holiness of the priests. United to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Church, let us pray together for priests all over the world. “May they be men who speak to God of men and speak to men of God” (5) and may they be a memorial of Christ alive forever.
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(1) Catechism of the Catholic Church 965: “After the Ascension of her Son, Mary attended with her prayers the nascent Church” (LG 69) ».
(2) “Israel … I love you with an eternal love; therefore, I preserve you My goodness, Jer 31: 3.
(3) Vatican News Editorial, Andrea Tornielli, 04 August 2019.
(4) Letter from Pope Francis to the priests, on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney, given in Rome on August 4th, 2019.
(5) “Prayer for the Priests” of Benedict XVI for the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests in 2008.
