Ephesus House The exterior view of the restored house, now serving as a chapel. |
Dear, Fr. Edward,
Thank you for Afterview to Assumption Vigil.
It is a long way from Iceland to” That was the
situation John knew as exiled to Patmos, being present at her Assumption. Probably
he alone was present then at Seljuk.”
The names of John and Seljuk and Patmos place the Dormition of
Mary - more securely than at least two places in Jerusalem.
How does Google Earth clarify the geography locations..
Your poem reaches beyond to the “above all
spiritual Creatures, she was populating the heavens with the rising wave of
heroic Chosen all divinized into its rest.
In Dno,
Donald
----- Forwarded Message
-----
From: edward ...
To: Donald ...
Sent: Friday, 17 August 2012, 22:55
Subject: Poem-homily for Vigil of the Assumption
From: edward ...
To: Donald ...
Sent: Friday, 17 August 2012, 22:55
Subject: Poem-homily for Vigil of the Assumption
Dear Donald,
This is a little speculative, but I hope that you will find it acceptable.
Could you give a copy to H...?
Thank you!
Blessings in Domino,
fr Edward O.P.
... Stykkishólmur, Iceland.
Assumption
Vigil – an Afterview
At
the beginning
with
Herod's menaces to the life of Jesus at Bethlehem,
Joseph
took Jesus and Mary by night to Egypt;
they
settled among Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.
At
her life's end, with John she was again on pagan soil:
taken
by John from Jerusalem to just outside Ephesus,
to
an outlying village of Seljuk,
their
house remains much repaired, a centre of pilgrimage.
Ephesus
itself had been a centre of pagan worship to their goddess Diana.
What
had brought John and Mary there to the Romanized province of Asia
is
not known.
There
must have been a personal link, Christian or Jewish:
probably
a Christian scholar, and converted through an earlier contact
perhaps
in Jerusalem.
They
must have lived in obscurity,
probably
known well only to a few as in Old Cairo.
Already
in the Apocalyptic vision John is reminded twenty years later
of
a Golden Age of the Ephesus church at the beginning
from
which it had fallen. and to which it must return through penance (Ap
2,6-7).
He
is also shown Mary's present place
begetting
the Church in travail and actual danger:
she
a compassionate viewer in her state of Assumption,
watching
from a desert alone on the earth, but “reigning” in Heaven.
She
was assumed there and the dragon expelled, cast down on the earth;
she
with the angelical hierarchies matching his power
in
a situation of conflict (ib 12,1-17)
That
was the situation John knew as exiled to Patmos,
being
present at her Assumption.
Probably
he alone was present then at Seljuk
observing
her Ascent so far and so long as it was possible:
the
single- and great-minded handmaid of the Lord
raised
to companionship with her Son;
he
saw body and soul disposing themselves to the call from Above
in
their final and complete transfer,
absorbed
and divinely fulfilled into the glory of
triumphant
spiritual labour where,
above
all spiritual Creatures,
she
was populating the heavens with the rising wave of heroic Chosen Ones
all
divinized into its rest.
Stykkishólmur
17 August 2012
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