Poem-homily for Vigil of the Assumption. Fr. Edward, Iceland

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

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