Honoring Mary in her Assumption

HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION - THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY

On our last day in Israel (Day 9), we visited Dormition Abbey.

Basilica of the Dormition, Jerusalem, Israel

This is where Mary fell asleep.

When we entered the upper church, we were in a huge room with 3-4 story ceiling.  The entire church is loaded with symbolism!

Inside the Basilica of the Dormition

Every step I took was over a huge mosaic of the zodiac, which surprised/shocked me at first.  Guess I've been living in the protestant bible belt too long!  LOL!  But that's another story for another time.  The brochure says the floor is designed to show God's love for us.

Mosaic floor in the Basilica's ground floor

The main altar was a dome filled with a gorgeous gold mosaic of the Virgin Mary holding Baby Jesus.

Surrounding the room were 6 smaller altars, each one domed and most dominated by a lovely mosaic.

Each one was just gorgeous!  Think of all the work and love that went into placing each tile to honor our Lord!  It was spectacular!

Several of them also had these beautiful copper plates below them, I wonder if some of them were tabernacles?  Not sure.

Next we proceeded down a circular staircase into the crypt.  We entered another large, circular room with a gazebo-type structure in the middle which held a sarcophagus-looking statue of Mary looking like she was asleep.  It looked like she was lying in state.

The outside of the low wall had a kneeler around it and entire area was surrounded by praying pilgrims.  There were prayer candles and a giant single vase of white lilies.

Mary's hands were folded over her heart and the artist had captured a very restful and peaceful look on her face with the slightest hint of a Mona Lisa smile.

I knelt for a moment and although I don't remember what my prayers were, I hope I said a word of thanksgiving to Our Lady for leading me back to my faith.  Her intercession to me was like a nuclear blast to the luke-warm Catholic I was at the time, and I will always be indebted to her for waking me up and setting my heart on fire for the Lord.

I did light a candle for my own prayer intentions.  I love doing that.  I know it might seem silly to some, but I like doing something tangible and thinking of my prayer rising to heaven with the invisible heat.

As I then wandered around the Crypt, I saw that there were multiple small domed altars surrounding this room also.  Again, they were just beautiful.

I was here that I came across my most favorite artwork of Mary & Elizabeth embracing, which I call the Mystery Painting of Dormition Abbey.

The brochure states "The first two altars on the northern wall have no particular design so far -".   I guess that is a matter of opinion!

I have always had a special love for Mary (but then again, don't we all?).

My first name is Kathleen, which does not have a patron saint at all, so I have always claimed St. Catherine Labouré as my own, who received the Miraculous Medal from Our Lady.  My middle name is Marie, a derivative of Mary.  And to top it all off, as a 5th grader making my Confirmation (don't even get me started about how I don't agree with that young age!), I took the name Bernadette and made her my patron after watching the movie Song of Bernadette.   Additionally, I made my First Holy Communion at St. Mary's Catholic School, another indication in my young mind that I was a special child of Our Lady.  I have never doubted that she was my mother or considered any other possibility other than I had a special connection to her.  To this day I still have the little plastic statue of Our Lacy of Peace which I won in 3rd grade for reciting the Hail Mary for Sister Bernadette beside my bed.

Don't be alarmed at Mary's burnt face, that is just the result of my 12-year-old-self burning incense to honor Mary at my small bedroom altar.  (really just the statue on top of the beautiful, shiny, jet-black Japanese jewelry box with beautiful inlay my parents gave me when I was in 4th grade, which I have passed on to one of my kids).

Mary always stood on top, with a little vase of flowers now and then, and when incense got so popular in the early 70's I did enjoy choosing the various "flavors" and burning it at my little altar.  I obviously didn't have a proper holder, and standing the little stick up in a bottle didn't work since it fell over and burned poor Mary's face.  After that I started buying the cone-shaped kind!  Haha!  She has stood in my bedroom ever since I won her in 3rd grade.

Nowadays my little statue is still in my bedroom, but my little altar has grown just a little from the days of standing on a jewelry box (and looks a bit busy!).  I'm sure Mary is much happier now to be in her rightful place beside her son and not in the center any longer.  You can always count of Mary to humbly stand at any crossroads in your life and point the way to her son.

As I walked around the crypt it didn't really sink in that this was the place that Mary left this Earth. God had to take her, body and soul, as she was the most blessed vessel by which his son had entered into this world.  It would have been disrespectful to allow her boy to be corrupt.  And so she is the first of us to be in heaven as we all will be one day.  She is fully there in every way.  It is a wonderful gift that God allows her to appear and give us messages of hope and love for humankind.  And it is a true miracle that he allowed her to send a sign (wake-up!) directly to me!

I found this beautiful artwork on the internet and thought it was just wonderful and reminded me so much of the Crypt of the Basilica of the Dormition!

 

Oh Mary, Mother of God, how we honor you today!  How we love you and want to be like you!  Please  continue to pray for us and guide us each and every day!

2012 Pilgrimage to Israel - Day 9