Monday, August 15, 2011

The Assumption

A detail from The Assumption of the Virgin by Antonia da Corregio 1530
UPDATE: I had some qualms about posting this particular Merton quote. It's veering a little more into the dogmatic and pious (cataphatic) than I am comfortable with on louie.  But there was something of the incarnational about this particular quote that included Mary (and women).  That seemed important to include.

Women (and Mary) figure predominately in Merton's inner workings.

That God should assume Mary into heaven is not just a glorification of a "Mother Goddess." Quite the contrary, it is the expression of the divine love for humanity, and a very special manifestation of God's respect for God's creatures, God's desire to do honor to the beings made in God's own image, and most particularly God's respect for the body which was destined to be the temple of God's glory. If Mary is believed to be assumed into heaven, it is because we too are one day, by the grace of God, to dwell where she is. If human nature is glorified in her, it is because God desires it to be glorified in us too, and it is for this reason that the Son, taking flesh, came into the world.

In all the great mystery of Mary, then, one thing remains most clear: that of herself she is nothing, and that God has for our sakes delighted to manifest God's glory and God's love in her.
- from New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton

HT: barefoot toward the light

5 comments:

  1. Beth - thank you for this post. Fr. Louis' words are so true.

    There has been so much grace poured out on to me this week..I was privileged to serve as deacon at the evening Mass for the Feast of the Assumption - and - my wife and I found out that we will be grandparents!

    God bless!

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  2. i must differ with tom on the "quite the contrary" but he was writing years ago when the word "pagan" meant something other than what it does today

    my wife, for example, finds the goddess to be the "expression of the divine love for humanity" -

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  3. You know, wurst, I had some qualms about posting this particular Merton quote. It's veering a little more into the dogmatic and pious (cataphatic) than I am comfortable with on louie.

    But there was also something of the incarnational about it, that included Mary (and women), and that seemed important.

    Women (and Mary) figure predominately in Merton's inner workings, but you can't put it in a box.

    I personally tend to move away from putting any "gender" on "God", but do agree that both male and female are part of the picture.

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  4. yes, i think he's making an assumption

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