On August 9, we had our class with Sr. Anne Catherine on the Assumption of Mary. It was interesting how she deepened the meaning of the assumption of Mary by simply making the connections to the other texts in the Bible as we saw Enoch (Gen 5: 24; Sir 44:16, 49, 14; Hebrew 11: 5; Jude 1: 14-15); as well as Elijah (2 King 2: 11-12; Sir 48:1-11), and perhaps according to the Jewish tradition, Moses, Aaron and Miriam did not died like any other human being but “in kiss of God”.

And then we continued with the reading of the day, in the book of Revelation 11: 19, the Ark of Covenant appeared in heaven. We can hear the passage when the Ark of Covenant was carried to Jerusalem by David (2 Samuel 6) and then, Mary carrying Jesus in her womb in the hills of Judea.

Mary and the Ark are linked. As the Ark is described as residing heaven, so too is the Mary described already residing in heaven with her body as the sign of the covenant fully accomplished. If Jesus is the first fruit of the resurrection, we can say that Mary is the first human being like us already assumed with her body in heaven (as in the second reading of the day). The human body created by God respected from the beginning of conception up to its resurrection.

I believed that this discussion had brought us to a certain understanding of the dogma and it is an invitation to continue searching and deepening our faith and keep this search alive and continue to grow in our faith because it always be beyond our understanding.

Maria NDS, Novice
Congregational Novitiate Ein Karem, Jerusalem