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 …

The class with Sr. Anne was about the Tisha be Ab. Tisha be Av is a memory of the destruction of the First and Second Temple. According to the tradition, on the Ninth of Av, it was already decreed upon our ancestors that they would not be allowed to enter the Land of Israel. Therefore, it is a commandment to mourn on Jerusalem starting with three weeks from the 17th of Tammuz. We can read the destruction of the First Temple in 2 King 25 and Jeremiah 52: 12-27. Looking at the provided texts and commentaries by Sr. Anne, there are some reason why the Jewish people have to mourn. The First Temple was destroyed for three sins of Israel: idolatry immorality and bloodshed. On the other hand, when the Second Temple was destroyed, Israel was already occupied with studying the Torah and practicing the commandment and good deeds. So, why in spite of that the temple was destroyed? Because there was hate without motivation and nobody challenged anybody. Some people say, the evil tongue …