Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

We begin this month with the Dormition Fast, in preparation for the celebration of the Great Feast of the Dormition (Falling Asleep) of the Most Blessed Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.  Through this feast, the Church joyfully expresses its veneration of the Virgin Mother of God and her role in the history of our salvation. The Church does this through its celebration of the Divine Liturgy and also with thousands of different forms of piety, including the blessing of flowers. As we honor this feast, we recall that the prophecy of Mary continues to be fulfilled: “all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). Because the Lord has raised his humble handmaiden and, through the millennia, those who have followed her Divine Son have recognized her as the Mother of all the Faithful.  

The Falling Asleep of the Most Blessed Theotokos and her Assumption into heaven, in body and soul, is a divine privilege accorded to the Holy Mother of God for her particular union with Jesus. It is a special bond and union which began with the Annunciation and matured throughout Mary’s life through her unique participation in the saving mystery of her Son. Mary always went with her Son: she followed Jesus and thus we say she was the first and foremost disciple.

To most of those who knew her, the life of Mary unfolded like that of an ordinary woman of her time, unrecognized as the Mother of the Savior.  In her home in Nazareth, she prayed, managed her family and home, visited with her family and neighbors, and attended the synagogue services.  However, every daily action she performed was always done in total union with her Divine Son. And on Calvary this special union culminated in love, in compassion, in heartache, and in faith as she stood faithfully and watched her Son shed His blood and give His life for “the life of the world.” For this reason God also gave her full participation in Jesus’ Resurrection. The body of the Blessed Mother was preserved from corruption, like that of the Son.

The wondrous reality of the Dormition of the Theotokos reveals and confirms the unity of the human person and reminds us that we are called to serve and glorify God with our whole being, both soul and body. To serve God with the body alone would be the action of slaves; to serve him with the soul alone would be counter to our human nature. Around the year 220 AD, a great Father of the Church, Saint Irenaeus, stated that “the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God” (Against Heresies, iv, 20, 7). If we live this way, in joyful service to God, which is also expressed in generous service to our brothers and sisters, then on the day of the resurrection our fate will be like that of our heavenly Mother. We must therefore fully dedicate ourselves to accomplishing the exhortation of the Apostle Paul: “glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20), and we shall forever glorify him in heaven.

Let us pray that the Most Holy Theotokos, through her maternal intercession, may help us live our daily journey in the earnest hope of being able to reach her one day, with all the Saints in the Kingdom of Heaven.

With love in the Lord,

+Bishop Daniel