
Church of the Dormition in Jerusalem, where Mary was assumed into heaven.
As we celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I’m taken back to my time in the Holy Land, and especially to my visit to the Church of the Dormition in Jerusalem. The church has traditionally marked the place at which Mary “went to sleep” and was then assumed, body and soul, into heaven.
I remember the exceptional peacefulness of the site, in particular the lower church in which there’s a life-size statue of the Blessed Mother as she may have looked at her falling into sleep, or dormition. Kneelers surround the statue, and as I knelt there, I could sense the sadness of the (more…)