A pilgrim's reflection on the feast of the Assumption

Pilgrims to the House of Mary write petitions on strips of paper and tie them in knots to the Meryemana Wishing Wall at the front of the house.

by Patrick Whelan | Aug. 15, 2016

Ephesus, Turkey -- Since at least the fourth century, August 15 has been commemorated in Catholic churches as the Feast of the Assumption, in the belief that the Virgin May was bodily "assumed" into heaven at her death. In the 1950s, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption as dogma, one of the few times papal infallibility has ever been invoked.

The ancient feast is known as the Dormition of the Theotokos, or the Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary among the Eastern and Orthodox churches, and in many countries, like the war-torn Syria, it is a national holiday.

On a recent trip to Ephesus to visit the low stone house revered by local custom as the home of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I found the pilgrim road eerily quiet as I reflected on the violence sweeping the Middle East. In the wake of the recent coup attempt in Ankara, heavily armed Turkish soldiers stood watch at the gate as pilgrims and tourists strolled past four fountains to the door of the house. Empty souvenir shops lining the roads nearby were a testament to the fearfulness of foreign visitors who just a year ago waited more than an hour to pay their respects in a place once visited by Pope Paul VI (1967), St. John Paul II (1979), and Pope Benedict XVI (2006).

According to the Acts of the Apostles, many of Jesus' disciples scattered abroad after the Roman Emperor Caligula visited Jerusalem and King Herod Agrippa beheaded John's brother James in 44 c.e., making him the first apostle to be martyred. The writings of Justin Martyr, and the apocryphal Acts of John, indicate that John traveled to Ephesus on the southwest coast of Asia Minor and began a ministry of conversion there. Because of the account in John's Gospel about Jesus' commending his mother to John's care, tradition holds that John took her with him to Ephesus.

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