The weeks of summer fly past. Trips, training, gardening, canning and cooking consume every moment. There is a seeming lull in the liturgical year, as if all energy was expended throughout the marathon of Lent and the Apostles Fast, and we collapsed into exhausted celebration with the feasts of Ascension, Pentecost and the Apostles. Life seems to pull at us - with fewer added services, life in our home takes on an agrarian rhythm. Everything builds around the harvest, whether from our own garden, or the weekly CSA box, or the Farmer's Market, I spend much of my time considering what foods must be frozen, canned or cooked. Enjoying parties with family and friends, breathing deeply the humid air, a feeling of indolence and joy at letting go of a few responsibilities. I suppose that is the way the end of the year should feel - hot, heavy, with thoughts turning to the next year...school plans...the liturgical gauntlet of September with its many services. So it is good to have a sobering time. A time to call ourselves back from the carefree days of July, to ease us back. 
For that, the church offers the Dormition. We end the church cycle as we begin it, with she who was permitted to hold God both within her and in her arms. So many names......... she is the ladder of Jacob..... the burning bush of Moses....the cloud of glory which contained our Lord. She is the ark, the tabernacle - holier than the Holies. She gave birth to the light which illumines the world, and the stone cut from a mountain by no human hand. She is the gate that shall ever remain shut - for the Lord, the God of Israel has entered by it. She is the very temple veil she stitched, and the golden urn which carried the Manna. She is the rod of Aaron, which sprouted the Flower of Immortality, and who gave birth to the Rod of Jesse. She is the holy altar who bore the bread of life, the branch of the unwithering vine, and her prayers are the sweetest of incense to her Son. As we enter the season of the dormition, may we remember the most holy Theotokos, and beseech her prayers on our behalf - for what better mouth to voice our needs to the ear of the Son of God............. than those of his Mother.
3 comments:
This is just lovely and I needed the inspiration. We'll be travelling during the Dormition fast.
BTW, I found the candle holders here:
http://thewoodenwagon.com/woodentoy/birthday-ring/BRSH210.html
This is such a beautiful reminder! Thanks so much for posting!
God bless all you do!
I read about the cookbook – I think I remember the post it was being given away on - but I don't cook. And I liked the next post down – but it was a quote – and not your words. But what you wrote about remembering the the Mother of Our Lord (and for some reason - maybe because I have so much admiration for mamas like you - I felt like calling her "the mama of God". WHat you wrote? Wow! I'm not a Catholic – I think I told you that. I was once a Roman Catholic – but only upon meeting an Orthodox priest a year or so ago - and chatting with the people at the church – and going to a few services – and speaking to a visiting Bishop – did I get Orthodoxy. I so appreciate the Orthodox faith. I so appreciate the season that you are entering into. God bless you Anna – God bless you and all of yours.
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