"According to legend, all the apostles came and gathered around Mary’s deathbed when they heard that she was ill. When that’s possible, this is what we should do for the dying. Nobody should die entirely alone. (This is one of the tragedies sometimes played out in hospitals and nursing homes when nurses are overworked and family members do not show up.)"
While each one of us dies alone in one sense, the presence of Christ in the persons of his body, the church, is vastly comforting. One of my great regrets in life is that I was not present at the death of my first spouse. I have gained some consolation in the knowledge that in her death she was surrounded by the great "cloud of witnesses." And even more comforting in is the knowledge that Christ himself was present to and for her. The tradition and iconic representation of the gathered apostles at the dormition is only surpassed by the image of Christ embracing the swaddled Mary just as she embraced him at the nativity.
You are my introduction iconography, I’m glad David Heart recommend you. I’ll have to say I have been pleasantly surprised as I have never considered the value of such a thing before. I’m sure my fundamentalist upbringing didn’t help as most anything Catholic including it’s icons were held as negatives and I suppose the icons of the churches even idolatrous. So thank you it is a valuable historical lesson and a spiritually uplifting endeavor.
"According to legend, all the apostles came and gathered around Mary’s deathbed when they heard that she was ill. When that’s possible, this is what we should do for the dying. Nobody should die entirely alone. (This is one of the tragedies sometimes played out in hospitals and nursing homes when nurses are overworked and family members do not show up.)"
While each one of us dies alone in one sense, the presence of Christ in the persons of his body, the church, is vastly comforting. One of my great regrets in life is that I was not present at the death of my first spouse. I have gained some consolation in the knowledge that in her death she was surrounded by the great "cloud of witnesses." And even more comforting in is the knowledge that Christ himself was present to and for her. The tradition and iconic representation of the gathered apostles at the dormition is only surpassed by the image of Christ embracing the swaddled Mary just as she embraced him at the nativity.
Thank you for this meditation.
You are my introduction iconography, I’m glad David Heart recommend you. I’ll have to say I have been pleasantly surprised as I have never considered the value of such a thing before. I’m sure my fundamentalist upbringing didn’t help as most anything Catholic including it’s icons were held as negatives and I suppose the icons of the churches even idolatrous. So thank you it is a valuable historical lesson and a spiritually uplifting endeavor.