Feast of the Assumption

Yesterday was the feast of the Assumption, a very special day for me for a number of reasons. My special devotion to the Assumption started in high school, when my family went on a cruise in Europe. One of the stops was the ancient city of Ephesus in present-day Turkey, to whom the Letter to the Ephesians was addressed in the New Testament. Up on a mountain overlooking the ruins of the city is a house, thought to be the place where St. John the Evangelist took the Blessed Mother to after the Cruicifixion to live out the rest of her days on earth. It was one of my first encounters with Mary, to see the place where she lived. It was so immensely peaceful up on that mountain, surrounded by trees and silence. Inside the house, which has been restored on top of the original foundation, is an altar and a room filled with crutches, canes, and special support shoes. These have all been left behind by cripples who have come to the house and left healed, due to Mary's intercession. Most of them had bathed in the water of a spring next to the house, and the water is said to have healing graces much like Lourdes water. We took a water bottle full of this water home with us (thankfully it was two days before the airlines started having liquid restrictions on the plane!) and I've blessed people with it in Haiti, in Steubenville, and here in CT with my own family.

My special link to the Assumption deepened when I decided to do St. Louis de Montfort's consecration to Mary. Without knowing it at first I chose August 15th, the feast of the Assumption, as my consecration date. It was so awesome to be able to consecrate myself to Mary on a feast day that I had a connection with. I then found out that the Assumption is also a huge day in Durverger, the village in Haiti where the orphanage is. The chapel in the village is named Our Lady of the Assumption, and they have a huge feast celebration there every August 15th. It was such a confirmation for me, that my vocation in life is intertwined with Haiti with Mary as the binding force.

Our Lady of the Assumption, pray for us!