The Mystery of our God

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

The Catholic Church holds that there are two main sources for Divine Revelation: Sacred Scripture & Tradition. Have you ever wondered where some of those beliefs come from that are not in Scripture? The answer, of course, is in many and varied ways. That is why we have the magisterium, the teaching arm of The Church, as well as theological experts who sort all of this out to try and decide what is true Revelation. But it is interesting to discover how some of these concepts first come to light. One such interesting story gave rise to “The Feast of The Assumption of Mary,” which we celebrated last Sunday.

The story goes that during the Crusades some pilgrims came upon a church. They translated the name of the church as, “The Place Where Mary Slept,” which they understood to mean “The Place Where Mary Died.” And so, they immediately organized a dig. They dug and they dug, however, they never found any bones! And so, they drew the conclusion that Mary’s body must have been assumed into heaven. Seems only logical... right? Unfortunately, what they did not know was that the church was originally built by Greeks, and the word they were translating as “slept,” which to them was understood to mean, “the sleep of death,” was in reality a Greek word that was understood to mean, “to slumber,” or “to take a nap.” — Apparently, there was an ancient story told by the locals that as Joseph and Mary made their way to Bethlehem for the census, this was the place where they stopped so pregnant Mary could “rest” for a while.

Now don’t go writing any letters! I am not telling you this story to discredit The Assumption of Mary. I tell you this to show you that even through mistakes we can still learn. The archeologists may have been looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place, but it nevertheless gave rise to an idea. And over the centuries that idea germinated and took root in the hearts and minds of the faithful. Until, in 1950, when it was such a widely held belief, Pope Pius not only made it an official teaching of The Church and gave it its own Feast Day, he made it the second of two “infallible” teachings of The Church.

I share this story to remind us that our God truly is everywhere, and our Lord can choose the most unlikely of times and circumstances to Reveal God’s Self to us. It is also why our Lord told us that we must be “childlike.” We must posses that same awe and wonder of children. We must open ourselves to the possibilities and to truly see God all around us. For who knows when you might discover, even accidentally, some truth about God; where or when you might gain some insight into The Mystery of our God.

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick