I can imagine Mary being in union with the Trinity more than any other human being can ever be, the most perfect, most beautiful person ever created by God.
I can imagine her serving John and he serving her for the time they had together. One can only imagine the graces of the two humans loved by Christ more than any other people who ever walked the earth.
God blesses us in our friendships. He blesses some in their families. Some of us have "virtual friendships" for which we are extremely grateful.
Both my son and I have been told that our home is the Church. How interesting.
It is true. My primary relationships are my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Sometimes, I think of my dear saint, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who managed to get all his brothers, his one sister, and his father into monasteries. These relationships then became renewed, lifted up from the purely physical to the spiritual.
How wonderful, how amazing. One of my friends in Ireland who is now very old had several sisters and brothers who were priests and nuns. Can one imagine such a gift as sharing the life of Christ in the priesthood and in religious life with one's siblings?
I pray for my siblings, and I am sure many of you pray for those in your families who have fallen away. I pray we may share eternal life together, rejoicing in the Lord, rejoicing in being brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Mary needed John and John needed Mary. There mother-son relationship was raised above those of the world. St Augustine writes of the sublime mysteries he and his mother discussed. They, too, became brother and sister in the Lord. Mary stayed here until her death and her assumption, which we celebrate tomorrow.
The House at Loreto is Mary's house, but the one where she lived as a child and until the Ascension.
Ephesus means care and love, a little bit of the sharing of heaven on earth, to me. Perhaps, someday, like my acquaintance, I can go and stand at the Holy House.
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Virgin_Mary |