This past Tuesday, August 15, was the feast day of the Assumption of Mary, so I made my way down the long, steep slope to the river, the south branch of the Roseau River. It's been a dry summer and the river here south of Wannaska is just a series of interconnected pools.
I needed to get into the water to get a blessing for health for the coming year. The story is that when Mary was assumed into Heaven body and soul, her tears fell into the ocean and made it salty. The approved blessing is received by getting your feet into the ocean or any body of salt water. I asked a priest if a lake or river that was connected to the ocean would count. The priest supposed this was an East Coast blessing because he had never heard of it. In his opinion any body of water connected to the ocean was valid.
Some Protestants have a problem with all of this. They believe Mary is biblical, but they think Catholics go way too far with their regard for her. They wonder where Catholics get the notion Mary didn't have to die, but was assumed straight into heaven. Catholics will answer that as the mother of Jesus, Mary can be assumed to have been without sin, therefore she did not need to suffer death like the rest of us sinners. And besides, we've been celebrating her assumption since the fourth century. Tradition.
The Bible says nothing about Mary being conceived without sin say Protestants. Catholics answer that it's just common sense that the mother of God would have been born without Original Sin. This belief has only been celebrated since the fifth century, but it's still a good old tradition.
One other thing non-Catholics have a problem with is the infallibility of the pope. I won't go into the technical details of this dogma. But the pope has only invoked this infallibility twice in the history of the church; first regarding the immaculate conception of Mary and the second time, affirming that Mary was assumed into heaven body and soul. Catholics are required to believe these two dogmas. They can take or leave the water blessing as they please. I'm taking it.
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| The Colorado River dries up in the desert. Blessing? Better ask a priest. |
How come we've never discussed this even once on any of our once-a-month Bott'l Runs to Tuff Rubber Balls? You're such a wildly multifaceted person, I'd think you'd just be bubbling over with this pertinent information, but maybe it was just further down the list than all that other stuff. Thanks for this anyway, you're always so surprising.
ReplyDeleteI presume you have ablutively assumpt under the loving downcast gazes of she who has been assumptened and the Assumer Almighty. You didn't confirm that you found an assumptable spot in the Roseau River, so just wondering...
ReplyDeleteThe waters looked insalubrious, but I did take a few drops make a quick sign of the cross in the green cathedral.
DeleteI haven't stared too long into those two dogmas - what I like about your search for water on the 15th, though, is the way it speaks to the sacramentality of all life that we Catholics espouse - the immanence of God's presence in our human experience. In the 90s, my Chi Gong master amplified that same notion of the through, with, in nature of Chi everywhere, everywhere. He'd agree with your priest, in every type of water. Good health to us all!
ReplyDelete