My Aunt

My Aunt went home to Jesus on 17 August, the 'Leave-taking of the Feast of the Dormition and Assumption of Mary the Theotokos'. The Lord seems to have seen fit to bless my family with many many days dedicated to Mary (and other saints) as significant dates in our lives ... birthdates to earthly life, birthdates to eternal life, anniversaries, and others. Even my own life as a hermit brother has its Mary connexion. I am living under the Rule of St. Albert followed by the Carmelites who are dedicated to Jesus under the maternal care of his mom Mary under the title of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. St. Albert of Jerusalem wrote the Rule for the hermits "who lived by the spring on Mount Carmel" in what is present day Israel.

Oddly enough I was never really a "Mary guy" at all until I asked the Holy Spirit to show me where and if Mary should have any role in my spiritual life. Gradually the Lord revealed to me the role of maternal care that Mary can have in our life's journey if we need or want her support in Jesus. As an old priest friend of mine told me some years ago, "There is no competition between Jesus and Mary". Jesus is God and He is the one who gave her to us to "take into our home" as he hung upon the Cross. She has a ministry of helping us to know God's Love. Remember at the wedding in Cana, she told the servants there and she tell us too today, "do whatever He tells you."