Friday, August 14, 2020

Exploring "Dormition"

Alphonsine Mumureke [1] was one of the seers of the apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda.  She went on a "mystical journey", a "phenomenon [that occurred] on March 20 and 21, 1982." [2]  Quoted below is from michaeljournal.org  [3]:

She inform[ed] the Sister directress and her classmates in advance: “I will look dead, but don't be afraid; don't bury me!” The journey last[ed] eighteen hours. Priests, nurses, religious, the medical assistant of the Red Cross, all [could] see Alphonsine plunged into a deep sleep, her body straight and very heavy. They [could not] lift her nor separate her hands that [were] joined. During this journey, the Blessed Virgin show[ed] her Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. [Italicized and bold emphases original.]

This phenomenon sounds like a "dormition" that perhaps the Blessed Virgin Mary had similarly experienced before Her Assumption into Heaven.  Could this explain why "[n]othing is said in the Bible about the end of [the Blessed Virgin] Mary's life"? [4]

By contrast, Christ did die on the cross, and all four gospels reported on the burial of Jesus, with differences [5]:

Matthew 27:59–61 
Joseph took Jesus' body and wrapped it in linen.
Joseph placed the body in his own new tomb that he had cut out, rolled a stone in front of it and left.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting opposite the tomb.


Mark 15:46–47

Joseph bought linen, took down the body and wrapped it.
Joseph put it in a tomb cut out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the entrance.
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw the entombment.


Luke 23:53–56

Joseph took the body down, wrapped it in linen.
He put it in an unused tomb cut in the rock.
It was just before Sabbath.
The women from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the entombment.
They went home and made spices and perfumes. They rested on Sabbath to obey the commandment.


John 19:39–42

Nicodemus brought a myrrh/aloes mixture of about 75 pounds.
Nicodemus and Joseph wrapped Jesus' body, with the spices, in strips of linen.
At a garden, near where Jesus was crucified, was an unused new tomb.
As the tomb was nearby and it was Preparation Day, they laid Jesus there.

[1] http://kibeho-sanctuary.com/index.php/en/apparitions/visionaries
[2] https://www.michaeljournal.org/articles/roman-catholic-church/item/messages-of-our-lady-of-sorrows-in-kibeho-rwanda
[3] Ibid.
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_Virgin
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_of_Jesus, quoted without reference and hyperlinks.

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