Mary, the Theotokos, represents, for us, who we are called to be, in Christ, and the feast of her “falling asleep”, in which we commemorate her death and her physical resurrection from the dead and her exaltation by her son, shows us our own corporate destiny in Christ. Mary is, for us, the new Eve, and her perfect response to God—her yes, where Eve said “no” to God, her listening where Eve failed to listen, and her treasuring of God’s gift which Eve failed to treasure—allows her to become the vessel by which God brings new life and salvation into the world, and establishes the example by which we are to do the same.

I must also note here my debt, in this homily, to Hilary White’s recent article on Eastern and Western depictions of the Dormition and the Assumption: it’s well worth a read!

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