meryem a/e 5

On the night following the burial...

took place the bodily assumption of the Blessed Virgin into heaven. 

I saw on this night several of the Apostles and holy women in the little garden, praying and singing Psalms before the grotto. 

I saw a broad pathway of light descend from heaven, and rest upon the tomb. In it were circles of glory full of angels, in the midst of whom the resplendent soul of the Blessed Virgin came floating down. 

Before her went her Divine Son, the marks of His Wounds flashing with light. 

In the innermost circle, that which surrounded the holy soul of Mary, the angels appeared like the faces of very young children. In the second circle, they were like those of children from six to eight years old. And in the outermost, like the faces of youths, I could clearly distinguish only the face, the rest of the figure consisting of perfectly transparent light. 

Encircling the head of the Blessed Virgin like a crown, was a choir of blessed spirits. I know not what those present saw of all this. But I saw that some gazed up in amazement and adoration, while others cast themselves prostrate in fright upon the earth. 

These apparitions, becoming more and more distinct as they approached nearer, floated over the grotto, and another pathway of light issued from it and arose to the heavenly Jerusalem. The blessed soul of Mary, floating before Jesus, penetrated through the rock and into the tomb, out of which she again arose radiant with light in her glorified body, and escorted by the entire multitude of celestial spirits, returned in triumph to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Next day when the Apostles were engaged in choir service...

Thomas made his appearance with two companions. 

One was a disciple named Jonathan Eleasar, and the other a servant from the most remote country of the Three Holy Kings [India?...]. 

Thomas was greatly grieved when he heard that the Blessed Virgin was al-ready buried. He wept with an abundance of tears quite astonishing to behold, for he could not forgive himself for coming so late. Weeping bitterly,he threw himself with Jonathan at his side on the spot upon which the blessed soul of Mary had left her body, and afterward knelt long before the altar. 

The Apostles, who had not interrupted their choir-chanting on account of his coming, now gathered around him, raised him up, embraced him, and set before him and his companions bread, honey, and some kind of beverage in little jugs. After that, they accompanied him with lights to the tomb. 

Two disciples bent the shrubbery [struikgewas] to one side. Thomas, Eleanor, and John went in and prayed before the coffin. Then John loosened the three straps that bound it, for it rose high enough above the troughlike couch to admit of being opened. 

They stood the lid of the coffin on one side, and to their intense astonishment, beheld only the empty winding-sheets lying like a husk, or-shell, and in perfect order. Only over the face was it drawn apart, and over the breast slightly opened. The swathing-bands of the arms and hands lay separate, as if gently drawn off, but in perfect order. 

The Apostles gazed in amazement, their hands raised.

[bron]