Ephesus

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Today, we were in Ephesus...a beautiful and ancient city among the mountains of Turkey. We visited the tomb of St. John and ruins of a basilica erected over his tomb. We also visited the House of Mary; this was the most sacred place that I have visited thus far. In the Gospel of John we read, "When Jesus saw his motherthere, and the disciple whom he lovedstanding nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,”and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home." According to tradition, John took Mary along with him on his missionary journey to Ephesus. We had the opportunity to visit this sacred Home of Mary today in Ephesus. This is one of the few sites along the journey, where pictures are not allowed inside the building. I, simply, knelt down and prayed a decade of the rosary and lit a candle.

There are many other biblical and early Christian connections to Ephesus (St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians, one of the seven churches in Acts, St. Ignatius of Antioch addressed this community in the 2nd century on his way to Rome for execution, the Council of Ephesus declared Mary the Theotokos, the God-Bearer, or Mother of God in 431, just to name a few...)

Read a bit more about the House of Mary here:
http://www.ephesusmeeting.com/other_bib_sites_virgin_mary.asp

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Photos

Candles outside House of Mary
I lit one for you...

Comments

[lynn]

Sacred Home of Mary
I think Mary's home in Ephesus would have been one of my favorite places by your description. Of course I am drawn to anything having to do with Our Holy Mother and her experience of being a mother... thank you for drawing us into her blessed home with you.