{"id":1094,"date":"2011-08-01T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=1094"},"modified":"2022-04-07T21:11:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T13:11:22","slug":"37-reflections-on-a-pauline-pilgrimage-to-turkey-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=1094","title":{"rendered":"37. Ephesus and Spiritual Emotions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflections on a Pauline Pilgrimage to Turkey [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [Ephesians 1:16-17<\/span>].<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[1] A group photo at the ancient city of Ephesus. [2]\u00a0Mother Mary\u2019s House, Ephesus. <\/a>\u00a0[3]\u00a0\u00a0Mother Mary\u2019s Shrine inside the House. Photo \u00a9 Teresa Sim.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Ephesus evokes powerful emotions \u2013 good, strong, spiritual emotions!<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the one place where Mother Mary, St John and St Paul come together, in a very powerful way, to touch pilgrims on three counts: one<\/em>, to console us; two<\/em>, to reveal to us visions of Christ and of the Church, and three<\/em>, to challenge us in Christian living in the reality of the twenty-first century.<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] The Consolation<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A very dear friend in Kuching, fighting a relapse of cancer the last three years, has made a request to a few of us in the group. \u201cPlease pray for me at Mother Mary\u2019s house in Ephesus.\u201d He asked ever so gently, but you could feel the eagerness in his voice as he made the request.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was there in person at Mother Mary\u2019s house two years ago. We were told that the moment his knees touched the floor, he just broke down and cried like a child \u2013 a child suffering not only in the body ravaged by cancer, but a child suffering from the frustrations of life, from a litany of unfinished symphonies in life, a child desperately seeking the love, the compassion and the consolation of his heavenly Mother. Such is the strong spiritual umbilical cord that connects Catholics to Mother Mary.<\/span><\/p>\n

No wonder when we got inside the little house, we saw the couple of dozen pilgrims who had their turn to go in were all somber, some standing and some kneeling, but everyone was clearly in an intensely prayerful mood. Many were visibly in tears, and some were audibly crying, even very audibly<\/em> in that tiny space. On our part, we were blessed with indescribable bliss as we bent our knees, overwhelmed with uncontrollable emotions and yet at the same time with a mysteriously peaceful sensation flooding our being.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps, as we did, pilgrims to this final dwelling place of Mother Mary felt a special presence of the Blessed Mother. Pope John Paul II understood this instinct very well and has articulated it, saying: \u201cMary’s motherhood is manifested in a particular way in the places where she m<\/span>eets us: her dwelling places, places in which a special presence of the Mother is felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instinctively, we touched the walls as we imagined her prayers reverberating round the room all those years. And, in utter confidence and immense gratitude, we lifted up our friend\u2019s prayer, and those of our own, as well as those of the pilgrims praying right there with us in the same space and time, trusting in her maternal concern and her intercession with her Son.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside Mother Mary\u2019s House, our minds travelled back to incidents of encounter with Christians from other denominations, and in some cases with Catholics who have been influenced by their Protestant friends. Not only did they have difficulties accepting the Blessed Virgin, they could be outright rude to her and, by extension, to us who are devoted to her and have recourse through her. And to them all, we ask firmly, but with love:<\/span><\/p>\n