WHERE ST. PAUL PREACHED AND MARY LIVED WITH ST. JOHN

 The The main street St. Paul walked on from the port into the city of Ephesus.

Excavated library facade on the main street of Ephesus. 

 

The excavated amphitheater in Ephesus where St. Paul may have preached to the Ephesians.

The renovated house where tradition says Mary spent her last days - on a hill above Ephesus. 

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, (John), he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple (John),“Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple (John) took her into his home.

John 19:25-34

“Mary, Mother of the Church” is a title given to Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. That title was officially declared by Pope Paul VI in 1964. The title first appeared in the 4th century writings of Saint Ambrose of Milan It was also used by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748 and then by Pope Leo XIII in 1885. Pope John Paul II placed it in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Pope Francis inserted a feast by this title into the Roman calendar to be celebrated on May 25.

When I read the words of the gospel today – “from that hour, John took Mary into his home” – my mind went back to the summer of 1995 when I was still pastor of the Cathedral of the Assumption downtown. That was the year I celebrated my 25th ordination to the priesthood. Because I was celebrating that anniversary and was about to leave the Cathedral, the parish gave me a trip to Greece through the Greek islands, a dream that I had for many years. One of the stops was at Ephesus which is now in modern day Turkey.

Ephesus is one of those early Christian communities where Paul preached. We have his Letter to the Ephesians. Ephesus was also the home of St. John the Apostle where St. John took Mary the mother of Jesus after he died on the cross as reported in today’s gospel. I remember taking the bus overlooking the port up a winding road to the top of the hill to the little restored stone house where Mary and John reportedly lived. The area where the house is located is about 4.3 miles uphill overlooking the city of Ephesus.

While the Catholic Church has never officially pronounced in favor or against the authenticity of the house itself, the site itself has nevertheless received a steady flow of pilgrimage since its discovery. Catholic pilgrims visit the house based on the belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was taken to this stone house by Saint John and lived there for the remainder of her earthly life. The shrine itself has been visited by Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. 

Walking around the small site where Mary, the mother of Jesus, and St. John lived according to tradition, is a mystical experience of sorts in its own right, but walking up the hill from the port and into the city of Ephesus where St. Paul preached, and was jailed for his preaching, is also a mystical experience.

Because the port itself has since silted in quite a bit over the years, there is a field now between the water and the beginning of the city itself. Ephesus has to be one of the best archeological digs I have ever seen. The wide paved street going uphill through the center of the city is truly amazing when you think that St. Paul walked the same street so many years ago. There is the restored facade of a two-story library on the right, a recently uncovered ancient public toilet on the left, with the remains of stone columns on both sides. There is an amazing restored amphitheater with its amazing acoustical design that was being used until recently for concerts and plays. They stopped the loud concerts because of the vibrations.

You approach the city of Ephesus from the port as you walk on that wide cobbled street. As a preacher myself for 26 years at the time, all I could think of was St. Paul walking up it to begin his preaching as well as St. John and Mary walking up it on their way from the boat to the house at the top of the hill after they first landed there to live out her days after the death of Jesus. I could easily imagine them joining the small Christian community there to pray and share stories about Jesus.

That experience changed the way I read today’s gospel text where, from the cross itself, Jesus gave his mother into the care of St. John. Mary surely is “the mother of the church.”