After once again, the Holy Archangel Gabriel had announced to the Mother of God about her
Assumption into Heaven, the Mother of God went to pray and prepare her sanctified soul in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Regarding her stay in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Pious Maxim the Confessor, enlightened by the Grace of God, tells us:
Then the Most Blessed and Glorious Mother of God, Mary, arose and, filled with joy, went to the Mount of Olives to offer to the Lord in quietness and through the work of grace her thanksgiving and supplications for herself and for the entire world. As she ascended the mountain, she raised her hands and offered her prayers and thanksgivings to Christ, her Son.
Then a great miracle happened, known to those who were worthy of such knowledge, and this has reached us through them. While she was praying, all the trees that were there bowed down to the ground, honoring her (cf. Isaiah 55:12). When she finished her prayer and thanksgiving, filled with the Lord, she returned to Zion, and immediately the Lord sent John the Evangelist and Theologian on a cloud, for the Holy Virgin desired to see him, as the Lord had commanded her to adopt him.
The blessed among women saw him and rejoiced even more, commanding prayers. And the Holy Empress prayed, and after her prayer, she informed John and the other virgins who were there, through the message received from the angel, about her Assumption, and she showed them the palm branch that the Angel had given her. She commanded the house to be prepared, candles to be lit, and the censer with incense to be set, for she adorned her house as a bridal chamber to receive the immortal Bridegroom, her most merciful Son, because she awaited Him with unwavering hope. Everyone lamented and wept at her departure from them.
Furthermore, their sister, the Empress and Mother of God, comforted each one of them and all together. She gave them a moving farewell and said, “Rejoice, blessed children, and do not mourn my departure, but fill yourselves with even greater joy, for this comes for eternal joy, and may the Grace and mercy of the Lord be with you always.”
Then she looked at John the Evangelist and told him to give her two garments to the two widows who served her.
After that, she arranged and commanded how her most holy and pure body should be embalmed and where it should be kept.
And so, he placed the glorious Mother of Christ in her coffin, the resting place that until then, night after night, had been bathed in the tears of her eyes for the love of her Son, Christ, and had been illuminated by her prayers and supplications.
Saint Maxim the Confessor
