How deep is our love?

The title of this week’s column is a slight revision to the renowned tune by the BeeGees, “How Deep Is Your Love.” Of course, they were referring to love in human relationships, while this offering will focus on the depth of our spiritual relationship. Our faith, the Armenian church and its future in the diaspora are constantly on my mind. This year is particularly significant with the blessing of the Holy Muron at Holy Etchmiadzin in September. It is one of the few structured pilgrimages in our church during which the faithful can witness a historic event. I remember in my youth when my paternal grandmother attended the Muron blessing at Antelias in the 1960s. After the Genocide, she married and came to this country with several of her family members. Two of her sisters settled in Beirut, and she decided to visit them and time the trip around the Muron ceremony. Upon her return, she explained that the Holy Muron is a living symbol of unity, as a small portion of the current Muron is added to the herbs and flowers of the new Muron. It is amazing that within the Holy Muron that we use for blessed water and baptism is a physical connection to our early church.