Aug 15 – Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary is taken up body and soul into the glory of Heaven, and with God and in God she is Queen of Heaven and earth. And is she really so remote from us? The contrary is true. Precisely because she is with God and in God, she is very close to each one of us. While she lived on this earth she could only be close to a few people. Being in God, who is close to us, actually, “within” all of us, Mary shares in this closeness of God. Being in God and with God, she is close to each one of us, knows our hearts, can hear our prayers, can help us with her motherly kindness and has been given to us, as the Lord said, precisely as a “mother” to whom we can turn at every moment. – Pope Benedict XVI
- http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2005/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20050815_assunzione-maria_en.html
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Apocalypse 11:19,12:1-6,10
The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Then came flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and an earthquake, and violent hail.
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child, so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had made a place of safety ready, for her to be looked after in the twelve hundred and sixty days.
Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, ‘Victory and power and empire for ever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ, now that the persecutor, who accused our brothers day and night before our God, has been brought down.’
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1 Corinthians 15:20-26
Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ; but all of them in their proper order: Christ as the first-fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power. For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet.
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Luke 1:39-56
Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’
And Mary said:
‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit exults in God my saviour;
because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.
Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,
for the Almighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name,
and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.
He has shown the power of his arm,
he has routed the proud of heart.
He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.
He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy
– according to the promise he made to our ancestors –
of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.
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“All generations shall call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me.”
There is so much to be said about Mary, her life, prophesies about her, her death (or lack of a bodily death as some scholars propose), her assumption and her queenship now.
In my reversion to the Catholic faith, initially I did not have any inclination to Mary, now I have a four foot tall painting of her in my living room. So as my reversion was taking place, the rosary found a place in my heart during a 54 day novena that Pope Francis called for early in his pontificate. When you pray 53 Hail Mary’s for 54 consecutive days, you start to contemplate on the mysteries from every angle.
I started to realise that Mary fulfilled so much of what was written in scripture. What I would like to focus on for today, is the Magnificat, this prayer inspired by the Holy Spirit when she met with her cousin Elizabeth. “ Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me.”
I see that line being fulfilled in her Assumption and Coronation, the 4th and 5th glorious mysteries of the rosary. We adopted the first half of the Hail Mary from Luke chapter 1, but really it finds it fulfilment after she passed from this world. Whether she was assumed into heaven, or died then was taken up, the point is that we now call her Blessed and full of grace, for she had become Queen of heaven and just like Solomons mother in 1 Kings, where King Solomon had a throne on his right for his mother and when he said to her “make your request my mother for I will not refuse you” (1 Kings 2:20), sounds a little like the wedding at Cana.
The mother of the King, all throughout history has had a prominent place in the kingdom. Rightly so, Our Blessed Mother has that place too and all her life she sought to do the will of God, The King. We have been called heirs to the Kingdom, and our job is simple, to do the will of the Father, as Jesus said. And in The Queen of Heaven we have an example to follow, humility, obedience & submission will get us there.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Daryl De Payva)
Prayer: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (Luke 1: 46-55)
Thanksgiving: Thank you Lord, for providing a human example of grace and humility and obedience. In your mother we have roadmap to help us join you in heaven.