Solemnity
of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August 2015
“Almighty everlasting God, Who hast taken
body and soul into heaven the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Thy Son: grant
we beseech Thee, that by steadfastly keeping heaven as our goal we may be
counted worthy to join her in glory...” Collect
of the Assumption
We rejoice today with Our Lady’s singular
privilege of being assumed body and soul into heaven. It is not only fitting for her to be
rewarded at the end of earthly life with
her Assumption, but it is also a pledge
of our own entrance into heaven after death.
Today’s Introit (“A great sign appeared in heaven: A woman
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of
twelve stars….” Apoc./Rev. 12:1) gives us the essential aspects of today’s feast: first Our Lady is brought to heaven at the
end of her earthly life, without
suffering the corruption of the grave; and second, it alludes to Our
Lady’s Immaculate Conception and her
Divine Maternity as she is “the
Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Thy Son.” This Divine Maternity is Our Lady’s greatest
privilege as she is the Mother of God.
As the sinless Mother of God, she has been raised to heaven where she
can enjoy the glory of heaven with her body and soul and where she can
intercede for all of her children. This
fourth Marian dogma of Our Lady’s Assumption, which was proclaimed by Pope Pius
XII’s Munificentissimus Deus on 1 November 1950, is added to the three other great
Marian dogmas of the Church: the Divine Maternity, her Perpetual Virginity,
and the Immaculate Conception.
“Now God has willed that the Blessed Virgin
Mary should be exempted from this general rule. She, by an entirely unique
privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a
result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the
grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of
her body.”Munificentiissimus Deus #5
From this statement of Pope Pius XII, it can be seen that Our Lady’s
Assumption is the crowning glory of her journey of faith. It is not her
greatest privilege—this is her Divine Maternity, but it is the crown of all her
privileges for she is now reigning with
her Son to whom she gave birth and to whom she was intimately associated in the work of our redemption. How
could God the Father allow Our Lady to
suffer decay as she was the Mother of
His Son? At this point, we may
even speculate if Our Lady even suffered death. The Eastern Catholic Churches
celebrate her “Dormition”; they believe Our Lady did not die, but fell asleep.
This is implied in the bull, Munificentissimus Deus #44 of Pope
Pius XII for the Assumption: “By the
authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, by that of the blessed apostles Peter and
Paul, and by our own authority, We pronounce, declare, and define to be
divinely revealed dogma that the immaculate Mother of God, the Ever-Virgin
Mary, was
on the completion of her earthly life assumed body and soul into the
glory of heaven.”
Munificentiissimus Deus
In his decree on the Assumption, Pope Pius XII sums up the many privileges
of Our Lady: “Hence, the August Mother
of God, mysteriously united from all eternity with Jesus Christ in one and the
same decree of predestination, immaculate
in her conception, a virgin inviolate in her Divine Motherhood, the
wholehearted companion of the Divine Redeemer who won complete victory over sin
and its consequences, gained at last the supreme crown of her privileges—to be
preserved immune from the corruption of the tomb, and like her Son, ...to be
carried up body and soul to the exalted glory of heaven, there to sit in
splendour at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of Ages.” (MD
#40)
Harmony
of Marian Privileges
Her glorification
in body and soul results from the Divine munificence. But it also came, so to speak, as the logical
conclusion of her vocation on earth and the way she lived it. Her Divine Maternity is in utter harmony with
her Assumption, as are her Immaculate Conception and her Perpetual Virginity,
both called for by the supernatural motherhood.
How could she who gave flesh to the Word made flesh have suffered the
corruption of death? How could she who
did not know the least sin undergo decay, a punishment for sin? And how could her body, which by her virginal consecration
belonged to her Son and His mission in a perfect and exclusive way, ever be
subject to corruption? St. Alphonsus writes that "Jesus did not wish to have the body of Mary corrupted after death,
since it would have redounded to his own dishonour to have her virginal flesh,
from which he himself had assumed flesh, reduced to dust." (Quoted in MD #35)
St. Robert Bellarmine also exclaimed: "And
who, I ask, could believe that the ark of holiness, the dwelling place of the
Word of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit, could be reduced to ruin? My soul
is filled with horror at the thought that this virginal flesh which had
begotten God, had brought him into the world, had nourished and carried him,
could have been turned into ashes or given over to be food for worms." (Quoted
in “MD”
#34) Her Assumption is also in harmony with her association with
her Son in the work of Redemption; Pope Pius XII tells us that she was “the
wholehearted companion of the Divine Redeemer who won complete victory over sin
and its consequences... (MD #40) Mary’s Co-Redemption is a possible fifth
Marian dogma as she also suffered in her soul what Jesus suffered in His body.
Co-Redemptrix
The Second Vatican Council in its Constitution on the Church (Lumen
Gentium) shows how much Our Lady
is intimately associated with her Son Jesus in the work of redemption. Mary was “predestined from eternity, by the decree of Divine Providence
“Could you not, then, watch
one hour with Me?...” Mt. 26:40
We are now in our second year (as of 4 July
2011) of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from after Mass each day until
Benediction at 3:10 PM.
“.... Particular attention should also be given to Eucharistic
adoration, and in every diocese there should be churches or chapels
specifically devoted to this purpose. I ask parishes, seminaries, religious
houses and monasteries to organise periods of Eucharistic adoration, so that
all have an opportunity to take part...” (#14) Pope
Benedict XVI, “Pastoral Letter to the
Catholics of Ireland.” 3 March 2010
Sunday’s Offerings
There is no collection during
Mass. Please put your offerings for the
needs of the monastery in the box at the main aisle of the chapel. Thank you for your kindness. Remember, the message of St. Peter: “Charity
covers a multitude of sins.” I Pt. 4:8
