Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Yesterday's feast is a holy day of obligation, and thus it would be criminal of me not to give it a mention.

To be honest, I spent the whole day at work having forgotten completely about it. I got home curious as to where we were rushing off to! At least I had been encouraging a terminally ill patient to pray her Rosary, which would have pleased Our Lady.

As we settled down to our pews in the Oratory, we were led in the glorious mysteries of the Rosary by Fr Gregory, which features this 'assumption' as its forth mystery (non-ecumenical version). Although my recitation of the Rosary has fallen by the wayside recently, I am able to draw inspiration from the countless times I have meditated on this glorious mystery. What does Our Lady's assumption into heaven mean?

The Assumption differs from Our Lord's own Ascension into heaven in the fact that is not on her own power that she is drawn up; it is Our Lord drawing her up, body and soul, into her eternal home. We can be secure in the fact that this foreshadows our own hope in the day of judgement, when the elect will be drawn up into heaven to share in the beatific vision of God's glory. But why has Our Lady gone before us? It is because she is the New Eve, and as such she is untainted by original sin and the lasting effect of death on humanity. She is a redeemed creature, but has never fell from the Grace which God constantly bestowed upon her. Her unique purpose was to be the New Ark of the Covenant, containing the Divine Priest, the Word of God, the Bread of Heaven; her Son Our Lord Jesus Christ. For this purpose, like the original Ark, she was coated and lined with Gold, in a real and supernatural sense. To contain the God-Man she could have no blemish herself, and for this reason she is greeted as "full of grace" by the Archangel Gabriel.

Our Lady is the first fruit of all Redemption. She is a lasting promise of the Hope we have in her Son's saving power. She, who had that unmistakable gift of childlike faith and obedience in her creator; "Let it be done unto me according to Thy word". We can thus truly look to her for the way to her Son. She will never fail to present our sinful prayers and petitions to her Son, in a way that they will never go unanswered. She will never fail to present us, in turn, to her Son come judgement day. God has given her to us, to be the Mother of all Humanity; "Behold your Mother". We know, from her glorious Assumption, she is with Our Lord, constantly offering her prayers, on our behalf, to her Son. Whilst Jesus is the salvific mediator of humanity with God, Mary is mediatrix of the graces God bestows upon us. It is through her motherly and tender care which God can nourish and sustain us. He chooses to do this, in a similar fashion to the way he chose Jesus to be given unto the world through her womb.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Parkes - Catholic Mom of 10