ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
1st Reading: Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a. 10ab: A great sign appeared in heaven. A woman adorned with the sun.
Resp. Psalm: 45: On your right stands the queen, in garments of gold.
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20-27: Christ will be brought back to life as the first fruits and then all who belong to him.
Gospel: Luke 1:39-56: The Almighty has done great things for me.
REFLECTION
Today is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was proclaimed a dogma by Pope Pius XII in 1950. The historical and transcendental fact that at the end of her earthly life the Blessed Virgin was taken to heaven, body and soul. If we meditate on this doctrine, if we place it in its true context, we shall see that its import is of cosmic proportions. The Assumption of Our Lady is a Christocentric doctrine about the total redemption of all mankind.
Mankind fell from grave, and that original sin has disfigured the world ever since. Creation groaned in travail as it waited for redemption and restoration. The dawn of that longed for restoration came in the shape of a new design, a reversal of earlier failure. It was as if the Almighty, looking at his creation with sorrow and dare one even say regret decided to call a halt, and begin again. That new beginning took the shape of a human begin. The new beginning took the shape of a human being who was to be the prototype, the genesis, of a new human race, the gateway, that threshold, that genesis, was and is, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In her, a new era dawned, she was to be the Mother of the Saviour was given the privilege of embodying a double yet integral perfection. Both flesh and spirit were to be untainted by any kind of sin, original or actual. Angelic purity and human perfection were combined in a new masterpiece. Nothing less than perfection was good enough for her who was to be Mother of the Redeemer. In her the failure of the original design for humanity was reversed. In the bodily Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, we see actualised the new potential of the human race. Where she has gone, we hope to follow. She now enjoys the fullness of new life which Christ made possible when He conquered death and rose from the tomb. She is the first fruits of His resurrection. Her Assumption shows that his grace does work
In the Assumption of Mary, the Creator applies the final brushstroke to his greatest masterpiece seated by the throne of her Son, she co-reigns with him. She graciously inclines in our favor his own scepter of power and grace. Mary our Queen will assist us so that we also may be re-created in the image and likeness of her Son and Saviour. By his grace which flows through her, we also may rise from death, be taken to heaven, and crowned at the last with the diadem of un fading glory which God has prepared for all those who truly love him. Amen.
