Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven

Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array? (Can. 6:9)

Of the many feast days of Our Lady on the Liturgical Calendar, the Feast of the Assumption is my favorite. The very thought of it animates my mind with so many vivid images, scripture passages and sentiments. It inspires me in good times and in dark times, with holy joy, confidence and hope in that Lord Who gave us such a wonderful Mother. Mary is in Heaven, yet walks with us on earth, guiding and protecting her children. Jesus, as he was dying, gave us Mary as our mother in the person of His beloved disciple, John. He said to Mary: "Woman, behold thy son" and to John, "Behold thy Mother." As if to look at each one of us from the vantage point of the Cross represented in the person of John, He merely says: "Behold thy Mother." He does not use the personal pronoun "you", nor does He say "Son, behold thy Mother" because Jesus was not speaking to John alone. Jesus on the Cross saw each and every one of us, and gave His Mother to us all."

The Fathers traditionally ascribe this short passage at once to both the Church, and to the Blessed Virgin Mary. As I ponder the meaning of the feast, it is the very first verse which enters my mind. These few words so abound with meaning, that it stuns me still as I meditate on it:

Fair as the moon ...
Bright as the sun ...
Terrible as an army set in battle array!

This beautiful passage says so much about Our Lady's role. Indeed, it is a concise summary of Mary's work throughout salvation history:

Fair as the moon
Mary is presented in Scripture to us as "fair as the moon." She is a calm, quiet and steady light. She does not overpower: the focus must remain on her Son until His reign is established. She appears regularly in the Gospels, though always in a complementary role, as she always does pointing and leading all toward her Son.

She speaks to us the beautiful words of the Magnificat of the solemn mystery of our own redemption: "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He Who is mighty has done great things for me." (Luke 1:46.) She presents her child to the prophet Simeon; her soul grieving and tears in her eyes as that faithful man tells of the future of her Son, and that "her own heart, a sword shall pierce" so that the hearts of many shall be revealed." (Luke 2:35.) At the Wedding Feast at Cana, she tells us firmly, yet quietly as she whispers to the chief waiter: "Do whatever He tells you." (John 2:5.) With solemn dignity and her heart united with her Son's, suffering as one, she follows Him on the Bloody trail to Calvary to offer Him as a sacrifice to the Eternal Father, and to unite her Immaculate Heart with His. (John 19:26.) Though she gave birth to her Son in a miraculous way without the usual pains of childbirth, she wailed in pain at the birth of the Church (Rev. 12:2) and at our spiritual birth, which occurs on Calvary. At the Ascension of her Son, and the Descent of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost Sunday, again she is there, this time to support her new family, the Church.

Bright as the Sun

And 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. (Rev. 12:1)

In later times, her Son's holy doctrine preached throughout the continents, to the ends of the earth, her Spouse, the Holy Spirit deigned to present her to us, as the woman clothed with the sun.

In 1531, Our Lady appeared to a pious peasant man, St. Juan Diego and gave to the Mexican people, and all the peoples of the Americas the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where she appeared as "arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" (Rev, 12:1.) The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was not painted by any human hand and the symbolism is amazing. We will come back to Our Lady of Guadalupe in a future post. Through Our Lady of Guadalupe, the diabolical human sacrifice of the Aztecs was halted, and a deluge of Mexican people entered the Church. Let us pray for a similar miracle in our own day, so that the dignity of human life defended by Our Lady will soon be restored!

On December 8, 1854, Bl. Pius IX in the constitution Ineffabilis Deus defined the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, that "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin." That is, God, from all eternity, deemed it appropriate that His mother should remain free of sin from the first moment of her existence, so as to become the pure vessel which would contain the sacred Humanity of her Son. We as Catholics know that Mary, like all of us, utterly depends on the merits of Jesus Christ gained for us on Calvary for her salvation. Since God is eternal, the application of the future merits of Jesus could be applied to Our Lady prior to His coming to earth. Catholics everywhere looked up in admiration at one of Mary's great prerogatives, which reflected the great glory of our God, for only He could fashion for Himself such a splendid being. As William Wordsworth later would state "our fallen nature's solitary boast." One alone remained always faithful and she is our Mother!

Four short years later, on Thursday, 25 March 1858, Our Lady ratified this privilege, defined by Pius IX. The seer, St. Bernadette of Lourdes asked the Lady who appeared to her:

"Would you be so kind as to tell me who you are?"

The Lady responded back:

"I am the Immaculate Conception."

Ever since, Our Lady has ratified her prerogative and her love for each of us through the many miracles of cures and miracles of conversions that occur there to this day.

In 1950, the Venerable Pope Pius XII solemnly defined the doctrine we celebrate today:

By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

This is a doctrine common to both Catholic and Orthodox, the Orthodox generally believing that Our Lady died, and after three days, her tomb found empty because her body had been assumed into heaven. Again, in 1950 the Church received the great confirmation of her children's long held belief that Mary was raised from the dead, and assumed into Heaven by her divine Son.

Terrible as an Army Set in Battle Array

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. (Gen. 3:15.)

This was the prophecy to the Serpent in the Garden of Eden after our first parents fell. As St. Bernard said: "Christ crushed the serpent's head by his death, suffering himself to be wounded in the heel. His Blessed Mother crushed him likewise, by her co-operation in the mystery of the Incarnation; and by rejecting, with horror, the very first suggestions of the enemy, to commit even the smallest sin." (St. Bernard, ser. 2, on Missus est.)

At the end of time, Our Lady will participate in Satan's final defeat. She has been given authority by her Son, and has at her command the heavenly hosts. She sends her angels to minister to us, and they take their honor in doing her bidding. She may, at her pleasure, send a host of angels to protect and defend us in our battle against the devil, the flesh and the world.

In 1917, Our Lady appeared again to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. She gave a most astounding message to the whole Church predicting a weakening of faith and Russia's spread of error throughout the world. The Miracle of the Sun ratifying the apparition is equally astounding, having been predicted beforehand by the children as to occur on October 13, 1917. The miracle came as foretold, and was witnessed by many tens of thousands, believer and non-believer alike. Accounts of the miracle were even reported in the daily newspapers, though they were controlled by the anti-clerical Freemasons, staunch enemies of the Catholic Church. As the miracle unfolded before the astonished throngs, people thought that the end of the world was at hand. The sun seemed to spin uncontrollably toward earth, and made its way back to the sky. Suddenly, the torrential rains of the day ceased, the sun shone and the people were miraculously dry. Such a miracle had never been reported in the annals of mankind, neither before nor since.

After the prophecy of so many calamities that would befall the world and the Church, she comforted her children:

In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.

The Blessed Virgin told the seer Jacinta that God desired His triumph to come through her: “Tell all the world that great graces come through the Immaculate Heart of Mary” and “that God has entrusted to the Immaculate Heart the peace and conversion of the world!”

St. Louis de Montfort, the great apostle of Mary tells us: "What Lucifer lost by pride, Mary won by humility. What Eve ruined and lost by disobedience Mary saved by obedience. By obeying the serpent, Eve ruined her children as well as herself and delivered them up to him. Mary by her perfect fidelity to God saved her children with herself and consecrated them to his divine majesty." (True Devotion to Mary, para. 53.)

Montfort further tells us:

But Mary's power over the evil spirits will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor children whom she will rouse to fight against him. In the eyes of the world they will be little and poor and, like the heel, lowly in the eyes of all, down-trodden and crushed as is the heel by the other parts of the body. But in compensation for this they will be rich in God's graces, which will be abundantly bestowed on them by Mary. They will be great and exalted before God in holiness. They will be superior to all creatures by their great zeal and so strongly will they be supported by divine assistance that, in union with Mary, they will crush the head of Satan with their heel, that is, their humility, and bring victory to Jesus Christ. (Ibid. Para. 54.)

So much more could be said, for as the saints say, "Of Mary there is never enough." Mary, fair as the moon, splendid as the sun, terrible as an army in battle array. She is our Mother. As a final note, I would like to remember with gratitude on this Assumption Day, those brave men, priests of God, who would tirelessly spread the love of Mary. They could not speak of Our Lady without a tear coming to their eyes. I recall my departed uncle who had likewise a tender love of Mary, and to whom I truly owe a debt of gratitude, for I was privileged to follow his example, at least in this. I appreciate what these men went through. I knew the world's reaction to their tenderheartedness, the ridicule and petty jealousy they were subjected to by lesser men.

These were true men of God, who honored their Mother and defended her honor, sometime at great cost. How the world pines for such men who valiantly defend their women. For, it is necessary to man to his sense of nobility and worth to defend his lady from harm. Likewise, the role of woman is no less to preserve true civilization in the world, and prevent our descent into barbarity.

As at Lepanto, when Mary led the forces of Christianity to victory against the barbarians, as the Virgin of Guadalupe single-handedly halted the abomination of human sacrifice, she will once again guide us against the spiritual and physical forces aligned against us. She can and will win the victory, it has been promised since the time of our first parents. We need only cooperate and ask.

To all of you, rejoice because today, our mother, our advocate the sweet Virgin Mary is assumed into Heaven and crowned amid joy and celebration of the Heavenly Hosts. May the Blessed Mother hold you in her arms. May she assist you in your own quest to gain an imperishable crown in Heaven. God bless you all.