THE POWER OF THE ALMIGHTY

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, SOLEMNITY 

Rev 11:19,12:1-6,10; Ps 45:10-12,16; 1 Cor 15:20-26; Lk 1:39-56

The Almighty has done Great Things for Me

As we celebrate the solemn feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we deepen our understanding of the greatness of God, which He shares with His creatures. In no other creature has God so displayed his greatness as in the Woman he promised us at the fall of Adam and Eve. God, in the making of the Woman, perfected his work on our human nature he willed to be his dwelling place from the beginning. By this inbuilt perfection, he fulfilled his promise to put enmity between the Woman and the serpent, between her offspring and its offspring. Since the word of God stands true from eternity and for all time, there is nothing of the evil one that is in the Blessed Virgin Mary. The sacrament of this reality is the vision the Lord gave to John. “The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it.” The ark of the covenant is a symbol of the Woman, for as it contained the tablets of the Law and the manna, so the Blessed Virgin Mary contained Jesus Christ, our Law and Manna from heaven. The ark of the covenant is located in the sanctuary of God, as the dwelling of the Woman is in all the faithful and in the Church.

The subsequent passage gives us the sign of how the enmity plays out between the Woman and serpent or dragon, between the her offsprings and its offsprings. “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.” Just as the queen-bee is located in the middle of the hive, populating the hive by continuous laying of eggs, the Blessed Virgin Mary is in the sanctuary of God, the Church, giving birth to the mystical body of Christ after delivering Jesus Christ our Head. Her pangs of childbirth are real and sacramental, the consequence of the original and actual sins of the children of Adam. We are born of flesh and blood, which were overcome in Adam and Eve; So, we suffer the conflict of redemption in our bodies. Though the Woman and her Child is spared the conflict in their bodies, they suffer the conflict in their offsprings of grace. Her pangs are not in the ordinary birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was painless, but in the mystical birth of Jesus Christ. The mystical birth involves the life, passion, and death of Jesus Christ and his members. The mystery of sin enters in the mystical birth, which causes her birth pangs. Hence, the second sign of the mystery of iniquity follows. “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.” These signify the fullness of vices and evil that gives birth to every sin on earth.

The psalmist sings of the privileged position of the Woman at the right hand of the king, as queen. Her vocation, which dedicates her to fulfilling the will of God, is also mentioned. “On your right stands the queen in gold of Ophir. Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words: forget your own people and your father’s house. So will the king desire your beauty: He is your lord, pay homage to him.” The queen pays homage to the Lord by dedicating herself to his will, which is for our salvation. Saint Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians confirms the life, passion, and death of Jesus Christ and his members as the cause of the birth pangs of the Queen crowned with twelve stars, which indicates the fullness and perfection of virtues. “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.” The resurrection in the life of grace furnished by the Incarnation of the Eternal Word is the new birth we have received in spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. The Blessed Virgin Mary participates in our new and spiritual birth in a unique way known only to God.  

The Blessed Virgin Mary is conceived without sin by God’s eternal and immutable will. So, she is free of every influence of the serpent. But she suffers birth pangs for our deliverance and salvation from sin and evil by her intimate participation in the life, passion, and death of her only Son, Jesus Christ, which is the cause of our new birth in mystery. Elizabeth felt the working of these mysteries in her womb and in her person, when the Blessed Virgin Mary came into her house. “Mary went into Zachariah’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.” Thus, we understand that Mary’s birth activities are not only for the Son of Man, but also for all who would be sanctified by the grace of her Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. By this solemn feast, we honour God's reposition of the Ark of the Covenant in the heavenly sanctuary and pray for the grace to collaborate with her for our salvation and that of our brothers and sisters.

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant, we pray, that, always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.