Wednesday 15 August
Luke 1:39-56 • Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Solemnity)
The mystery of the event we celebrate today goes right back to the beginning of the Church. The belief that Mary was assumed into heaven is ancient, dating back to the apostles themselves. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 the Emperor Marcian asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople to be enshrined there. The Patriarch explained to the Emperor that there were no relics of Mary in Jerusalem, that ‘Mary had died in the presence of the apostles; but her tomb, when opened later...was found empty and so the apostles concluded that the body was taken up into heaven.’ In the eighth century, St John Damascene preached: ‘Although the body was duly buried, it did not remain in the state of death, neither was it dissolved by decay...You were transferred to your heavenly home, O Lady, Queen and Mother of God in truth.’ Mary’s empty tomb on the edge of Jerusalem, near the place where she died, soon became a place of pilgrimage. The Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition of Mary stands on the spot today.
The Assumption completed God’s work in Mary since it was not fitting that the flesh that had given life to God himself should ever undergo corruption. The Assumption is God’s crowning of his work as Mary ended her earthly life and entered eternity.
Today we have hope also in our own destiny. Mary was assumed, body and soul, into the glory of heaven. Our faith is rooted in the truth that we too will rise from the dead, body and soul. Like Mary we will do so not because of our own merits – for who of us could overcome death and corruption? – but through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we give thanks and praise to God for Mary, our Mother and the Mother of God. Mary’s complete ‘Yes’ to God’s will opened up the grace of redemption for us all, and in the hope of eternal life and the resurrection of the body we put all our trust, strength and confidence in God.
All-powerful and ever-living God: you raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul, to the glory of heaven. May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory.
Revelation 11:19, 12:1-6, 10 • Psalm 44(45):10-12, 16
1 Corinthians 15:20-26 • Luke 1:39-56
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