Today is the Glorious Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the day the Catholic Church celebrates the assumption into heaven, body and soul, of the Mother of God. Our Blessed Mother lived a very sorrowful life here on earth, from the time she said "yes" to the Angel Gabriel when he brought a message from the Trinity asking her to be the Mother of God, to that terrible time of her Son's passion and death on the Cross. She is the only perfect and sinless human created by God, and yet she had to endure suffering beyond what any of us can begin to comprehend. She watched her Son, the Second Person of the Trinity conceived in her by the Holy Spirit, live a life of persecution and die an agonizing death on the cross at the hands of the very people he had created and come to earth to save from the fires of hell. She suffered along with her Son without complaining, never feeling sorry for herself and never feeling anger or bitterness towards those who persecuted and killed her Son. In fact, she gave her Son to us willingly, without reservation. She opened up her Immaculate Heart to the sword prophesied by Simeon.
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| Our Lady of Sorrows |
And today, the Feast of the Assumption, we celebrate the great reward she received. She is assumed into heaven, body and soul, never suffering corruption of any kind, and is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. All of Heaven rejoices at the reception of this most magnificent of all of God's creation.
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The Coronation of Mary by the Trinity
as Queen of Heaven and Earth |
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| Defeating the Serpent |
And Mary's love for the children of God and now her children has only increased over the ages. She never ceases to intervene on behalf of us, praying for us, constantly appealing to Her Son's great love and mercy. She has made countless visits to earth, imploring us to repent of our sinful ways, warning us of the consequences if we don't. She is Satan's most hated enemy because she has replaced him in heaven. And she did it with humility, the very opposite of his great sin of pride. And not only was she a lowly human being, she was a woman. He had so easily deceived the first woman, Eve, into disobeying God and separating all mankind from their Creator. But this lowly contemptible creature had completely crushed him, merely by saying "Yes" to God. She had undone all of his work in destroying mankind. There is no one, not even God, that Satan hates more than our Blessed Mother. And only God Himself loves us more than our Blessed Mother does. She is our refuge from Satan. She will never fail us.
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"No man is delivered
or preserved from the world-wide snares of Satan save through Mary; and God
grants His graces to no one except through her alone."
~ Saint Germanus ~
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I found today's reading from the Traditional Breviary especially inspiring.
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Mary, the new Ark of the Covenant,
holding her Maker within |
The Lesson is taken from a Sermon by St. John of Damascus
This day the holy and animated Ark of the living God, which had held within it its own Maker, is borne to rest in that Temple of the Lord, which is not made with hands. David, whence it sprang, leapeth before it, and in company with him [here St. John of Damascus lists the nine choirs of angels] the Angels dance, the Archangels sing aloud, the Virtues ascribe glory, the Principalities shout for joy, the Powers make merry, the Dominions rejoice, the Thrones keep holiday, the Cherubim utter praise, and the Seraphim proclaim its glory.
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| David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant |
This day the Eden of the new Adam receiveth the living garden of delight, wherein the condemnation was annulled, wherein the Tree of Life was planted, wherein our nakedness was covered.
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The choirs of angels rejoicing at
Mary's entrance into heaven as their Queen |
This day the stainless maiden, who had been defiled by no earthly lust, but ennobled by heavenly desires, returned not to dust, but, being herself a living heaven, took her place among the heavenly mansions.
From her true life had flowed for all men, and how should she taste of death? But she yielded obedience to the law established by him to whom she had given birth, and, as the daughter of the old Adam, underwent the old sentence, which even her Son, who is the very Life Itself, had not refused ; but, as the Mother of the living God, she was worthily taken by him unto himself.
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Hail Holy Queen
Our Life, Our Sweetness and Our Hope |
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