Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 08-15-04, Solemnity, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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The Fourth Glorious Mystery

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The Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary Reflections For The Feast 2003

The Assumption Of Mary

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From: 1 Corinthians 15:20-27

The Basis of Our Faith (Continuation)

[20] But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits
of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For as by a man came death, by a
man has come also the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in Adam all
die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. [23] But each in his
own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong
to Christ. [24] Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God
the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. [25]
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
[26] The last enemy to be destroyed is death. [27] "For God has put all
things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "All things
are put in subjection under him," it is plain that he is excepted who
put all things under him.

Commentary:

20-28. The Apostle insists on the solidarity that exists between Christ
and Christians: as members of one single body, of which Christ is the
head, they form as it were one organism (cf. Rom 6:3-11; Gal 3:28).
Therefore, once the resurrection of Christ is affirmed, the
resurrection of the just necessarily follows. Adam's disobedience
brought death for all; Jesus, the new Adam, has merited that all should
rise (cf. Rom 5:12-21). "Again, the resurrection of Christ effects for
us the resurrection of our bodies not only because it was the efficient
cause of this mystery, but also because we all ought to arise after the
example of the Lord. For with regard to the resurrection of the body we
have this testimony of the Apostle: 'As by a man came death, by a man
has come also the resurrection of the dead' (1 Cor 15:21). In all that
God did to accomplish the mystery of our redemption he made use of the
humanity of Christ as an effective instrument, and hence his
resurrection was, as it were, an instrument for the accomplishment of
our resurrection" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 6, 13).

Although St Paul here is referring only to the resurrection of the just
(v. 23), he does speak elsewhere of the resurrection of all mankind
(cf. Acts 24:15). The doctrine of the resurrection of the bodies of all
at the end of time, when Jesus will come in glory to judge everyone,
has always been part of the faith of the Church; "he [Christ] will come
at the end of the world, he will judge the living and the dead; and he
will reward all, both the lost and the elect, according to their works.
And all those will rise with their own bodies which they now have so
that they may receive according to their works, whether good or bad;
the wicked, a perpetual punishment with the devil; the good, eternal
glory with 'Christ" (Fourth Lateran Council, "De Fide Catholica", chap.
1).

23-28. St Paul outlines very succinctly the entire messianic and
redemptive work of Christ: by decree of the Father, Christ has been
made Lord of the universe (cf. Mt 28:18), in fulfillment of Ps 110:1
and Ps 8:7. When it says here that "the Son himself will also be
subjected to him who put all things under him", this must be understood
as referring to Christ in his capacity of Messiah and head of the
Church; not Christ as God, because the Son is "begotten, not created,
consubstantial with the Father" ("Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed").

Christ's sovereignty over all creation comes about in history, but it
will achieve its final, complete, form after the Last Judgment. The
Apostle presents that last event--a mystery to us--as a solemn act of
homage to the Father. Christ will offer all creation to his Father as
a kind of trophy, offering him the Kingdom which up to then had been
confided to his care. From that moment on, the sovereignty of God and
Christ will be absolute, they will have no enemies, no rivals; the
stage of combat will have given way to that of contemplation, as St
Augustine puts it (cf. "De Trinitate", 1, 8).

The Parousia or second coming of Christ in glory at the end of time,
when he establishes the new heaven and the new earth (cf. Rev 21:1-2),
will mean definitive victory over the devil, over sin, suffering and
death. A Christian's hope in this victory is not something passive:
rather, it is something that spurs him on to ensure that even in this
present life Christ's teaching and spirit imbue all human activities.
"Far from diminishing our concern to develop this earth," Vatican II
teaches, "the expectancy of a new earth should spur us on, for it is
here that the body of a new human family grows, foreshadowing in some
way the age which is to come. That is why, although we must be careful
to distinguish earthly progress clearly from the increase of the
Kingdom of Christ, such progress is of vital concern to the Kingdom of
God, insofar as it can contribute to the better ordering of human
society.

"When we have spread on earth the fruits of our nature and our
enterprise--human dignity, brotherly communion, and freedom--according
to the command of the Lord and in his Spirit, we will find them once
again, cleansed this time from the stain of sin, illuminated and
transfigured, when Christ presents to his Father an eternal and
universal kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a
kingdom of justice, love and peace ("Roman Missal", preface for the
solemnity of Christ the King). Here on earth the Kingdom is
mysteriously present; when the Lord comes it will enter into its
perfection" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 39).

24. "When he delivers the kingdom to God the Father": this does not
quite catch the beauty of the Greek which literally means "when he
delivers the kingdom to the God and Father". In New Testament Greek,
when the word "Theos" (God) is preceded by the definite article ("ho
Theos") the first person of the Blessed Trinity is being referred to.

25. "He must reign": every year, on the last Sunday of ordinary time,
the Church celebrates the solemnity of Christ the King, to acknowledge
his absolute sovereignty over all created things. On instituting this
feast, Pius XI pointed out that "He must reign in our minds, which
should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed
truths and to the teachings of Christ. He must reign in our wills,
which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our
hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all
things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in
our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior
sanctification of our souls, or, to use the words of the Apostle Paul,
as instruments of righteousness unto God (Rom 6:13)" ("Quas Primas").

27. By "all things" the Apostle clearly means all created beings. In
pagan mythology, rivalry and strife occurred among the gods and
sometimes led to the son of a god supplanting his father. St Paul wants to
make it quite clear that Sacred Scripture suggests nothing of
that kind. No subjection is possible among the three persons of the
Blessed Trinity, because they are one God.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Luke 1:39-56

The Visitation

[39] In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill
country, to a city of Judah, [40] and she entered the house of
Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. [41] And when Elizabeth heard the
greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit [42] and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! [43] And
why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
[44] For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the
babe in my womb leaped for joy. [45] And blessed is she who believed
that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the
Lord."

The Magnificat

[46] And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, [47] and my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior, [48] for He has regarded the low estate of
His handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me
blessed; [49] for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and
holy is His name. [50] And His mercy is on those who fear Him from
generation to generation. [51] He has shown strength with His arm, He
has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, [52] He has
put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low
degree; [53] He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He
has sent empty away. [54] He has helped His servant Israel, in
remembrance of His mercy, [55] as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham
and to his posterity for ever."

[56] And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her
home.

Commentary:

39-56. We contemplate this episode of our Lady's visit to her cousin
St. Elizabeth in the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: "Joyfully
keep Joseph and Mary company...and you will hear the traditions of the
House of David.... We walk in haste towards the mountains, to a town
of the tribe of Judah (Luke 1:39).

"We arrive. It is the house where John the Baptist is to be born.
Elizabeth gratefully hails the Mother of her Redeemer: Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be
honored with a visit from the mother of my Lord? (Luke 1:42-43).

"The unborn Baptist quivers...(Luke 1:41). Mary's humility pours forth
in the "Magnificat".... And you and I, who are proud--who were
proud--promise to be humble" ([St] J. Escriva, "Holy Rosary").

39. On learning from the angel that her cousin St. Elizabeth is soon to
give birth and is in need of support, our Lady in her charity hastens
to her aid. She has no regard for the difficulties this involves.
Although we do not know where exactly Elizabeth was living (it is now
thought to be Ain Karim), it certainly meant a journey into the hill
country which at that time would have taken four days.

From Mary's visit to Elizabeth Christians should learn to be caring
people. "If we have this filial contact with Mary, we won't be able to
think just about ourselves and our problems. Selfish personal problems
will find no place in our mind" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By," 145).

42. St. Bede comments that Elizabeth blesses Mary using the same words
as the archangel "to show that she should be honored by angels and by
men and why she should indeed be revered above all other women" ("In
Lucae Evangelium Expositio, in loc.").

When we say the "Hail Mary" we repeat these divine greetings,
"rejoicing with Mary at her dignity as Mother of God and praising the
Lord, thanking Him for having given us Jesus Christ through Mary" ("St.
Pius X Catechism", 333).

43. Elizabeth is moved by the Holy Spirit to call Mary "the mother of
my Lord", thereby showing that Mary is the Mother of God.

44. Although he was conceived in sin--original sin--like other men, St.
John the Baptist was born sinless because he was sanctified in his
mother's womb by the presence of Jesus Christ (then in Mary's womb) and
of the Blessed Virgin. On receiving this grace of God St. John
rejoices by leaping with joy in his mother's womb--thereby fulfilling
the archangel's prophecy (cf. Luke 1:15).

St. John Chrysostom comments on this scene of the Gospel: "See how new
and how wonderful this mystery is. He has not yet left the womb but he
speaks by leaping; he is not yet allowed to cry out but he makes
himself heard by his actions [...]; he has not yet seen the light but
he points out the Sun; he has not yet been born and he is keen to act
as Precursor. The Lord is present, so he cannot contain himself or
wait for nature to run its course: he wants to break out of the prison
of his mother's womb and he makes sure he witnesses to the fact that
the Savior is about to come" ("Sermo Apud Metaphr., Mense Julio").

45. Joining the chorus of all future generations, Elizabeth, moved by
the Holy Spirit, declares the Lord's Mother to be blessed and praises
her faith. No one ever had faith to compare with Mary's; she is the
model of the attitude a creature should have towards its
Creator--complete submission, total attachment. Through her faith,
Mary is the instrument chosen by God to bring about the Redemption; as
Mediatrix of all graces, she is associated with the redemptive work of
her Son: "This union of the Mother with the Son in the work of
salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal
conception up to His death; first when Mary, arising in haste to go to
visit Elizabeth, is greeted by her as blessed because of her belief in
the promise of salvation and the Precursor leaps with joy in the womb
of his mother [...]. The Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of
faith and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the
cross, where she stood (cf. John 19:25), in keeping with the Divine
Plan, enduring with her only-begotten Son the intensity of His
suffering, associating herself with His sacrifice in her mother's
heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim which
was born of her" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 57f).

The new Latin text gives a literal rendering of the original Greek when
it says "quae credidit" (RSV "she who has believed") as opposed to the
Vulgate "quae credidisti" ("you who have believed") which gave more of
the sense than a literal rendering.

46-55. Mary's "Magnificat" canticle is a poem of singular beauty. It
evokes certain passages of the Old Testament with which she would have
been very familiar (especially 1 Samuel 2:1-10).

Three stanzas may be distinguished in the canticle: in the first
(verses 46-50) Mary glorifies God for making her the Mother of the
Savior, which is why future generations will call her blessed; she
shows that the Incarnation is a mysterious expression of God's power
and holiness and mercy. In the second (verses 51-53) she teaches us
that the Lord has always had a preference for the humble, resisting the
proud and boastful. In the third (verses 54-55) she proclaims that
God, in keeping with His promise, has always taken care of His chosen
people--and now does them the greatest honor of all by becoming a Jew
(cf. Romans 1:3).

"Our prayer can accompany and imitate this prayer of Mary. Like her,
we feel the desire to sing, to acclaim the wonders of God, so that all
mankind and all creation may share our joy" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is
Passing By", 144).

46-47. "The first fruits of the Holy Spirit are peace and joy. And the
Blessed Virgin had received within herself all the grace of the Holy
Spirit" (St. Basil, "In Psalmos Homilae", on Psalm 32). Mary's soul
overflows in the words of the "Magnificat". God's favors cause every
humble soul to feel joy and gratitude. In the case of the Blessed
Virgin, God has bestowed more on her than on any other creature.
"Virgin Mother of God, He whom the heavens cannot contain, on becoming
man, enclosed Himself within your womb" ("Roman Missal", Antiphon of
the Common of the Mass for Feasts of Our Lady). The humble Virgin of
Nazareth is going to be the Mother of God; the Creator's omnipotence
has never before manifested itself in as complete a way as this.

48-49. Mary's expression of humility causes St. Bede to exclaim: "It
was fitting, then, that just as death entered the world through the
pride of our first parents, the entry of Life should be manifested by
the humility of Mary" ("In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, in loc.").

"How great the value of humility!--"Quia respexit humilitatem.... It
is not of her faith, nor of her charity, nor of her immaculate purity
that our Mother speaks in the house of Zachary. Her joyful hymn sings:
`Since He has looked on my humility, all generations will call me
blessed'" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 598).

God rewards our Lady's humility by mankind's recognition of her
greatness: "All generations will call me blessed." This prophecy is
fulfilled every time someone says the Hail Mary, and indeed she is
praised on earth continually, without interruption. "From the earliest
times the Blessed Virgin is honored under the title of Mother of God,
under whose protection the faithful take refuge together in prayer in
all their perils and needs. Accordingly, following the Council of
Ephesus, there was a remarkable growth in the cult of the people of God
towards Mary, in veneration and love, in invocation and imitation,
according to her own prophetic words: `all generations will call me
blessed, for He who is mighty has done great things for me'" (Vatican
II, "Lumen Gentium", 66).

50. "And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to
generation": "At the very moment of the Incarnation, these words open
up a new perspective of salvation history. After the Resurrection of
Christ, this perspective is new on both the historical and the
eschatological level. From that time onwards there is a succession of
new generations of individuals in the immense human family, in
ever-increasing dimensions; there is also a succession of new
generations of the people of God, marked with the sign of the Cross and
of the Resurrection and `sealed' with the sign of the paschal mystery
of Christ, the absolute revelation of the mercy that Mary proclaimed on
the threshold of her kinswoman's house: "His mercy is [...] from
generation to generation' [...].

"Mary, then, is the one who has the "deepest knowledge of the mystery
of God's mercy". She knows its price, she knows how great it is. In
this sense, we call her the "Mother of Mercy": Our Lady of Mercy, or
Mother of Divine Mercy; in each one of these titles there is a deep
theological meaning, for they express the special preparation of her
soul, of her whole personality, so that she was able to perceive,
through the complex events, first of Israel, then of every individual
and of the whole of humanity, that mercy of which `from generation to
generation' people become sharers according to the eternal design of
the Most Holy Trinity" (John Paul II, "Dives In Misericordia", 9).

51. "The proud": those who want to be regarded as superior to others,
whom they look down on. This also refers to those who, in their
arrogance, seek to organize society without reference to, or in
opposition to, God's law. Even if they seem to do so successfully, the
words of our Lady's canticle will ultimately come true, for God will
scatter them as He did those who tried to build the Tower of Babel,
thinking that they could reach as high as Heaven (cf. Genesis 11:4).

"When pride takes hold of a soul, it is no surprise to find it bringing
along with it a whole string of other vices--greed, self-indulgence,
envy, injustice. The proud man is always vainly striving to dethrone
God, who is merciful to all His creatures, so as to make room for
himself and his ever cruel ways.

"We should beg God not to let us fall into this temptation. Pride is
the worst sin of all, and the most ridiculous.... Pride is unpleasant,
even from a human point of view. The person who rates himself better
than everyone and everything is constantly studying himself and looking
down on other people, who in turn react by ridiculing his foolish
vanity" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 100).

53. This form of divine providence has been experienced countless times
over the course of history. For example, God nourished the people of
Israel with manna during their forty years in the wilderness (Exodus
16:4-35); similarly His angel brought food to Elijah (1 Kings 19:5-8),
and to Daniel in the lions' den (Daniel 14:31-40); and the widow of
Sarepta was given a supply of oil which miraculously never ran out (1
Kings 17:8ff). So, too, the Blessed Virgin's yearning for holiness was
fulfilled by the incarnation of the Word.

God nourished the chosen people with His Law and the preaching of His
prophets, but the rest of mankind was left hungry for His word, a
hunger now satisfied by the Incarnation. This gift of God will be
accepted by the humble; the self-sufficient, having no desire for the
good things of God, will not partake of them (cf. St. Basil, "In
Psalmos Homilae", on Psalm 33).

54. God led the people of Israel as He would a child whom He loved
tenderly: "the Lord your God bore you, as a man bears his son, in all
the way that you went" (Deuteronomy 1:31). He did so many times, using
Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, etc., and now He gives them a definitive
leader by sending the Messiah--moved by His great mercy which takes
pity on the wretchedness of Israel and of all mankind.

55. God promised the patriarchs of old that He would have mercy on
mankind. This promise He made to Adam (Genesis 3:15), Abraham (Genesis
22:18), David (2 Samuel 7:12), etc. From all eternity God had planned
and decreed that the Word should become incarnate for the salvation of
all mankind. As Christ Himself put it, "God so loved the world that He
gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

You are so welcome!

From: Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab

The Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet

[19] Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his
covenant was seen within his temple.

The Woman Fleeing from the Dragon

[1] And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the
sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve
stars; [2] she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth,
in anguish for delivery [3] And another portent appeared in heaven;
behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven
diadems upon his heads. [4] His tail swept down a third of the stars of
heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the
woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child
when she brought it forth; [5] she brought forth a male child, one who
is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught
up to God and to his throne, [6] and the woman fled into the
wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God.

[10] And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and
the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ
have come.

Commentary:

19. The seer introduces the heavenly temple (the location par
excellence of God's presence), paralleling the earlier mention of the
temple of Jerusalem (cf. 11:1-2). The opening of the temple and the
sight of the Ark of the Covenant show that the messianic era has come
to an end and God's work of salvation has been completed. The ark was
the symbol of Israel's election and salvation and of God's presence in
the midst of his people. According to a Jewish tradition, reported in 2
Maccabees 2:4-8, Jeremiah placed the ark in a secret hiding place prior
to the destruction of Jerusalem, and it would be seen again when the
Messiah carne. The author of the Apocalypse uses this to assure us that
God has not forgotten his covenant: he has sealed it definitively in
heaven, where the ark is located.

Many early commentators interpreted the ark as a reference to Christ's
sacred humanity, and St Bede explains that just as the manna was kept
in the original ark, so Christ's divinity lies hidden in his sacred
body (cf. "Explanatio Apocalypsis", 11, 19).

The heavenly covenant is the new and eternal one made by Jesus Christ
(cf. Mt 26:26-29 and par.) which will be revealed to all at his second
coming when the Church will triumph, as the Apocalypse goes on to
describe. The presence of the ark in the heavenly temple symbolizes the
sublimity of the messianic kingdom, which exceeds anything man could
create. "The vigilant and active expectation of the coming of the
Kingdom is also the expectation of a finally perfect justice for the
living and the dead, for people of all times and places, a justice
which Jesus Christ, installed as supreme Judge, will establish (cf. Mt
24:29-44, 46; Acts 10:42; 2 Cor 5: 10). This promise, which surpasses
all human possibilities, directly concerns our life in this world. For
true justice must include everyone; it must explain the immense load of
suffering borne by all generations. In fact, without the resurrection
of the dead and the Lord's judgment, there is no justice in the full
sense of the term. The promise of the resurrection is freely made to
meet the desire for true justice dwelling in the human heart" (SCDF,
"Libertatis Conscientia", 60).

The thunder and lightning which accompany the appearance of the ark are
reminiscent of the way God made his presence felt on Sinai; they reveal
God's mighty intervention (cf. Rev 4:5; 8:5) which is now accompanied
by the chastisement of the wicked, symbolized by the earthquake and
hailstones (cf. Ex 9: 13-35).

1-17. We are now introduced to the contenders in the eschatological
battles which mark the final confrontation between God and his
adversary, the devil. The author uses three portents to describe the
leading figures involved, and the war itself. The first is the woman
and her offspring, including the Messiah (12:1-2); the second is the
dragon, who will later transfer his power to the beasts (12:3); the
third, the seven angels with the seven bowls (15:1).

Three successive confrontations with the dragon are described--1) that
of the Messiah to whom the woman gives birth (12:1-6); 2) that of St
Michael and his angels (12:7-12); and 3) that of the woman and the rest
of her offspring (12:13-17) These confrontations should not be seen as
being in chronological order. They are more like three distinct
pictures placed side by side because they are closely connected: in
each the same enemy, the devil, does battle with God's plans and with
those whom God uses to carry them out.

1-2. The mysterious figure of the woman has been interpreted ever since
the time of the Fathers of the Church as referring to the ancient
people of Israel, or the Church of Jesus Christ, or the Blessed Virgin.
The text supports all of these interpretations but in none do all the
details fit. The woman can stand for the people of Israel, for it is
from that people that the Messiah comes, and Isaiah compares Israel to
"a woman with child, who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is
near her time" (Is 26:17).

She can also stand for the Church, whose children strive to overcome
evil and to bear witness to Jesus Christ (cf. v. 17). Following this
interpretation St Gregory wrote: "The sun stands for the light of
truth, and the moon for the transitoriness of temporal things; the holy
Church is clothed like the sun because she is protected by the splendor
of supernatural truth, and she has the moon under her feet because she
is above all earthly things" ("Moralia", 34, 12).

The passage can also refer to the Virgin Mary because it was she who
truly and historically gave birth to the Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord
(cf. v. 5). St Bernard comments: "The sun contains permanent color and
splendor; whereas the moon's brightness is unpredictable and
changeable, for it never stays the same. It is quite right, then, for
Mary to be depicted as clothed with the sun, for she entered the
profundity of divine wisdom much further than one can possibly
conceive" ("De B. Virgine", 2).

In his account of the Annunciation, St Luke sees Mary as representing
the faithful remnant of Israel; the angel greets her with the greeting
given in Zephaniah 3:15 to the daughter of Zion (cf. notes on Lk 1:26-
31). St Paul in Galatians 4:4 sees a woman as the symbol of the Church,
our mother; and non-canonical Jewish literature contemporary with the
Book of Revelation quite often personifies the community as a woman.
So, the inspired text of the Apocalypse is open to interpreting this
woman as a direct reference to the Blessed Virgin who, as mother,
shares in the pain of Calvary (cf. Lk 2:35) and who was earlier
prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 as a "sign" (cf. Mt 1:22-23). At the same
time the woman can be interpreted as standing for the people of God,
the Church, whom the figure of Mary represents.

The Second Vatican Council has solemnly taught that Mary is a "type" or
symbol of the Church, for "in the mystery of the Church, which is
itself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out
in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother.
Through her faith and obedience she gave birth on earth to the very Son
of the Father, not through the knowledge of man but by the
overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, in the manner of a new Eve who placed
her faith, not in the serpent of old but in God's messenger, without
wavering in doubt. The Son whom she brought forth is he whom God placed
as the first-born among many brethren (cf. Rom 8:29), that is, the
faithful, in whose generation and formation she cooperates with a
mother's love" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 63).

The description of the woman indicates her heavenly glory, and the
twelve stars of her victorious crown symbolize the people of God--the
twelve patriarchs (cf. Gen 37:9) and the twelve apostles. And so,
independently of the chronological aspects of the text, the Church sees
in this heavenly woman the Blessed Virgin, "taken up body and soul into
heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord
as Queen over all things, that she might be the more fully conformed to
her Son, the Lord of lords (cf. Rev 19:16) and conqueror of sin and
death" ("Lumen Gentium", 59). The Blessed Virgin is indeed the great
sign, for, as St Bonaventure says, "God could have made none greater.
He could have made a greater world and a greater heaven; but not a
woman greater than his own mother" ("Speculum", 8).

3-4. In his description of the devil (cf. v. 9), St John uses symbols
taken from the Old Testament. The dragon or serpent comes from Genesis
3:1-24, a passage which underlies all the latter half of this book. Its
red color and seven heads with seven diadems show that it is bringing
its full force to bear to wage this war. The ten horns in Daniel 7:7
stand for the kings who are Israel's enemies; in Daniel a horn is also
mentioned to refer to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, of whom Daniel also says
(to emphasize the greatness of Antiochus' victories) that it cast stars
down from heaven onto the earth (cf. Dan 8:10). Satan drags other
angels along with him, as the text later recounts (Rev 12:9). All these
symbols, then, are designed to convey the enormous power of Satan. "The
devil is described as a serpent", St Cyprian writes, "because he moves
silently and seems peaceable and comes by easy ways and is so astute
and so deceptive [...] that he tries to have night taken for day,
poison taken for medicine. So, by deceptions of this kind, he tries to
destroy truth by cunning. That is why he passes himself off as an angel
of light" ("De Unitate Ecclesiae", I-III).

After the fall of our first parents war broke out between the serpent
and his seed and the woman and hers: "I will put enmity between you and
the woman, between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen 3:15). Jesus Christ is the woman's
descendant who will obtain victory over the devil (cf. Mk 1:23-26; Lk
4:31-37; etc.). That is why the power of evil concentrates all his
energy on destroying Christ (cf. Mt 2:13-18) or to deflecting him from
his mission (cf. Mt 4:1-11 and par.). By relating this enmity to the
beginnings of the human race St. John paints a very vivid picture.

5. The birth of Jesus Christ brings into operation the divine plan
announced by the prophets (cf. Is 66:7) and by the Psalms (cf. Ps 2:9),
and marks the first step in ultimate victory over the devil. Jesus'
life on earth, culminating in his passion, resurrection and ascension
into heaven, was the key factor in achieving this victory. St John
emphasizes the triumph of Christ as victor, who, as the Church
confesses, "sits at the right hand of the Father" ("Nicene-
Constantinopolitan Creed").

6. The figure of the woman reminds us of the Church, the people of God.
Israel took refuge in the wilderness to escape from Pharaoh, and the
Church does the same after the victory of Christ. The wilderness stands
for solitude and intimate union with God. In the wilderness God took
personal care of his people, setting them free from their enemies (cf.
Ex 17:8-16) and nourishing them with quail and manna (cf. Ex 16:1-36).
The Church is given similar protection against the powers of hell (cf.
Mt 16:18) and Christ nourishes it with his body and his word all the
while it makes its pilgrimage through the ages; it has a hard time
(like Israel in the wilderness) but there will be an end to it: it will
take one thousand two hundred and sixty days (cf. notes on 11:3).

Although the woman, in this verse, seems to refer directly to the
Church, she also in some way stands for the particular woman who gave
birth to the Messiah, the Blessed Virgin. As no other creature has
done, Mary has enjoyed a very unique type of union with God and very
special protection from the powers of evil, death included. Thus, as
the Second Vatican Council teaches, "in the meantime [while the Church
makes its pilgrim way on earth], the Mother of Jesus in the glory which
she possesses in body and soul in heaven is the image and beginning of
the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she
shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come (cf. 2 Pet
3:10), a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim people of God"
("Lumen Gentium", 68).

10-12. With the ascension of Christ into heaven the Kingdom of God is
established and so all those who dwell in heaven break out into a song
of joy. The devil has been deprived of his power over man in the sense
that the redemptive action of Christ and man's faith enable man to
escape from the world of sin. The text expresses this joyful truth by
saying that there is now no place for the accuser, Satan whose name
means and whom the Old Testament teaches to be the accuser of men
before God: cf. Job 1:6-12; 2:1-10). Given what God meant creation to
be, Satan could claim as his victory anyone who, through sinning,
disfigured the image and likeness of God that was in him. However, once
the Redemption has taken place, Satan no longer has power to do this,
for, as St John writes, "if any one does sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the expiation for our
sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world"
(Jn 2:1-2). Also, on ascending into heaven, Christ sent us the Holy
Spirit as "Intercessor and Advocate, especially when man, that is,
mankind, find themselves before the judgment of condemnation by that
'accuser' about whom the Book of Revelation says that 'he accuses them
day and night before our God"' (John Paul II, "Dominum Et
Vivificantem", 67).

Although Satan has lost this power to act in the world, he still has
time left, between the resurrection of our Lord and the end of history,
to put obstacles in man's way and frustrate Christ's action. And so he
works ever more frenetically, as he sees time run out, in his effort to
distance everyone and society itself from the plans and commandments of
God.

The author of the Book of Revelation uses this celestial chant to warn
the Church of the onset of danger as the End approaches.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Oops, I got those commentaries out of order. I know you can all cope! LOL!

Salvation

FEAST OF THE DAY

The fact that Mary was assumed into heaven body and soul was
proclaimed a dogma of the Catholic Church on November 1, 1950 by
Pope Pius XII.

Pope Pius XII stated as dogma a belief that had been commonly
held by the Church for centuries. This feast is also known as the
"Natale" or the "Dormitio, " of Mary. There are homilies on the
Assumption dated from before the sixth century, and by the
thirteenth century, there was universal agreement concerning this
feast.

The statement of Pius XII included the following excerpt "Finally the
Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when
the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and
soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all
things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the
Lord of lords, and conqueror of sin and death." (Munificentissimus
Deus 1950)

The Assumption of Mary anticipates the resurrection of all members
of the Body of Christ.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

O Holy Mary! My Mother; into your blessed trust and special custody,
and into the bosom of your mercy, I this day, and every day, and in
the hour of my death, commend my soul and my body. To you I
commit all my anxieties and sorrows, my life and the end of my life,
that by your mot holy intercession, and my your merits, all my actions
may be directed and governed by your will and that of your Son.
Amen. -St. Aloysius Gonzaga

TODAY IN HISTORY

1038 Death of St. Stephen, King of Hungary
1464 Death of Pope Pius II
1534 Foundation of the Jesuits
1549 Francis Xavier lands in Japan
1997 John Paul II promulgates the Apostolic Letter "Laetamur
Magnopere" announcing the publishing of the Catechism

TODAY'S TIDBIT

When Pope Pius XII delivered this Dogma in 1950, he was speaking
infallibly. The pope speaks infallibly when he uses his office as
shepherd of all Christians and in virtue of his apostolic authority. This
infallibility refers only to teachings on faith and morals and only
applies when the pope is speaking officially as a teacher and has the
intent to of obliging all the members of the Church to assent. This
doctrine was put forth by the First Vatican Council (1870). -Taken from "A
Catholic Dictionary"

INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray, through the intercession of Mary for all troubled youth.

Sunday, August 15, 2004
(Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time) The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Solemnity)

First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:

Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10
Psalm 45:10-12, 16
1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Luke 1:39-56

The denial of personal guilt makes men ready to surrender their liberty. Better it is for a man to realize he has evil tendencies which must be fought and combated in order that his higher self may emerge.

-- Archbishop Fulton Sheen

A detail from my favorite picture:

MARY IS THE "SANCTA DEl GENITRIX,"

THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

"As soon as we apprehend by faith the great fundamental truth that Mary is the Mother of God, other wonderful truths follow in its train; and one of these is that she was exempt from the ordinary lot of mortals, which is not only to die, but to become earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Die she must, and die she did, as her Divine Son died, for He was man; but various reasons have approved themselves to holy writers, why, although her body was for a while separated from her soul and consigned to the tomb, yet it did not remain there, but was speedily united to her soul again, and raised by our Lord to a new and eternal life of heavenly glory

And the most obvious reason for so concluding is this - that other servants of God have been raised from the grave by the power of God, and it is not to be supposed that our Lord would have granted any such privilege to anyone else without also granting it to His own Mother.

We are told by St. Matthew, that after our Lord's death upon the Cross "the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints that had slept" - that is, slept the sleep of death, "arose, and coming out of the tombs after His Resurrection, came into the Holy City and appeared to many St. Matthew says, "many bodies of the Saints" - that is, the holy Prophets, Priests, and Kings of former times - rose again in anticipation of the last day [Matt. 27:50-53.]

Can we suppose that Abraham, or David, or Isaias, or Ezechias, should have been thus favored, and not God's own Mother? Had she not a claim on the love of her Son to have what any others had? Was she not nearer to Him than the greatest of the Saints before her? And is it conceivable that the law of the grave should admit of relaxation in their case, and not in hers? Therefore we confidently say that our Lord, having preserved her from sin and the consequences of sin by His Passion, lost no time in pouring out the full merits of that Passion upon her body as well as her soul.

[Mary is called mother of God because of the nature of Christ. See ccc 466-469, 495]

MARY IS THE "MATER INTEMERATA,"

THE SINLESS MOTHER

ANOTHER consideration which has led devout minds to believe in the Assumption of our Lady into heaven after her death, without waiting for the general resurrection at the last day, is furnished by the doctrine of her Immaculate Conception.

By her Immaculate Conception is meant, that not only did she never commit any sin whatever, even venial, in thought, word, or deed, but further than this, that the guilt of Adam, or what is called original sin, never was her guilt, as it is the guilt attaching to all other descendants of Adam.

By her Assumption is meant that not only her soul, but her body also, was taken up to heaven upon her death, so that there was no long period of her sleeping in the grave, as is the case with others, even great Saints, who wait for the last day for the resurrection of their bodies.

One reason for believing in our Lady's Assumption is that her Divine Son loved her too much to let her body remain in the grave. A second reason - that now before us - is this, that she was not only dear to the Lord as a mother is dear to a son, but also that she was so transcendently holy, so full, so overflowing with grace. Adam and Eve were created upright and sinless, and had a large measure of God's grace bestowed upon them; and, in consequence, their bodies would never have crumbled into dust, had they not sinned; upon which it was said to them, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." If Eve, the beautiful daughter of God, never would have become dust and ashes unless she had sinned, shall we not say that Mary, having never sinned, retained the gift which Eve by sinning lost? What had Mary done to forfeit the privilege given to our first parents in the beginning? Was her comeliness to be turned into corruption, and her fine gold to become dim, without reason assigned? Impossible. Therefore we believe that, though she died for a short hour, as did our Lord Himself, yet, like Him, and by His Almighty power, she was raised again from the grave.

[Mary was given the grace of baptism from her earliest moment and this grace helped her to remain sinless. CCC 493-494. We should not be surprised at her virtue because of our modern understanding of the vital role of parents in childhood development. Jesus who is truly man as well as God had to have his human self grow and develop in the same way as all people. If Jesus were raised by a sinful mother could he have been the Christ, the New Adam?]

MARY IS THE "ROSA MYSTICA,"

THE MYSTICAL ROSE

Mary is the most beautiful flower that ever was seen in the spiritual world. It is by the power of God's grace that from this barren and desolate earth there have ever sprung up at all flowers of holiness and glory And Mary is the Queen of them. She is the Queen of spiritual flowers; and therefore she is called the Rose, for the rose is fitly called of all flowers the most beautiful.

But moreover, she is the Mystical, or hidden Rose; for mystical means hidden. How is she now "hidden" from us more than are other saints? What means this singular appellation, which we apply to her specially? The answer to this question introduces us to a third reason for believing in the reunion of her sacred body to her soul, and its assumption into heaven soon after her death, instead of its lingering in the grave until the General Resurrection at the last day.

It is this: if her body was not taken into heaven, where is it? how comes it that it is hidden from us? why do we not hear of her tomb as being here or there? why are not pilgrimages made to it? why are not relics producible of her, as of the saints in general? Is it not even a natural instinct which makes us reverent towards the places where our dead are buried? We bury our great men honorably St. Peter speaks of the sepulcher of David as known in his day [Acts 2:29], though he had died many hundred years before. When our Lord's body was taken down from the Cross, He was placed in an honorable tomb. Such too had been the honor already paid to St. John Baptist, his tomb being spoken of by St. Mark as generally known. Christians from the earliest times went from other countries to Jerusalem to see the holy places. And, when the time of persecution was over, they paid still more attention to the bodies of the Saints, as of St. Stephen, St. Mark, St. Barnabas, St. Peter, St. Paul, and other Apostles and Martyrs. These were transported to great cities, and portions of them sent to this place or that. Thus, from the first to this day it has been a great feature and characteristic of the Church to be most tender and reverent towards the bodies of the Saints. Now if there was anyone who more than all would be preciously taken care of, it would be our Lady Why then do we hear nothing of the Blessed Virgin's body and its separate relics? Why is she thus the hidden Rose? Is it conceivable that they who had been so reverent and careful of the bodies of the Saints and Martyrs should neglect her - her who was the Queen of Martyrs and the Queen of Saints, who was the very Mother of our Lord? It is impossible. Why then is she thus the hidden Rose? Plainly because that sacred body is in heaven, not on earth."

[See The tomb of Mary in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, which also has an article on the assumption written before the doctrine was infallibly defined by Pius XII. See CCC 966.
Father Clifford Stevens reports that the tradition of no relics and Mary's assumption is very ancient. "What was clear from the beginning was that there were no relics of Mary to be venerated, and that an empty tomb stood on the edge of Jerusalem near the site of her death. That location also soon became a place of pilgrimage. (Today, the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition of Mary stands on the spot.)
At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when bishops from throughout the Mediterranean world gathered in Constantinople, Emperor Marcian asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople to be enshrined in the capitol. 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."]
[For more, you can see the Meditation on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.]

Cardinal John Henry Newman, Meditations and Devotions, from Prayers, Verses and Devotions, Ignatious Press, pp. 164-169. Meditations and Devotions was originally published in 1903 by Longmans, Green and Co., N.Y. The reprint by Ignatious Press is copyrighted in 2000. Except for the material in brackets and the replacement of archaic spelling, the text above is as printed in the Ignatious Press edition.

The image of the Assumption is by Don Silvestro Dei Gherarducci (1339-1399).

Absolutely!

Ping for the Solemnity of the Assumption

Even some Lutheran Christians celebrated this holy mystery today. The Formula of Concord teaches: "Therefore we believe, teach, and confess that Mary conceived and bore not only a plain, ordinary, mere man but the veritable Son of God; for this reason she is rightly called, and truly is, the mother of God.", and thus we unashamedly sing:

O higher than the cherubim

More glorious than the seraphim

Lead their praises, Alleluia!

Thou bearer of th'eternal Word,

Most gracious, magnify the Lord

Alleluia, Alleluia

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thanks!

Thanks. This was my first Mass commemorating Mary's assumption. Last year at this time, I'd mentally crossed the Tiber and had written my letter of resignation from the Episcopal church to my rector to take place in Sept. 2003.

The Rosary and Benediction at my parish, which we have at 5 p.m. Sunday afternoons, was especially wonderful.