In the Beauty of His Fragrance

Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Assumption

I Chronicles 15:3-4, 15, 16: 16:1-2

I Corinthians 15:54-57

Luke 11:27-28 

            The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven and the ascent to Jerusalem of the Ark of the Covenant: the Old Testament Book of Chronicles offers also to the New Testament words to explain the great mystery of Mary’s body not seeing corruption, she being taken up body and soul to be with her Son in Glory. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the Mystery of Mary’s Assumption this way:

            “966 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. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians…” (CCC)

We cannot compare ourselves with the Mother of God, but the bottom-line of the message to be gleaned from the readings for the Vigil Mass of her feast is certainly one which gives us encouragement and hope.

            “…blest are they who hear the word of God and keep it.”

            From among the Latin Fathers of the Church, the Abbot St. Bruno explains this dynamic between Mary and the faithful Christian with these words from his commentary on this same passage from St. Luke’s Gospel:

            “This is as if He had said: Blessed indeed is My Mother, and blessed the womb that bore Me. But not for this is She blessed: because She is My Mother. Neither is the womb blessed because it bore Me. But both are blessed because She heard the word of God, and hearing it, believed; and believing, She safeguarded it. For had She not done this, She would neither be blessed, nor My Mother.

            Turning then to the Lord Our God, the Father Almighty, let us as best we can give thanks with all our hearts; beseeching Him that in His Goodness He will graciously hear our prayers, and by His Power drive evil from our thoughts and actions, increase our faith, guide our minds, grant us His holy inspirations, and bring us to everlasting joy, through His Son Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.” {The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, vol. 2, Ignatius Press, page 98}

            Somehow vacation time this year, which normally provides lots of opportunities for good reading, has gotten away from me without the usual number of titles being polished off. I can’t say as I am disappointed because I did begin one of Hans Urs Von Balthasar’s major works, something I’ve toyed with doing for years and only now begun. I’ll look forward to picking up that thread a year from now and hopefully plowing through enough hundreds of pages to be able to find words to express my own insight gleaned from one of the greats into the beauty of God which draws us as surely as it drew Mary, she being sinless and therefore most well-disposed, and we by grace and baptism armed for the struggle against the Devil and sin in our own lives, and Jesus the Lord drawing us on like the Bridegroom He is in all His splendor.

            St. Augustine has a powerful passage about this attraction, but my Assumption Vigil reflection has more to do with Mary’s sanctity from the first moment of her being which disposed her to respond fully to God’s will leaving her untethered to be carried, to fly really, to her Son’s side when her earthly sojourn had ended. Would that we would be so inspired to “…hear the word of God and keep it”! Would that we were so inspired to cast off sin and run lightly after her beloved Son, in imitation of the Virgin Mother.

“Turning then to the Lord Our God, the Father Almighty, let us as best we can give thanks with all our hearts; beseeching Him that in His Goodness He will graciously hear our prayers, and by His Power drive evil from our thoughts and actions, increase our faith, guide our minds, grant us His holy inspirations, and bring us to everlasting joy, through His Son Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.”

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI