Week two: Getting to know Mary - Day 4

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer to the Holy Spirit 

O Holy Spirit, inspire me. God’s love, engulf me. Holy Mary, my Mother, guide me in the right ways, look at me, and together with Jesus, bless me. Keep me from all evil, from all delusions and all threats. Mary, The Spouse of the Holy Spirit, obtain for me the grace of getting to know you and understanding the privilege of your Assumption. Amen!

The Word of God 

“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. (…) 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” (Rev 11:19; 12:1).

Meditation 

“The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”17 How? Where? When? We don’t know. The dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary shows in her the whole power and purpose of redemption in Christ. Day 4 137 The Immaculate, i.e., free of sin, the Mother and Virgin reveals God’s original intention about who and what the man was meant to be: pure, pretty, and prolific in loving harmony. This plan was breached by sin but not thwarted. Jesus’ incarnation, through which the Virgin Mary became the Mother of God, restored our lost dignity and showed the purpose of our destiny in eternity—the resurrection of the body. The Assumption of Mary with the body and soul indicates that everything in her was harmonious and beautiful, with no inconsistencies. Pure faith led Mary in obedience towards the complete fulfilment of God’s will. In every moment of her life. We need to bring back this kind of balance and coherence in life: between will and action, thoughts and words, soul and body.

In Venice, there is an impressive painting by Titian from 1518, showing the scene of the Assumption. Our Lady raises to the heavens surrounded by angels. Below, there are disciples, surprised by the events they are participating in and already missing their Mother. Around Mary, there is a glow of heaven, and her eyes are looking upward where she meets the gaze of the Father God, who, with open arms, accepts His beloved daughter, the Mother of His Son and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Next to the Almighty, there is already Michael the Archangel with the crown of glory. The element connecting both spheres of this painting, earthly and heavenly, is the intense red colour of the robes of disciples, Mary and Father God—the colour of our Saviour’s blood, the fire of love of the Holy Spirit. Disciples, who represent the whole Church, begin to understand that Mary’s mission hasn’t finished yet. Taking Mary to heaven, God doesn’t take her from their hearts. Moreover, Mary—the praying heart of the Church—summons the Holy Spirit to descend, cleanse and renew. In the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the creation achieves the purpose set by the Creator. Now we, the children, have to let our Mother guide us.

What is the point of our consecration to Mary? To imitate her life, i.e., how she went on her earthly path to heavenly glory. From 138 WEEK TWO: GETTING TO KNOW MARY the annunciation, when she said, “Here am I,” before God and allowed to be led by the Holy Spirit. He not only shapes Christ in her but also guides her through the events and encounters. First, she “set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country,” (Lk 1:39) to visit Elizabeth because accepting Christ always means setting out. And that’s what Mary’s life looked like—the path to Bethlehem, flight to Egypt, everyday roads of Nazareth, following Christ during His teaching, way to the Calvary after her Son, accepting the responsibility of being Mother that began under the cross and in the Cenacle of Church. Mary treasures all the events of her life, ponders over them in her heart, and more and more clearly, discerns in them the secret plan of Father God for the salvation of the entire world. The whole of Mary’s life is about ascending, and finally, the Assumption is reverberating her Magnificat. Like Our Mother, entrusting ourselves to God in all ways of our life, and together with Mary, who is assumed to heavens, let’s pray:

My soul magnifies the Lord, 
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. 
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 
for the Mighty One has done great things for me, 
and holy is his name. 
His mercy is for those who fear him 
from generation to generation. 
He has shown strength with his arm; 
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, 
and lifted up the lowly; 
he has filled the hungry with good things, 
and sent the rich away empty. 
He has helped his servant Israel, 
in remembrance of his mercy,  
according to the promise he made to our ancestors, 
to Abraham and to his descendants forever. 
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit.  
As it was in the beginning, is now, 
and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. 
Come, the Holy Spirit, come through the powerful intercession of 
the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your beloved Spouse.

Spiritual reading 

“He heard her prayers to Him, when she begged to be hidden, to be humbled, and to be treated as in all respects poor and of no account. He took pleasure in hiding her from all human creatures in her conception, in her birth, in her life, and in her resurrection and assumption. Her parents even did not know her, and the Angels often asked of each other: Quoe est ista? Who is that? Because the Most High either hid her from them, or if He revealed any thing of her to them, it was nothing compared to what He kept undisclosed.” 

St. Louis de Montfort, A Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 3

“To thank God for the graces He has given to our Lady, those who adopt this devotion will often say the Magnificat, as the Blessed Mary d’Oignies did, and many other Saints. It is the only prayer, the only work, which the holy Virgin composed, or rather which Jesus composed in her; for He spoke by her mouth. It is the greatest sacrifice of praise which God ever received from a pure creature in the law of grace. It is, on the one hand, the most humble and grateful, and on the other hand, the most sublime end exalted, of all canticles. There are in that song mysteries so great and hidden, than the Angels do not know them. The pious and 140 WEEK TWO: GETTING TO KNOW MARY erudite Gerson employes a great part of his life in composing works upon most difficult subjects; and yet it was only at the close of his career, and even then with trembling, that he undertook to comment on the Magnificat, so as to crown all his other works. He wrote a folio volume on it, and brings forward many admirable things about that beautiful and divine canticle. Among other things, he says that our Lady often repeated it herself, and especially for thanksgiving after Communion. The learned Benzonius, in explaining the same Magnificat, relates many miracles wrought by the virtue of it, and says that the devils tremble and fly when they hear these words: Fecit potentiam in brachio suo, dispersity superbos mente cordis sui—‘He has shown strength with his arm, and has scattered the proud in the conceit of his own heart.’” 

St. Louis de Montfort, A Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 255

Homework 

I will bring to my attention the fact that my life doesn’t end here on earth. In heaven, a loving God and Mary in her deified humanity are waiting for me. 

Prayer of consecration 

I am all Yours, and all that I have is Yours, O most loving Christ, through Mary, Your most holy Mother. Amen!