The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Monday, August 15, 2022

Luke 1, 39–56

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.” Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

One way we can think of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Assumption into heaven, body and soul, at the end of her life on earth, is as a fulfillment of her Visitation to Elizabeth.  At that time, Mary, newly pregnant with the Son of God, “went in haste” to the hill country to Judea.  There, she was greeted excitedly by Elizabeth, who proclaimed her praise for her for doing the will of God.  Mary then broke forth into song, rejoicing in God her Savior.

In her Assumption, Mary, having carried out the will of God throughout her life, departs in haste for the “hill country” of heaven.  Unlike her trip into Judea, which she would have undertaken underfoot, this final Visitation occurs immediately and without any hardship.  

At the threshold of the Kingdom, heaven itself cried out in awe “Who is she who comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?”  And Mary answered, “I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.”  She then entered the “house” not of a human priest of the tribe of Levi but that of the true High Priest, her Son, who had taken flesh from her who was of the tribe of Judah.  The voice she heard greeting her was of the whole court of heaven: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!  And how does this happen to us, that the Mother of our Lord should come to us?   Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled!”  And then Mary rejoiced and exclaimed, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed.”  Then the crowd gave way for her Son, crying out as they did so: “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest!”  Gazing with unutterable love upon his Mother, on whom he had last looked, in the days of his life on earth, down from the Cross, he said to her, “Mary!”  And then, “Come, you blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  As her Divine Son led her to his Father, the angels sang, “The King greatly desires your beauty; for he is the Lord your God, and him you adore.”  Here on earth we cannot imagine the ecstasy Mary felt when she beheld the Father.  The angels sang, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard: neither has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for them that love him.”  Mary could only answer, “I am the handmaid of the Lord.  Be it done to me according to your word.”  And the angels replied, “The Queen stands on the right hand of Almighty God, in gilded clothing; surrounded with glory.

Mary remained with Elizabeth only a few months.  She remains in heaven forever, for that is her true home.  It is our true home, too, to which we make progress day by day, and good work by good work.  With the help of her prayers we shall join her there, and proclaim in the presence of God, “The Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name!”