A WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SON

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY - Apocalypse 11:19,12:1-6,10

On the 15th of August, we celebrate the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast is a proclamation of faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ who subjected himself to death to become the conqueror of death. Indeed, Christ has to put “all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet.” (1 Cor 15:26). All those who have become one with Jesus sharing in his death will share also in his victory: Jesus “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Ph 3:21). By celebrating the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of God, we affirm that the salvation brought about by Jesus Christ has been realised on his mother. What we affirm of Mary is what we are waiting for with hope. The Orthodox Church celebrates on this same day the feast of the dormition of the Virgin Mary which goes together with “the translation or assumption into heaven of the body of the Theotokos.” (https://www.goarch.org/dormition). Jesus had compared the death of Jairus’s daughter to sleep (Mc 5:39). And so it happened with  Jesus’ mother: in her death, she entered into a deep sleep and woke up in the glory of God in perfect and total communion with her Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

The Church has always looked to Mary, the Mother of the Lord, as an icon of the Church and a model of the true disciple. She is the woman of faith who is the most blessed because she believed. That’s why the “woman, adorned with the sun” (Rv 12:1) is looked upon as representing both the Virgin Mary and the Church, as the bride of Christ.

Painting by Pedro Chey Dianingama

Rejoice Mary

- Χαιρε Μαρια - 

O favoured of the Lord (Lk 1:28).

 

Trampling the snake at her feet

- the great seductress who brings

darkness and gloom,

sowing sorrow and death - 

She rises, ascending to heaven

wrapped in a mantle of fire,

brighter than the sun

Like a crown on the head

enfolding her trunk

in the shape of a heart;

as the sun of love becomes

the fruit of her womb

to become on the cross

the sun of life and salvation.

With Mary, let us sing the praises of the Lord, giving thanks for his love and mercy.

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

and my spirit exults in God my saviour;

because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.

Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,

for the Almighty has done great things for me.”

Lk  1:46-49