“HENCEFORTH ALL GENERATIONS WILL CALL ME BLESSED; FOR HE WHO IS MIGHTY HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME” (Luke 1:48-49)

⏰Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15 Aug. 2017)

????Rev 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; Ps 45:10, 11, 12, 16 (R.v.10b); 1 Cor 15:20-27; John 1:39-56

????”HENCEFORTH ALL GENERATIONS WILL CALL ME BLESSED; FOR HE WHO IS MIGHTY HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME” (Luke 1:48-49)

My dear, as you participate in this great celebration today, I pray that just as God lifted Mary high from her lowly state, may he lift you up higher than you can ever think of to the glory of his name. Amen

What do we really need to know about the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary? I guess that there is nothing much other than this, that “[God] has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; FOR HE WHO IS MIGHTY HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME, AND HOLY IS HIS NAME” (Luke 1:48-49).

So in reality we celebrate the completion of God’s triumph in Mary. Revelation 11:19, 12:1-10 describes this triumph of God over evil. So we are not celebrating just Mary, but God who raised her from lowly status to a very respectable position as the Mother of God.

With the Assumption, we say that after the death of Mary, her body knew no corruption and that she was carried body and soul into heaven. I can imagine someone asking, “how is that possible?” And I answer, “With God all things are possible” (Luke 1:37).

But where is it in the Bible? O yea! “There are many other things Jesus did; if all were written down, I think the world itself would not hold the books that would have to be written” (John 21:25). That is why the Church also holds as true and revealed, everything handed down from the Sacred Tradition (cf. 1Cor 11:2; 2Thess 2:15; Dei Verbum, no. 10).

By the way, our bodies knew corruption because of sin. But the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception teaches that Mary was preserved by God from original sin and remained sinless. Even Islam in the Qur’an teaches that much (cf. Surah Ali ‘Imran 3:34ff). If she was without sin, how can her body know corruption? That is common sense!

All these were possible because Mary had a relationship with Jesus who is God. If we are in Christ too, we shall equally be exalted like Mary and become sharers of God’s glory. May God give us the grace to remain fervently in him. Amen.

I wish you a grace-filled day. Peace with you.