From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

August 15th - The Assumption of Our Lady

One often hears meditations on the sorrows of Our Lady, but people
from times past, unlike contemporary men, also used to speak often
about the joys of Our Lady. For this reason, one of the most famous
sanctuaries in Brazil is the Church of Our Lady of the Pleasures, on
Guararapes Mount, erected in honor of her joys.

Today, the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, let us consider her
pleasures. There is a good reason to do this. St. Thomas Aquinas
sustains that no one can subsist on earth in complete unhappiness. To
support the suffering of life, a person needs to have some pleasure,
even if small; otherwise a constant and intense sorrow is
insupportable. He was not speaking of pleasures as the world imagines
them, but about the good Catholic pleasures and joy.

Our Lady had many joys. The Magnificat is the expression of the
supreme one, the Incarnation, but there are others, such as those
celebrated in the joyful mysteries of the Rosary. None was greater, in
a certain sense, than that of the Assumption. .

The joy of the Queen gradually increases as the day progresses. She
awakens glad, and her joy swells until the moment of the coronation,
when it reaches the pinnacle. Then her triumph is complete, and her
joy is one that reflects the dignity, honor and magnificent destiny of
ruling a great people.

Now, let us consider the Assumption of Our Lady. After her most serene
death and resurrection, Our Lady knew that she would be taken to
Heaven. She knew because she had reached the summit of her sanctity
and wisdom, which communicated to her that the hour of her
glorification had come. Also her love of God had never been so intense
and she felt that the moment of the Beatific Vision was near. So,
Angels from the highest Choirs came down to bring her solemnly to
Heaven.

I imagine that her angelic carriage, to use a metaphor, was preceded
and followed by a cortege of selected Angels, perhaps warrior Angels
with many victories against the Devil, like the military cortege of
the Queen of England. Then she arrived at that most solemn place in
Heaven where the inhabitants were gathered to pay her homage. She was
received by her chaste spouse St. Joseph and together, as in a
cathedral, they processed down an aisle among the ordered ensemble of
Saints.

As she passed and moved toward the throne of the Holy Trinity, Who
awaited her, she received the reverence of all the Saints and Angels.
In this cortege of honor, she not only received the homage of each
one, but she had a perfect understanding and discernment of what each
homage represented. To each Saint or Angel, whom she personally
recognized, she gave the proportionate retribution of affection and
admiration. She took great joy in this hyperdulia of the inhabitants
of Heaven honoring her because she was the Mother of Our Lord Jesus
Christ and the creature most faithful to Him.

As the procession came to an end, the feast of the Assumption reached
its apex. For the first time Our Lady experienced the Beatific Vision;
at that same moment she was received by the Divine Word, the Holy
Ghost, and God the Father. They solemnly welcomed her, greeting her as
the most beloved Daughter of the Father, the most admirable Mother of
the Son, and the most faithful Spouse of the Holy Ghost. Then they
proclaimed her Queen of Heaven and Earth. After this proclamation, the
Three crowned her as such.

All the preceding steps of her Assumption led up to that stupendous
end. She ardently desired that end and it enormously pleased her. This hypothetical description gives you a faint idea of the ensemble of
joys Our Lady experienced that day.

I want to stress that this is not a hyperbole, an exaggeration. I
think that a feast like this actually took place in Heaven as part of
the Assumption of Our Lady. Her assumption, her glorification, and her coronation were three things that came together in a grand ceremony in
Heaven.

A similar glorification will take place at the end of History after
the Last Judgment. Following the supreme glorification of Our Lord as
King of History and the solemn recognition of His victory over Satan
and his cohorts and armies, it is probable that Our Lord will pay a
final homage to Our Lady, and again the Holy Trinity will confirm her sovereignty over Heaven and Earth--the glorified Earth at the end of
the world.

It is my opinion that this glorification of Our Lady at her
resurrection and assumption had an effect on earth and nature. As at
Fatima when the sun changed its colors and danced, twirling toward the
earth to confirm the words she spoke to the children, on the day of
her Assumption, I imagine the sun was shining with a special glorified
light, the air was exceptionally pure, and all nature was immensely
joyful.

The face of Our Lady before the Assumption would have shined with
increasing brilliance expressing the great love of God she was
feeling, her eagerness to be with Him, and a presentiment of the joys
she would shortly have. I think that the last day of Our Lady on earth
in a certain sense represents the transfiguration of Our Lady; it was
her Tabor. The persons who were with her and saw her would never
forget that day for the rest of their lives.

I think that she will communicate to us and to the entire earth some
of the joy she had on the day of her Assumption and that she now has
in Heaven when the Reign of Mary predicted in Fatima will be solemnly established.

There is an invocation in a Litany to Our Lord in which we ask: ut ad
celestia desideria erigas, te rogamus, audi nos--That our souls be
raised to the desire for celestial things, we pray Thee, hear us. This invocation should be the conclusion of our meditation on the
Assumption of Our Lady. We should ask that we may love the celestial
happiness of Our Lady in order to give her glory and that we may one
day be with her in Paradise. We should also love and meditate on her
joys as a way to accept with peace and resignation the sorrows and
sufferings God sends us so we might prove our love for Him.

See Images at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j086sdAssumption8-15.htm


Bible Quote:
For the spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world:
and that, which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice.
(Wisdom 1:7)=C2 DRB

Saint Quote:
Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts.
Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity.
--St. Therese of Lisieux

<><><><>
The Science of Divine Love

The science of divine love operates in the dimensions of intensity and
depth, rather than in the worldly one of quantity. Adopting this
principle, it follows that the smallest number of believers with the
most pure love will have the most significant effect on the Church,
compared to a greater number of believers who have less love for God.
The lives of the saints are a living witness to the power of one soul
in influencing =E2=80=9Cthe destiny of the whole world,=E2=80=9D as describ=
ed vividly
in the Diary of St. Faustina.


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