Because of its profound significance, the Solemnity of the Assumption is one of the Church’s chief celebrations of the liturgical year.  The formulary of the Mass succinctly sets forth the Second Vatican Council’s treasury of teachings concerning Our Blessed Mother.  Mary is, as the Council teaches: “ The beginning and the pattern of the Church in its perfection.”  
   
    Pious tradition tells us that upon learning of Our Lady’s death, the Apostles went immediately to the place where they had laid her body.  They found her not!   Instead, her grave was filled with the fairest of flowers, far more fragrant than anyone could have imagined.  Our Lord Jesus had raised his mother up to the Kingdom of Heaven.   Accompanied by hosts of angels and archangels, Virtues and Principalities were glorifying her as she ascended.  Choirs of Powers, Dominions and Thrones were singing her praises exultingly.  When the Virgin Mother entered the Kingdom of Heaven, she worshiped the Triune God in the Beatific Vision.  She then took her throne as the Queen of Heaven and Earth.

     On the glorious Solemnity of the Assumption, the Church on earth joins the heavenly hosts in singing her praises:  “All honor to you, Mary!  Today you were raised above the choirs of angels to lasting glory with Christ!”  The Entrance Antiphon joyfully introduces the Mass of the Assumption of the Virgin Mother of God into heaven, body and soul.   
   
    In the Second Reading, Saint Paul tells us that at the end of time Our Lord, after having destroyed every sovereignty, authority, and power, will hand over the Kingdom to the Eternal Father.   Only then will Christ’s redemptive mission come to its full completion.   Jesus, the Savior of the World, will have won complete victory over sin, Satan, and death.  As Our Savior has warned us, the angels will have separated the goats from the sheep, the chaff from the wheat.  Purgatory will be no more.   The sheep of Christ will reign with him in glory for all eternity.  The goats, those who have rejected redemption by unrepentant sin, will go to everlasting perdition.

    As we ponder the stark reality of these mysteries, we fly to Our Blessed Mother’s protection.  The Preface of the Mass of the Assumption echoes the Council’s rich Marian teachings: “Today the Virgin Mother of God was taken up into heaven to be the beginning and the pattern of the Church in its perfection, and as a sure sign of hope and comfort for your people on their pilgrim way.” Because of her uniquely prestigious position in Christ’s Mystical Body, Mary is our Mother and our Model.
   
    Redeemed by the salvific death of Our Divine Savior on Calvary, we are on our pilgrim journey to eternal life.  Heaven will be an eternity of joy that, “eye has not seen or ear heard what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  Repeatedly, the Mass prayers of the Assumption point us to our eternal destiny: “May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory!”  As her children, we seek Our Lady’s intercession to bring us to eternal salvation: “You raised her up to heaven.  By her prayers, help us to seek you and live in your love.”  Finally in the closing oration, the Priest prays to the Father: “May we who receive this Sacrament of Salvation be led to the glory of heaven by the prayers of the Virgin Mary.”
   
    The Church lauds Mary as the sinless Mother of God.   Never was she guilty of evil of mortal sin.  Both Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas affirm that not even the slightest venial sin stained her spotless soul. The Virgin Mary alone is the sinless one.   Every human person has followed our First Parents in sin.  Abraham worshiped idols in Lower Mesopotamia.   Moses not only murdered a man but he also doubted God’s word that the Israelites would enter the Promised Land.  Peter told Jesus: “Depart from me for I am a sinful man.” The great Apostle Paul called himself the Chief of Sinners.  Magdalene sinned; Augustine and Francis sinned.  I have sinned; you have sinned.   Sinners we are! All!   Mary alone never offended God by sin.

    Saint John Damascene, the profound Doctor of the Church, wrote of Our Lady’s Assumption:  “How could death feed on this truly blessed one who had eagerly listened to the word of God; who at the Archangels salutation, filled with the Holy Spirit, conceived the Son of God; who without pain gave birth to Him; whose whole being was ever consecrated to her Creator?”   Exhilarated by the treasury of the Church’s love for the Virgin Mother, the Priest prays at the Preface of the Mass: “You would not let decay touch her body for she has given birth to your Son, the Lord of all life, in the glory of the Incarnation.” 

    My dear friends, Our Blessed Mother is our Mother and our Model.  The Church exhorts us to love Mary as our mother.  Yet, the liturgy also inspires us to imitate her as our model.   Mary is: “The beginning and the pattern of the Church in its perfection.”  During her earthly life she practiced every virtue to its highest degree.  She is our model in the practice of every virtue.
   
    At the foot of the Cross of Calvary, Our Blessed Mother gave birth to each of us in the order of grace.   In heaven, she is our Advocate with the Father.   As the spouse of the Holy Spirit, she is the Mediatrix of all Graces.  Good mother that she is, Mary ceaselessly pleads our cause.  She intercedes for us and waits for the day when all of her children are safely home in heaven.
   
    Let us join the Universal Church in heaven and on earth in praise of Mary’s glorious Assumption.  She is the apple of the eye of the Father, the Mother of the Son and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.   “All honor to you, Mary!  Today you were raised above the choirs of angels to lasting glory with Christ!”
                                                                          
                            Father Richard J. Rego, S.T.L.