We have observed in the span of a few days, some major celebrations, namely the feast of our patron Saint Maximilian Kolbe OFM Conv., confessor and martyr, and the great Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady!
The fact that St. Max was martyred on the vigil of the Assumption and his body cremated in the ovens of Auschwitz is no coincidence. He spent his existence at the service of his Queen, striving to earn the two spiritual crowns She had offered him when just a boy – purity and martyrdom – and he once wrote to his brothers:
Would that my ashes might be scattered to the four winds in order to bring Jesus to souls, to bring to them the cause of His Mother and our Mary!
We invite you to read more about St. Max on our blog as well as on St. Max’s Parish website, but in this article we’d like to highlight the glory that is the Assumption (known in some places as the Dormition) of the Blessed Virgin Mary!
Had you attended the 11 AM Mass this morning at St. Max, you’d have heard a wonderful theological sermon on the subject by our good friend and “out of the ordinary” preacher, Dcn. Pierre. You were right – I should have taken notes!
We will however do our best to celebrate the momentous occurrence with a few words.
Fr. Ludwig Ott wrote in his eminent work on Dogmatic Theology, “it seems fitting that Mary’s body, which was by nature mortal, should be, in conformity with that of her Divine Son, subject to the general law of death…” and, on that same note, St. John Damascene wrote:
It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in the act of giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father. It was fitting that God’s Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God.
“Encomium in Dormitionem Dei Genetricis Semperque Virginis Mariae, Hom. II, n. 14” (as quoted by Ven. Pius XII)
and, in a more “eastern” tone, bishop Theoteknos of Livia wrote:
It was fitting that the most holy body of Mary, God-bearing body, receptacle of God, divinized, incorruptible, illuminated by divine grace and full glory, should be entrusted to the earth for a little while and raised up to heaven in Glory, with her soul pleasing to God.
The Venerable Pius XII, who infallibly defined what the Church always believed on this matter in his Apostolic Constitution “Muneficentissimus Deus” on November 1st, 1950, also wrote in the same document:
Immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.
Such is a summary of a doctrine that was already believed and accepted by Christianity from the very beginning! Indeed Ven. Pius XII reminds us:
the liturgy of the Church does not engender the Catholic faith, but rather springs from it, in such a way that the practices of the sacred worship proceed from the faith as the fruit comes from the tree…it follows that the holy Fathers and the great Doctors, in the homilies and sermons they gave the people on this feast day, did not draw their teaching from the feast itself as from a primary source, but rather they spoke of this doctrine as something already known and accepted by Christ’s faithful
It seems fitting. St. Paul makes it clear in his first letter to the Corinthians:
I delivered to you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures: and that he was seen by Cephas; and after that by the eleven.
[…] if the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again. And if Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain […] But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep […]
For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But every one in their own order: the firstfruits Christ, then they that are of Christ, who have believed in his coming.
Our Lord Jesus Christ never found more perfect believer in his coming that She who conceived Him in her immaculate womb, so much so that Christ Himself found it fitting to underscore this aspect of the Immaculata’s glory:
A certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee…” But He said: “Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it!”
Luke 11:27-28
This is emphasized in today’s Gospel readings in the words of St. Elizabeth:
How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled!
This blessing, this glory, is in primis of Our Lady, the perfect disciple. In imitation of Christ, she died, was buried, rose again, and she was seen by so many witnesses (we bear in mind in a special way St. Francis, St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Bernadette…though so many from the very early days of the Church attest to Her visits and support…).
Yet, a most kind mother, and in perfect alignment with the divine economy, she wills us to be her imitators in her belief until that glorious day when we, too, will be reunited to our glorified bodies and rejoice with the angels and the saints, God willing.
What Deacon Pierre stated this morning, St. Ambrose made extremely clear in one of his own homilies:
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit after conceiving a son; Mary was filled before. “You are blessed,” said Elizabeth, “because you have believed.”
You too are blessed because you have heard and believed. The soul of every believer conceives and brings forth the Word of God and recognizes his works. Let Mary’s soul be in each of you to glorify the Lord. Let her spirit be in each of you to rejoice in the Lord. Christ has only one Mother in the flesh, but we all bring forth Christ by faith. Every soul free from contamination of sin and inviolate in its purity can receive the Word of God.
from the Little Office of the B.V.M.
Oh, Immaculata, beloved mother, who in your great sorrow consoled your Lord and Savior on the way to Calvary, rejoice and be glad, for today He in His great joy consoles you on the way to Eternity! Pray for us, your children, your servants! We are all yours, o Mary, this is our fiat to you, o Immaculata, that through your intercession we poor sinners may be made fit instruments to extend the kingdom of Christ!
3.
Franciscans of Life 
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