munificentissimus Deus

Today we celebrate the Solmenity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Body and Soul into Heaven.

Here is the opening lines of the Apostolic Constituion that pronounces, declares and defines the Assumption to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory:

"The most bountiful God (munificentissimus Deus), who is Almighty, the plan of whose providence rests upon wisdom and love, tempers, in the secret purpose of his own mind the sorrows of peoples and of individual men by means of joys that He interposes in their lives from time to time, in such a way that, under different conditions and in different ways, all things may work together unto good for those who love him."

In order to temper our sorrows he gives us joys.

One of those joys that is meant to interpose in our life is the solemn celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary body and soul into heaven.

This solemn Feast is meant to be an occassion of a more solemn joy imparted to the souls of those who celebrate.

An occassion of Joy...

St. Paul tells us that as the "Body of Christ" we should "rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep." That is, the joy experienced in one member should be an occassion of joy for all members. Thus, what the Blessed Mother experiences in the fullness of redemption, not suffering the effects of sin, corruption of the tomb, or never being reduced to ashes and dust is meant to be for us a joyful anticpation of what awaits us all.

Truly with this proclamation we can say that one like us is in heaven with God, union of body and soul. Her earthly life did not end in the grave but by the merits of Christ, the grace of redemption brings her home.

Thus the toil of her journey, the sword piercing her heart, the suffering of looking upon the face of Christ dying on the cross and dead in the tomb, is not lived in vain. Her "yes" to God gains for her the rewards of such a surrender.

To surrender to God is not an act in vain. But rather it bears fruit...
This is what the occassion of Joy is all about, for all of us who remain with our eyes fixed heavenwards.

Thus, May our reach always be beyond our grasp, for otherwise what's a heaven for!

Truly we can say Munificentissimus Deus, most bountiful God, who takes our surrender and turns it into Glory, thus our 'yes' to him becomes a 'yes' forever, Body and Soul united.

Words of Pope Benedict
"Here also we see the connection with the Immaculate Conception. It can perhaps be paraphrased like this: where the totality of grace is, there is the totality of salvation....What does the assumption of body and soul into heavenly glory mean? What, after all, does "immortality" mean? and what does "death" mean? Man is not immortal by his own power, but only in and through another...truly only in and from the Entirely-Other God.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
"The Asumtion of the Blessed Virgin is a singular particpation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Chrisians."

Mary Most Holy, Queen of Heaven and Earth, we look to you our life, our sweetness, and our hope; draw us onward with the sweetness of your voice, so that one day, after exile, you may show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, now and at the hour of our death, that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.