August 15 2022 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - De Maria, numquam satis, Concerning Mary, never enough.

Looking around my office this morning, I saw a painting of the immaculate heart, a small statue of the Blessed Virgin I found in Madagascar, a cross stitch of the Blessed Mother holding the Christ child my mother gave me on the occasion of my ordination, an icon of Mary, Seat of Wisdom, I had commissioned, a stained glass window of the crucifixion with Mary standing at the foot of Jesus, and an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, I rescued from a garage sale. Some might think this excessive. But I say, never enough. 

 St. Bernard, the eloquent doctor of the Church, who is remembered for his great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary once wrote: “De Maria,  numquam satis”, “Concerning Mary, never enough.” That's certainly true for the spiritual writers and theologians who extoll the virtues of Mary: there is never enough ink to write about her holiness. But it's also true for the honor that we are to show our Lady.

 When we love Mary, it helps us to love God. So we can never love Mary enough. When we seek Mary’s intercession, we are seeking help from the woman God chose to bear his only Son. So we can never seek her intercession enough. When we honor her, we show honor to her Creator, who made her Immaculate. So we can never honor her enough. Mary reflects the light of God like a perfect Mirror, she is called Mirror of Justice. Peering into her face, we see God’s love for us reflected, and magnified. So, we can never say enough about her, because we can never say enough about God.

 St. Louie Marie de Montfort wrote, “We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service.”

 Today’s glorious Feast of Our Lady’s Assumption celebrates the dogma of our faith solemnly defined by the Venerable Pope Pius XII during the Holy Year of 1950. The Assumption is the supreme crown of her privileges – to be preserved immune from the corruption of the tomb,  to be carried up body and soul to the exalted glory of heaven, there to sit in splendour at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the ages. "De Maria, Numquam Satis" apparently also applies to the favors God Himself shows to Our Lady.

 In the beautiful Papal decree (MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS), defining the Dogma of the Assumption, Pius XII recalls the eloquent words of St. John Damascene from 1200 years prior. Pius XII writes St. John Damascene, an outstanding herald of this traditional truth, spoke out with powerful eloquence when he compared the bodily Assumption of the loving Mother of God with her other prerogatives and privileges.” And then he quotes St. John Damascene who writes, "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."

It is always beneficial to us to honor our Lady throughout the Christian life, and yet, in celebrating this glorious Feast, we also contemplate and celebrate our own destiny, provided we endeavour to persevere along the path of grace. The Mother filled with God’s grace is brought body and soul into heaven. She is the stamp of guarantee that we too can come to heavenly glory if we persevere in living in God’s grace, in allowing God’s grace to live in us.

She is, as we sing in the salve regina, Mary is spes nostra: Our hope. We have firm hope that trusting in God like she has, obeying God, loving Christ as she has, is sure foundation for hoping in heaven. And she is our hope, in that she will always help us achieve that end, if we turn to her—her example and most powerful intercession.

She knows the Way, more intimately than any human creature, and she will always help us follow Him, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That Pope Francis and all members of the Church, like the Virgin Mary, magnify the goodness of God through word and deed.

That the Assumption of Mary may awaken government leaders to the supreme dignity of each human life, called to the heights of heavenly glory.

For all mothers, that they may find in Mary the example and strength to carry out their vocation, for the sanctification of all families, and the protection of all young people from the evils of error and sin.

For those who suffer any sort of trial, illness, addiction or trial: that the help of Our Lady, gloriously assumed into heaven, may fill them with the grace needed to carry their crosses with faith and hope

For the deceased members of our family and friends, for all of the poor souls in purgatory…

[EF READINGS]

A reading from the book of Judith

Blessed are you, our God, who today have humiliated the enemies of your people. Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, who guided your blow at the head of the leader of our enemies. Your deed of hope will never be forgotten by those who recall the might of God. May God make this redound to your everlasting honor, rewarding you with blessings, because you risked your life when our people were being oppressed, and you averted our disaster, walking in the straight path before our God. You are the glory of Jerusalem! You are the great pride of Israel! You are the great boast of our nation!

A continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

At that time Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.”