Revelations 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
Psalm 45:10, 11, 12, 16
1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Luke 1:39-56
On this Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, the reality of the unfathomable mystery of the Mother of God and her exaltedness before the throne of God, lies in such contrast with her hidden, humble, earthly life in Palestine 2,000 years ago, that many people don't know what to make of her.
Our Blessed Mother is a model that transcends time, epochs, and cultures. Sadly, many Christians are blind to her great majesty as the Mother of God, and see her only as a specially chosen but simple peasant woman who lived in a culture that is much closer to the present-day Islamic theocracies of the Middle East than to the culture of the post-modern West. They don't understand why Anglican Catholics make such a fuss over her.
For those who are blessed to know and love her, she is not only a model for both men and women, but also as our eternal Mother and Mediatrix of grace through her closeness to her Son, Jesus the Christ, our Lord.
"Mary scarcely appeared in the first coming of Jesus Christ, so that men, as yet insufficiently instructed and enlightened concerning the person of her Son, might not wander from the truth by becoming too strongly attached to her.... But in the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealed by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and served through her."
(from St. Louis Marie de Montfort, in "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin," Pt. 1, 49)
Father Ed Bakker
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Bendigo, Australia
