The Fourth Glorious Mystery
The Assumption of Mary to Heaven.
PRACTICE: Purity.
I. Consider, my soul, that for Mary too the hour of her departure from this vale of darkness is arrived. At last, after so many sufferings, She also could repeat the words of hr beloved Son: All is consummated: the prophecies, the establishment of the Church, the heroism of all virtues.
Since the Ascension of her divine Son She lived at Jerusalem till her 45th year with St. John the Evangelist, with whom then She retired to Ephesus to escape the persecution that was excited against the Church: bu when was it lessened a little, She returned to Jerusalem, where She remained till her death. Her life was here, as it was always and everywhere, a life of love of God, an uninterrupted prayer, or rather a continual ecstasy, and a perfect exercise of all virtues, especially of a very ardent charity towards her neighbor. She often visited the places sanctified by the Mysteries and presence of her Divine Son, and She was the consolation, Mistress, Mother, and defender of His new Church because He had her on earth or his purpose.
The moment came She had so long wished for when She was to be united again to the Sovereign Good; and an angel was sent to her from Heaven to warn her of her happy passage. With what joy did she receive the longed for news? What thanks did she return to the Sovereign benefactor! Her soul rejoiced in the love and wish of her Lord, and she heartily offered herself happily to return to her principle. And thou my soul, enchained by the miseries of this world, why dost thou not tend to the blessed abode? Why dost thou fear so much to quit this life? What does this world give thee? What charms thee in this vale of tears? Ah, pray Mary to obtain for thee the desire of everlasting treasures, and dispose thee by the ardor of her holy examples to thy death!
When John heard from the Blessed Virgin that She was about to depart from this life, we read that a great number of relations, Disciples, and acquaintances met together on mount Sion, in the Caenaculum, where the Mother of God was, to contemplate her once more, express her their affections, hear her last memorials, recommend themselves to her prayers, and assist at her blessed death. Nay by disposition of divine providence, as Dionysius the Areopagite says, the only Apostles too met there, who were at that time scattered in the world to preach the faith of Jesus Christ.
All wept for the loss of so good a Mother, of so powerful an Advocate and Mistress, as St. John Damascene says, and the Blessed Virgin consoled all most lovingly and promised her help and intercession to all.
What a happy spectacle! My soul, what dost thou do? Unite thyself to those blessed assistants, approach that merciful Lady, expose her thy need, ask for her help; and through the merits of those holy Disciples request her to obtain for thee all the graces thou desirest. Have confidence, do not doubt, for he dear Mother hears thee.
But she recommends thee the love of thy neighbor, the salvation of souls, as much as thou canst, helping them by a good example, b suitable warnings, by patience, by charity, and by praying God for all the world. If thou pay this homage to Mary, be sure that She will be always favorable to thee.
O my sweet Mother, had I the happiness to assist at thy holy death! Had I been able to kiss thy sacred feet, and recommend myself to thy protection! But as I had not this luck to beseech thee when thou wast on earth; kneeling at the throne of thy Majesty I recommend myself to thee this day, when thou art glorious and immortal. If I could not be present at thy blessed death, vouchsafe, I request thee, to be present at my bitter death, and help me at that terrible hour, upon which my eternity depends, for the sake of this adored hour of thy passage and triumph.
II. Consider how, the hour of Mary's death being arrived, her Divine Son descended from Heaven, accompanied by innumerable legions os Seraphim, to receive in his arms the blessed spirit of his Most Holy Mother, and lead her glorified Soul into his kingdom. And to console her, think that He addressed her the words of the canticle: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come; winter is now past. Abandon this vale of tears where thou hast suffered so much for my sake. The voice of the turtle, viz of thy languishing heart, is heard in our kingdom.
Mary rejoiced exceedingly at that amiable apparition, and her spirit exulted in Jesus her divine Son. And having received Holy Communion from the hands of Jesus himself, as St. Damascene says, she assumed the posture in which she wished to be buried, and said full of joy: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me another time according to thy word. Into thy hands, O my Son, I commend my spirit. Receive with thee this soul, that Thou createdst in thy image and preservedst from sin. See, my soul, how turning to those who were around her sorry and weeping and with lights in their hands, she gave them her dear motherly blessing. Then, forming with all the immense holiness of her soul sublime acts of virtue and most fervent affections, by a most lively burst of love her blessed soul was separated from her unspotted body; and like a Dove of Paradise, released from snares, she fled away to rest in the blessed bosom of her Creator, accompanied by all Angels and Saints to the eternal kingdom of glory and peace. It was right that the Mother of fine love should die only with love. Oh, what a precious and holy death!
My soul, Mary is departing for heaven; approach her feet, and ask for her blessing.
Oh, my Mother, I congratulate thee on thy happiness, greatness, and glory. Thou deservedst to be so highly loved and glorified by God, for thy only thought during thy life was to love and glorify God. But I will not quit this place, unless thou bless me. This is the last memorial of the Mother, who is going to leave her children orphans and disconsolate. Recommend me to Jesus Christ, and have mercy on y misery. One loving look, one bountiful recommendation, one word from thee, suffices to obtain for me every grace. Through the merits of thy blessed death, have pity on my mortal life; and at the hour of my death do not forget me, run to my help and assist me in my bitter agony.
My soul, if thou wilt at thy death experience Mary, a Mother of love, be in thy life a faithful daughter of Mary's love. And if thou wishest thy death to be accompanied by the assistance of Jesus, do not disunite thy conversation and heart from Jesus. Happy shall I be, if I love Jesus and Mary during my life! Blessed shall I be, if I die in the arms of Jesus and Mary!
I promise thee, Oh my God, to love only thee, to think of no one by thee. I recommend thee, Oh Mary, the terrible passage of my soul.
III. The report of Mary's death being spread, all the faithful, not only of Jerusalem, but of the neighboring places also, ran to venerate her sacred body that smelled a heavenly odor, and many sick persons only by touching it recovered. The Apostles, after having bitterly wept on the virginity mortal remains, placed them on a cradle, and accompanied b the faithful with lighted torches, conveyed them to the Garden of Olive-trees, and with great devotion buried them in a marble sepulcher that had been prepared on purpose in a new temple. During three days very sweet songs of heavenly Spirits were heard around that tomb, where they had descended to guard and honor it. Bu on the third day, her blessed soul being by divine power united again to her sacred body, Mary gloriously rose again, and was by the Angels with great solemnity taken u into heaven in body and soul. It was not right that Her body should see corruption for She was unspotted in her whole life and in her very conception, She was really the Virgin of Virgins, the Holiest of Saints, the true Mother of God.
Think, my soul, that Thomas the Apostle, who had not been present at the Virgin's death, having arrived and heard that her sacred body had been buried since three days, was very sorry and asked for the consolation of seeing and venerating the sepulchre of his beloved Lady. They all went there; but what was their astonishment and sorrow, when, having opened the grave, they fund Mary's body no longer, but only her virginly garment, all covered with very fresh roses?
But suddenly they were comforted by a sweet harmony resounding in the air with an angelical song that said: "Mary was taken up into heaven, to the joy of the Angels, who bless the Lord for having glorified their Queen. Be opened, eternal gates: the King of Glory comes in and leads his Beloved our Queen with Him". And the others said: "Who is she who comes forth from mount Lebanon, learning upon her Beloved, like the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun? She is a pillar of smoke of aromatic spices, smelling with all virtues: She is a fair olive tree full of every grace and beauty".
Understand, then, my soul, that the Blessed Virgin, because She was free from original sin as well as from any shadow of actual fault, never grew old, nor lost her beauty in the least; for the same reason She should not have died, because death was given to man as a punishment for sin. But the Lord, partly because He wished to give the Just a pattern of the precious death prepared for them, and partly because He wished to make Mary like Jesus in everything, would have her die, and then go up into Heaven, not by her own power, as Jesus did but by God's power.
The anticipated glorification of her body was the seal of the privileges of God's Mother, and of her Immaculate Conception. She has been conceived from Adam's blood, but through a very particular grace without a shadow of his sin, all pure, all fair and immaculate; She became a Mother, but remained a spotless Virgin, the only privilege not granted to any other creature. It was right, therefore, to anticipate the resurrection of that immaculate body, the living temple of the Holy Ghost, with all the qualities of glorious bodies: agility, subtility, impassibility, and immortality.
Light could not be separated from the Sun. Mary's soul was light, full of grace since the moment of her creation; and her immaculate body was a Sun, ou of which the only Ghost had formed the humanity taken by the Word. The Church calls the Virgin bright as the Sun, because She was privileged above all creatures. And as the sun when setting leaves a great golden light in the air, so Mary on the setting of her mortal journey has left us the light of her examples in all the theological and cardinal virtues, and particularly in her four fold purity: 1st Purity in her body, by which She became the Mother of God; 2nd Purity in her heart, by which She was the delight of the Holy Ghost in all the pure affections and movements of her heart; 3rd Purity in her faith, that She preserved inviolate and lively in her God, and She was the Mistress of the Apostles, the consolation of New Christians, and the Seat of wisdom; 4th Purity in her intention, by which directed all to God, and like a faithful handmaid received all from his hands: joys and sorrows, humiliations and triumphs; so that She is likened to the towering Cedar of Libanon and to the Cypress of mount Sion, that arises its trunk straight to heaven, and to the Palm domineering at Cades.
Purity does not concern only to the body, that is called chastity, but it is the assemblage of all virtues, excluding any kind of vice: so that it belongs more to the soul, as the Psalmist says: Oh Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? or who shall dwell on thy holy hill? He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice. Nay the blessing of God is promised to them who keep their conscience pure: Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Savior.
Then all the glory of Mary proceeds from her being Immaculate and since her first instant superior to the very Angels. And since that moment God looked at out time, when after nineteen centuries the dogma of her Immaculate Conception would have been defiled. And the Virgin herself had this in view when She revealed to St. Dominic the Mystery of her Assumption in soul and body into heaven distinguished from that of her Crowning, while the Church during six centuries and a half celebrated the two Mysteries with one feast. Mary likes much that men consider how all the privileges of her life and death proceed from that first and singular one of her Immaculate Conception.
Oh holy and immaculate virginity of Mary, I will exclaim with the Church, with what praises I shall extol thee, I know not.
My most sweet lady, thou hast already quitted his world, and arrived at thy throne, where thou sittest a Queen above all the choirs of Angels. I congratulate thee on this so high privilege of thy Assumption into heaven. But remember it was in behalf of sinners that thou wast exalted to such a dignity and glory: and therefore thou hast not lost the compassion towards us poor children of Adam, nay it has increased in thee. Therefore from the great throne where thou reigned, oh Mary, turn on me also thy pitiful eyes, and have mercy on me. Look at me and help me. See in what storms and dangers I continually find myself, and shall find myself till the end of my life. Through the merits of thy blessed death obtain for me the love of perfection by the purity of faith, conscience, heart and intentions, that I may end my life in God's grace; and in the day of the Lord my body too arise glorious, and so come to kiss thy feet in Heaven, and with the blessed Spirits praise thee and sing hy glories, as thou deservedst. So be it.