“In their homilies and sermons on this feast the holy fathers and great doctors spoke of the assumption of the Mother of God as something already familiar and accepted by the faithfulthey brought out the fact that what is commemorated in this feast is not simply that total absence of corruption from the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary but also her triumph over death and her glorification in heaven, after the pattern set by her only Son, Jesus Christ.
St. John Damascene ....speaks with powerful eloquence when he relates the bodily assumption of the loving Mother of God to her other gifts and privileges. ‘It was necessary that she who had preserved her virginity inviolate in childbirth should also have her body kept free from all corruption after death. It was necessary that she who had carried the Creator as a child on her breast should dwell in the tabernacles of God. It was necessary that the bride espoused by the Father should make her home in the bridal chambers of heaven. It was necessary that she, who had gazed on her crucified Son and been pierced in the heart by the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in giving him birth, should contemplate him seated with the Father. It was necessary that the Mother of God should share in the possessions of her Son, and be venerated by every creature as the Mother and handmaid of God’”
Pius XII, 1950
On this Thursday, August 15, the Church will celebrate once again this glorious feast. As we honor Mary in this way, we give thanks to God for the boundless grace given her to live her unique role in the Incarnation of Christ. We also thank God for choosing us to share in this Mystery. All that we honor in Mary is meant to reveal something of the Mystery in us. Every cause of gratitude in us for her sake is a clue regarding the Mystery in us. We watch and we listen that we might know!