August 10, 2023
The Church proclaimed the glory of Mary in her soul and in her body in 1950, under the pontificate of Pius XII: "the Immaculate Virgin, preserved by God from all harm of original sin, having completed the course of her earthly life, was raised body and soul to the glory of Heaven, and exalted by the Lord as the queen of the universe, so as to be more fully conformed to her Son, Lord of Lords, victorious over sin and death."
The mystery we celebrate every year on August 15, at the heart of the liturgical year, is not a distant mystery—it is for us. Mary is our mother, and everything she lives, she gives to us, so that we in turn may live it. A mother gives everything to her children.
Mary is a person, a creature like us, very close to us. She’s there whenever we call her. She helps us live the mystery of faith—to believe without seeing, and to pray with the certainty that the Father is listening. Mary leads us to her beloved Son, Jesus.
She leads us into the mystery of the Eucharist to touch and live in the presence of Jesus, who gives us all that he is. She lived in faith her whole life, adhering to the words of Christ, welcoming the Word within her, and believing in the mystery of the Resurrection.
The mystery of the Assumption that she lived renews our faith, and especially our hope. What Mary looks for in us before all else is that we grow in faith, hope and love. At this time in the life of the Church, we need more than ever to grow in our hope, and Mary comes to help us like a mother.
Our mother is in Heaven in soul and body, and this mystery is for us: we are made to see God face to face, to rise again in soul and body. Mary is already living it, to lead us into it. This victory of love over sin and death is for us, and we can live it now in hope, in our daily lives. Mary takes us by the hand on our way to Heaven.
Mary looks at us and loves us, she tells us to go forward, and she asks us to go ever further in love, in faith, in hope, without ever stopping.
