August 15th - The Assumption of Our Lady
By the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)
One often hears meditations on the sorrows of Our Lady, but people from
times
past, unlike contem****ary men, also used to speak often about the joys of
Our
Lady. For this reason, one of the most famous sanctuaries in Brazil is the
Church of Our Lady of the Pleasures, on Guararapes Mount, erected in honor
of
her joys.
Today, the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, let us consider her
pleasures.
There is a good reason to do this. St. Thomas Aquinas sustains that no one
can
subsist on earth in complete unhappiness. To sup****t the suffering of
life, a
person needs to have some pleasure, even if small; otherwise a constant
and
intense sorrow is insup****table. He was not speaking of pleasures as the
world
imagines them, but about the good Catholic pleasures and joy.
Our Lady had many joys. The Magnificat is the expression of the supreme
one, the
Incarnation, but there are others, such as those celebrated in the joyful
mysteries of the Rosary. None was greater, in a certain sense, than that
of the
Assumption. About these earthly and celestial pleasures, I will say a
word.
You know about the coronation of the Queen of England - there are films,
features, and photo-albums illustrating it. The Queen leaves her palace
wearing
a diadem and other splendid attire and enters a magnificent golden
carriage. The
carriage, preceded and followed by brilliant chivalric corteges, moves
along
slowly and arrives at Westminster Abbey. The bells ring, the cannons roar.
The
Queen processes up the central aisle of the Abbey and receives the homage
of the
nobility, the peers of the kingdom, and members of the Royal House. Then,
the
ceremony of coronation takes place. When she receives the crown and is
seated on
her throne, her joy reaches its apex. Her joy spreads over the city, the
kingdom
and the whole world. She is the Queen par excellence and it is a universal
celebration of the monarchy.
The joy of the Queen gradually increases as the day progresses. She
awakens
glad, and her joy swells until the moment of the coronation, when it
reaches the
pinnacle. Then her triumph is complete, and her joy is one that reflects
the
dignity, honor and magnificent destiny of ruling a great people.
I am not considering that Queen Elizabeth II is an Anglican being crowned
in a
religious ceremony conducted by this false religion. I am considering the
Catholic England of old that gave birth to this Monarchy, whose ceremonies
still
smolder under the ashes of that unfortunate Protestant branch. I am
reflecting
on this coronation as a symbol.
Now, let us consider the Assumption of Our Lady. After her most serene
death and
resurrection, Our Lady knew that she would be taken to Heaven. She knew
because
she had reached the summit of her sanctity and wisdom, which communicated
to her
that the hour of her glorification had come. Also her love of God had
never been
so intense and she felt that the moment of the Beatific Vision was near.
So,
Angels from the highest Choirs came down to bring her solemnly to Heaven.
I imagine that her angelic carriage, to use a metaphor, was preceded and
followed by a cortege of selected Angels, perhaps warrior Angels with many
victories against the Devil, like the military cortege of the Queen of
England.
Then she arrived at that most solemn place in Heaven where the inhabitants
were
gathered to pay her homage. She was received by her chaste spouse St.
Joseph and
together, as in a cathedral, they processed down an aisle among the
ordered
ensemble of Saints.
As she passed and moved toward the throne of the Holy Trinity, Who awaited
her,
she received the reverence of all the Saints and Angels. In this cortege
of
honor, she not only received the homage of each one, but she had a perfect
understanding and discernment of what each homage represented. To each
Saint or
Angel, whom she personally recognized, she gave the pro****tionate
retribution of
affection and admiration. She took great joy in this hyperdulia of the
inhabitants of Heaven honoring her because she was the Mother of Our Lord
Jesus
Christ and the creature most faithful to Him.
As the procession came to an end, the feast of the Assumption reached its
apex.
For the first time Our Lady experienced the Beatific Vision; at that same
moment
she was received by the Divine Word, the Holy Ghost, and God the Father.
They
solemnly welcomed her, greeting her as the most beloved Daughter of the
Father,
the most admirable Mother of the Son, and the most faithful Spouse of the
Holy
Ghost. Then they proclaimed her Queen of Heaven and Earth. After this
proclamation, the Three crowned her as such.
All the preceding steps of her Assumption led up to that stupendous end.
She
ardently desired that end and it enormously pleased her. This hypothetical
description gives you a faint idea of the ensemble of joys Our Lady
experienced
that day.
I want to stress that this is not a hyperbole, an exaggeration. I think
that a
feast like this actually took place in Heaven as part of the Assumption of
Our
Lady. Her assumption, her glorification, and her coronation were three
things
that came together in a grand ceremony in Heaven.
A similar glorification will take place at the end of History after the
Last
Judgment. Following the supreme glorification of Our Lord as King of
History and
the solemn recognition of His victory over Satan and his cohorts and
armies, it
is probable that Our Lord will pay a final homage to Our Lady, and again
the
Holy Trinity will confirm her sovereignty over Heaven and Earth - the
glorified
Earth at the end of the world.
It is my opinion that this glorification of Our Lady at her resurrection
and
assumption had an effect on earth and nature. As at Fatima when the sun
changed
its colors and danced, twirling toward the earth to confirm the words she
spoke
to the children, on the day of her Assumption, I imagine the sun was
****ning
with a special glorified light, the air was exceptionally pure, and all
nature
was immensely joyful.
The face of Our Lady before the Assumption would have ****ned with
increasing
brilliance expressing the great love of God she was feeling, her eagerness
to be
with Him, and a presentiment of the joys she would shortly have. I think
that
the last day of Our Lady on earth in a certain sense represents the
transfiguration of Our Lady; it was her Tabor. The persons who were with
her and
saw her would never forget that day for the rest of their lives.
I think that she will communicate to us and to the entire earth some of
the joy
she had on the day of her Assumption and that she now has in Heaven when
the
Reign of Mary predicted in Fatima will be solemnly established.
There is an invocation in a Litany to Our Lord in which we ask: ut ad
celestia
desideria erigas, te rogamus, audi nos - That our souls be raised to the
desire
for celestial things, we pray Thee, hear us. This invocation should be the
conclusion of our meditation on the Assumption of Our Lady. We should ask
that
we may love the celestial happiness of Our Lady in order to give her glory
and
that we may one day be with her in Paradise. We should also love and
meditate on
her joys as a way to accept with peace and resignation the sorrows and
sufferings God sends us so we might prove our love for Him.
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Prayer to Our Lady, Assumed into Heaven:
O Virgin Immaculate! Queen of Heaven and earth! Hail to thee O Mother of
God
and our Mother! We profess our faith in thy triumphant Assumption into
Heaven,
where the Angels and Saints acclaimed thee as Queen of all creation. We
join
the heavenly court in praising thee, and give praise to the Holy Trinity,
Who
from the moment of thy Conception raised thee above all creatures, and at
thy
passing drew thee gloriously into Heaven.
O Mother of the servants of God, we beseech that our will and our very
lives be
rendered unto the service of the Lord, so that we may join in union with
the
legions of Heaven, and offer thee our deepest devotion and love.
O Mother of the Afflicted, do thou watch over and intercede for us in our
daily
misfortunes and necessities. Transform our fear of the Judgment into a
lively
hope through thy blessed comfort, so that on that dreadful Day when Christ
will
come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire, we may be
granted
not the Divine Justice but the Divine Mercy.
O Mediatrix of all graces, as we make our spiritual pilgrimage we look to
thee
as our life, our sweetness, and our hope. After this earthly life, pray
our
souls, full of contrition and penitence, may be delivered unto the blessed
fruit
of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.
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