Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 Lectionary: 622

God’s temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

People have always looked to the sky to see portents of the future. What's happening; is it clear or cloudy, bright or dark? We watch storms develop and pass; we calculate how soon the rain might come, and how long it will last. Early in the morning we might look for the first signs of dawn as the sky turns from black to dark blue. 

Until recently, the sky was mostly untouched by any human agency; it was not hidden behind tall buildings, billboards, or power lines. And so people looked to the sky for divine signals of things to come. The flight of birds spoke to them. At night, they tracked the stars and planets. South Sea Islanders were adept at reading directions in the sky even without a polestar. As recently as 1910, millions regarded Halley's Comet as a mystical warning of approaching doom.

So we should not be surprised that Revelation describes wonderful signs in the sky. When this world seemed impossibly complicated and dangerous, our ancestors looked upward to find relief and hope. Our first reading today describes a surpassing wonder: a woman brilliantly clothed with the moon under her feet and a circlet of stars. She is pregnant and about to give birth! Pregnancy, birth, and children are promising signs of a future that must continue indefinitely, beyond our present lives. 

But this fabulous woman appears at a critical moment when many women have died. She is in the agony of giving birth. And, to make matters worse, a terrible serpent appears before her, eager to consume the newborn baby. The drama rapidly unfolds as the child is born and then spirited into heaven -- that is, to God and his throne -- while the woman escapes into the desert. 

The narrative is suddenly cut off by the editors of our lectionary: to be continued?  However, we can read the rest of the story by returning to Saint John's text, in chapter 13.  

Saint Michael with his angelic army, in a battle that lasted as long as a nanosecond, defeated the dragon and expelled him from heaven -- that is, the sky -- to earth -- where we live. And that describes our present situation. It is fraught with the terrifying power and seductions of evil. 

Christians, from ancient times and with good reason, have recognized Mary, the Virgin of Galilee, wife of Joseph, and Mother of Jesus, as the woman clothed with the sun. She is the Woman who heard the Gospel announced by Angel Gabriel. Saint Francis described her three physical relationships with God when he called her the daughter of the Most High, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Spouse of the Holy Spirit. She is the Lord's first and most faithful disciples; and he gave her to us as our Heavenly Mother. We belong to him insofar as we belong to her and claim her as our mother.  

She is the Church which has remained faithful from the moment of her conception, and remains faithfully as our mother, champion, friend, guide, and companion. And so we can rightly say that, although each of us has sinned, Mary has not and the Church has not. She is the Church -- not an ideal institution but a real person -- to whom we look for support, instruction, and inspiration. 

When we hear this passage in the Book of Revelation, we naturally associate the Mother of the Redeemer with this heavenly woman who gives birth to a son destined to rule the nations. And we recognize the Queen of Heaven, the earthly woman who was assumed body and soul into heaven, not unlike the Lord who ascended into heaven. If he ascended by his own power as the Son of God, she was blessed and taken as the Immaculate Conception, a woman singularly blessed among women.

Saint Francis described her three physical relationships with God when he called her the daughter of the Most High, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Spouse of the Holy Spirit. She is the Lord's first and most faithful disciples; and he gave her to us as our Heavenly Mother. We belong to him insofar as we belong to her and claim her as our mother.  

Polemicists harangue us about our sinful church; and they are partially right. We are a sinful people; but we turn to Mary as our refugium peccatorum -- the refuge of sinners. And we look forward to that day when we will follow the blazing trail of her innocence into that place that is free of dragons, demons, and sin.