Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Lk 11,27-28
At the time when Jesus was speaking to the people, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and cried out to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breast that fed you! And he replied, “Yes, blessed are those who hear the word of God and follow it.
Together with the infinite dignity of being the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, this Word of the Lord is fulfilled completely in the life of the Virgin Mary. It is the innermost being of Mary to listen to God and to follow His instructions. This way of listening to the Blessed Virgin means that her heart is directed undividedly towards God and that she carries out with joy all that God addresses to her.
Her unique vocation to be the Mother of the Redeemer and to be destined by God to spiritual motherhood for all people, is something we are invited to receive with great gratitude and meditate again and again in our hearts. “All generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1,48). Mary rejoices in God and we join in this hymn of praise, because the Mighty One has done great things to her and His name is holy. (cf. Lk 1,49)
The Holy Virgin carries out this spiritual motherhood entrusted to her when we turn to her and ask her to accompany us. She then takes us into that very inner school of which the Lord speaks here in the text, namely to hear the Word of God and to follow it: „Do whatever he tells you“ (Jn 2,5) she says to the servants in Cana and the water turns into wine. This can also be interpreted as a spiritual image. If we listen to God and do it, everything turns into tasty, delicious wine and becomes daily food. From this wine one can be drunk without harm!
In past Father reflections I have pointed out that the heavenly Father draws our attention to the fact that we often do not yet know Him enough as He really is. We grasp too little of his infinite love and mercy, so that God opens us up again and again in the most diverse ways and assures us how much he loves us. Obviously, this love of God has not yet become enough a daily joy for many souls, which accompanies us through all situations. Also the missionaries – so it says in the little book of the Father – proclaim the right image of God only as far as they are able to grasp it.
If, on the other hand, we look at the Mother of the Lord, we can say with certainty that there is probably no creature that has known God better. So if we ask her to get to know God in the right way, she will certainly give us the authentic image of God. Her knowledge of God is so true and deep that we can rejoice day by day to grow in the knowledge of God.
Our friend, Roy Schumann, (see: Daily Meditations 26-29 January 2020:
http://en.elijamission.net/?m=202001) who had the grace to meet the Virgin Mary in a special way and thus found his way into the Catholic Church, told us that the Virgin loves especially when she is seen as the daughter of the Father, the mother of the Son and the bride of the Holy Spirit.
This emphasizes a particular relationship with the three persons of the Blessed Trinity.
She is the “beloved daughter of the Father”, who always listens to God and follows his ways in a trusting readiness, even if she was not aware of them in everything. “Let it happen to me as you have said” (Lk 1,38) says Mary when she received the message of the angel Gabriel. Mary will help us to live our devotion to God and walk in God’s ways as she did.
As “Mother of the Son”, her human love for Jesus was permeated by supernatural love through the grace of God, so that in the light of God she was able to say yes to the way of suffering of her Son in order to redeem the world, even if a sword pierced her heart (cf. Lk 2,35). She will help us to purify our human love, so that it may be completely absorbed into and shaped by the supernatural love of God. Then our hearts will widen and we will be able to awaken on the spiritual level to a universal love that looks to all people and cares for their salvation. Mary’s heart will then beat within us – filled with the love of God!
As the “Spouse of the Holy Spirit”, Mary is intimately united with the third person of God – with her divine Bridegroom. He not only overshadowed her at the conception of the Lord (cf. Lk 1,35), but always remained in her and she became a permanent dwelling place, the temple of His glory. All her ways and thoughts were guided by him and in her readiness to follow the slightest wishes of the Lord, she also became the “seat of wisdom”.
We too are called to become a “seat of God’s wisdom”, because the Holy Spirit also wants to make our soul a permanent temple of God by unfolding all His gifts and transform us more and more into the image of God. In Mary we not only have the unsurpassed example, but her jealous love will not rest until we give the heavenly Father the honor and gratitude that is due to him, until we have accepted her Son as Savior and Redeemer, and until we have willingly dedicated our soul to the action of the Holy Spirit so that we may glorify God and serve God as true children.