Today is August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
We read at today’s Mass, “God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple” (Rev 11:19).
From the earliest centuries, the Church Fathers have read this vision from Revelation as a prophecy of Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant. Just as the ancient ark bore the presence of God into the heart of Israel, Mary bore the Incarnate Word into the heart of the world. St. Robert Bellarmine, the great Jesuit theologian, could not imagine that such an “Ark of Holiness” would ever be subject to decay. His words burn with love and reverence: “My soul is filled with horror at the thought that this virginal flesh which had begotten God, had brought him into the world, had nourished and carried him, could have been turned into ashes or given over to be food for worms.”
The Assumption is, first of all, a feast of divine love. It proclaims that Christ, in his goodness, drew his Mother — body and soul — into his own glory, crowning her with the life He promised to all who follow him. And it speaks to us, not only of her destiny, but of our own: for in the general resurrection, every faithful soul will be drawn into the court of heaven, to share in that same glory.
Entrusting our mission
This day also has a particular resonance for the Dominican Order. On the Assumption of 1217, St. Dominic sent his friars out from their first community to the great university cities of Europe, telling them, “Seed stored spoils; it must be scattered.” The Gospel is never meant to be hoarded — it must be sown, even at personal cost.
Mary’s Assumption assures us that our scattering is not aimless. Wherever the Lord sends us, if we follow him, he will draw us home to himself. Today, let us entrust our mission, our journey and our final homecoming to the Queen of Heaven.
Let us pray,
Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant we pray, that, always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
