On Friday, we celebrated the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin and later this week we will celebrate the feast of Our Lady, Mother and Queen.

Saint Amadeus says of her, "Dwelling in the loftiest citadel of virtue, like a sea of divine grace of an unfathomable source of love that has everywhere overflowed its banks, she poured forth her bountiful waters on trusting and thirsting souls...has anyone ever come away from her troubled or saddened or ignorant of the heavenly mysteries...She is a bride, so gentle and affectionate, and the mother of the only true bridegroom."

Beautiful words. Sometimes, I know, that we Catholics are accused of going over the top in the way we describe Mary. I would like to show today that, on the contrary, we could not possibly emphasize her importance enough. Let's start with the Assumption.

What exactly happened at the Assumption? Our Lady, in her old age, more or less died willingly out of love because she wanted to be with her Son. She was assumed, body and soul, to heaven. This is not the same as the Ascension of Our Lord. Jesus ascended to heaven by his own divine power, Mary was given the resurrection of the dead and God brought her to heaven. We know that in Matthew's Gospel, there is a description of this occurring at the time of Our Lord's death. It says, "The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (27:52-53)" We also know that in the Old Testament, both Enoch and Elijah were Assumed into heaven. So, to say that Mary was assumed is not unscriptural.

Even beyond this, we know that in all of history there has never been a claim that there is a tomb for Mary, or a relic from her body buried under an altar, or anything like that. In Church history, there have been many charlatans who have tried to sell fake pieces of the True Cross, so many pieces that the cross must have been bigger than Noah's Ark! There are 3 claimed skulls of John the Baptist (this isn't to say that there aren't plenty of genuine relics). There are no relics of Mary. This was unthinkable, because from the very early Church everyone knew that she had been taken to heaven.

So, what kind of a miracle are we claiming that the Assumption is? Well, all that we are claiming is that, the Resurrection of the Dead that we all hope for, Mary received! She is not different than us, except that she received the gifts of God early. We might further ask ourselves why she would recieve these gifts early and not wait like the rest of us. Her assumption is fitting for 2 reasons. 1) her close connection with the saving work of Jesus and the way she models for us our own salvation, and 2) her motherhood of Jesus.

As the mother of God, Mary is entitled to special honor and dignity. Her vocation means that she was immaculately conceived, baptized early, as it were, and lived a life of holiness and virtue. She did this, as we all might, by cooperating with the grace of God. In the ancient world, the Mother of the King was considered The Queen. A king might have many wives, many junior queens, but his mother was really the one in charge. (We all know that mothers are still the ones in charge!) So, Mary by virtue of her motherhood is also Queen.

Jesus Christ is Our King for all of eternity. It follows that Mary is our eternal Queen. This is why she is assumed to Heaven, so that she might be Queen forever and reign at the right hand of her Son. Her glory is like the moon, a reflection of the blazing, bright glory of Jesus. When we honor her, we honor him above all. It is as if we are in the presence of a great masterpiece and fall in love with it, in doing so we honor the artist. When Mary is crowned in glory, it is to the honor of Jesus.

We also know that, if Jesus has become our brother in the Lord and we are united to him as the Body of Christ, Mary is our Mother as well. She is embodied in the Church, our Mother. When we honor Mary, we honor the Church. And when we talk about her Immaculate Conception and her glorious Assumption we honor the promises of Jesus to bring us to heaven, through the graces of the Church, to live with him in happiness. Let us praise him and give him thanks, for he has provided us with a source of grace as gentle, as affectionate as any Mother so that we, like Mary, may be saved.