The Fourth Glorious Mystery

Christ or Chaos ^ | August 11, 2004 | Thomas A. Droleskey

[Convert from ECUSA]

The glorious feast we will celebrate this Sunday, August 15, was defined solemnly as an article contained in the Deposit of Faith by Pope Pius XII in 1950, just fifty-four years ago. However, the feast of Our Lady’s Assumption body and soul into Heaven has been celebrated by the Church from the early centuries of the Church. Consider the words of Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., in The Liturgical Year:

At Rome the Assumption or Domitio of the holy Mother of God appears in the seventh century to have already been celebrated for an indefinite length of time; nor does it seem to have had any other day than August 15. According to Nicephorous Callistus, the same date was assigned to it for Constantinople by the Emperor Maurice at the end of the sixth century. The history notes, at the same time, the original of several other solemnities, while of the Dormitio alone, he does not say that it was established by Maurice on such a day; hence learned authors have concluded that the feast itself already existed before the imperial decree was issued, which was thus only intended to put an end to its being celebrated on various days.

This great feast day is celebrated on August 15, to be sure. However, anyone who prays all fifteen mysteries of Our Lady’s Most Holy Rosary (please, I ignore most luminously the Pope’s “Luminous Mysteries) contemplates the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven every single day. The doctrine of the Assumption is intimately connected with the that of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception. It is indeed telling that the only two exercises of ex cathedra Papal teaching in the recent past have been the proclamations of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. (The doctrine of Papal infallibility was proclaimed solemnly by the First Vatican Council, at which presided Blessed Pius IX.)

Our Lady was preserved from all stain of sin from the first moment of her conception in her mothers’s womb. She had a perfect human nature, that of Adam and Eve before their fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, Our Lady was endowed with a superior intellect and a superior will. She had a delicate balance between her higher rational faculties and the lower passions. She, the New Eve and Ark of the New Covenant, was the singular vessel of honor in which she would enflesh the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity with a human body and a human nature by the power of the Holy Ghost. Although full of grace from the moment of her Immaculate Conception, Our Lady grew in holiness through the years as she, the Mediatrix of all graces and the co-Redemptrix of the world, surrendered herself to the will of the Father at every moment of her life.

Our Lady was presented in the Temple at the age of three by year parents, Saints Joachim and Anne, being consecrated to God at that moment. Our Lady had chosen perpetual virginity for herself, being given by God the privilege of conceiving a child by the power of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity and giving birth without any loss of her virginity. The woman who was conceived without stain of sin belonged to God from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception. That she should be given the privilege of being with God with her body and soul united to each other following her death should come as no surprise.

Although preserved from the stain of sin, Our Lady suffered its effects on many occasions in her life. The aged Simeon told her that a sword of sorrow would pierce her soul so that the thoughts of many hearts would be laid bare. She was forced to flee with her chaste spouse, Saint Joseph, into Egypt when King Herod sought to kill the Child Jesus. As the Co-Redemptrix, Our Lady suffered with her Divine Son as He suffered the cruel effects of our own sins and our own indifference. For the Flesh that was offered up on the wood of the Holy Cross came from her flesh. The Most Precious Blood that was shed for the forgiveness of our sins came from her blood. The Most Sacred Heart that was pierced because of our offenses was formed out of her own Immaculate Heart. As there was a perfect communion between those two Hearts, Our Lady suffered completely with her Son. Having grown in holiness throughout her years of faithful service to the Blessed Trinity as a single girl and as a wife and Mother, the pain of sin was as horrific and tortuous to Our Lady as it was to her Divine Son. No mother has suffered more than Our Blessed Mother. For no other mother was conceived without sin. No other mother had a perfect communion of hearts with her son. No other mother was so thoroughly repulsed by the thought of sin than our Blessed Mother, given to us at the foot of the Cross to be our Mother.

We are sinners, however. We suffer in this life justly. Even when we suffer unjustly as a result of the thoughtless actions of others, we suffer Our Lady, offering up our sufferings to her Immaculate Heart so that they can be presented to the Blessed Trinity. As Our Lady’s consecrated slaves, we thus help to participate in the work of redemption, trusting that the merits we freely surrender to her will help make reparation for the just temporal punishment that is due our own sins and to help to alleviate the suffering of the Poor Souls in Purgatory. We know that our bodies, which are destined to age and to deteriorate because of Original Sin, must suffer the corruption of the grave until the General Resurrection of the Dead on the Last Day, at which point our bodies will be reunited with our souls to enjoy forever the bliss of the Beatific Vision or to endure the sufferings of hellfire and eternal separation from God in Hell.

It is no accident that the bodies of some saints remain incorrupt after death, for while they were not conceived immaculately, they so thoroughly despised sin and loved God with such fervor as He has revealed Himself through His true Church that their bodies emit a sweet odor even centuries after they had died. The preservation of the bodies of some great saints thus teaches us the necessity of Our Lady being assumed body and soul into Heaven. For if those who were conceived with the stain of sin but who aspired to holiness are deemed fit to be incorrupt after death, it is only just and right that the body of the Mother of God be assumed body and soul into Heaven to be crowned as Queen of Heaven and of earth.

Our Lady is our sure fortress against the power of sin in our lives and in our world. After the Mass and Eucharistic piety, it is devotion to Our Lady which most efficaciously helps to mold souls in the image of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Lady teaches us how to fulfill the Father’s will by the following the Son in Spirit and in Truth through His true Church, outside of which there is no salvation. Her bodily Assumption into Heaven teaches us how we must love God, how much we must despise sin, and how much we should strive on a daily basis to resist sin and grow in holiness for love of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Turning again to Dom Gueranger:

Thou didst taste death, O Mary! But that death, like the sleep of Adam at the world’s beginning, was but an ecstasy leading the Bride into the Bridegroom’s presence. As the sleep of the new Adam on the great day of salvation, it called for the awakening of resurrection. In Jesus Christ our entire nature, soul and body, was already reigning in heaven; but as in the first paradise, so in the presence of the Holy Trinity, it was not good for man to be alone. To-day at the right hand of Jesus appears the new Eve, in all things like to her Divine Head, in His vesture of glorified flesh: henceforth nothing is wanting in the eternal paradise.

O Mary, who according to the expression of thy devout servant John Damascene, has made death blessed and happy, detach us from this world, where nothing ought now to have a hold on us. We have nothing ought now to have a hold on us. We have accompanied thee in desire; we have followed thee with the eyes of our soul, as far as the limits of our mortality allowed; and now, can we ever again turn our eyes upon this world of darkness? O Blessed Virgin, in order to sanctify our exile and help us to rejoin thee, bring to our aid the virtues whereby, as on wings, thou didst soar to so sublime a height. In us, too, the must reign; in us, they must crush the head of the wicked serpent, that one day they may triumph in us. O day of days, when we shall behold not only our Redeemer, but also the Queen who stands so close to the Sun of Justice as even to be clothed therewith, eclipsing with her brightness all the splendours of the saints!

The Church, it is true, remains to you, O Mary, the Church, who is also our Mother, and who continues thy struggle against the dragon with its seven hateful heads. But she, too, sighs for the time when the wings of an eagle will be given her, and she will be permitted to rise like thee from the desert and to reach her Spouse. Look upon her passing, like the moon, at thy feet, through her laborious phases; hear the supplications she addresses to thee as Mediatrix with the divine Sun; through thee may she receive light; through thee may she find favour with Him who loved thee, and clothed thee with glory and crowned thee with beauty.

We can never presume our salvation. Indeed, a priest in Allentown, Pennsylvania, closed an otherwise awful “homily” on the Feast of the Assumption in 1980 by saying, “Where are we going? We’re all going to Heaven.” There’s a little word for this: heresy (which is just part and parcel of the conciliarist religion). No, our salvation is not guaranteed. We neither presume nor despair of our salvation. We simply trust that Our Lady will pray for us nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

Our Lady, Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.

Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, the Apostle of Mary Immaculate, pray for us.

Saint Catherine Laboure, to whom Our Lady showed herself as the Mediatrix of all Graces, pray for us.

Blessed Feast day to one and to all this coming Sunday.

[Lexinom]

Was not Mary also born to sinful parents? And their parents? Where would one draw the line?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Excellent observation. I never thought of it in those terms before.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Have a good time... Watch out for any wizards and tin men. ~~ irishtenor

Sheesh... no kidding.

I thought we might be in for a real show here, but this alleged "Hurricane" is turning into a complete disappointment.

Forecast tomorrow calls for 80-mile-an-hour winds at most. Being from Oklahoma tornado country, that barely qualifies as a stiff breeze.

In other words, never mind... I'll probably sleep through the whole shebang.

Best, OP

[Revelation 911]

clarify something for me pyro - was she concieved in the normal manner - or was she concieved as Christ was concieved?

[sheltonmac]

OP will be incommunicado a few days until Charley blows through the Keys.

Our prayers are with you.

[Stubborn]

So, original sin doesnt apply to Mary? - Can you point me to the Scriptural basis for that please Thats an easy one if you stop to consider a few things. Jesus was always God, even while in His Mother's womb right? As God, not even for a nano-moment could any trace of sin be found in Him. If Mary was born with the stain of original sin, there would have been some impurity from that stain that would have had to flow right through God's veins. But we know that, in God, there never was or ever will be anything that is with stain of sin, how could Her blood, their hearts, Her tabernacle and their souls be anything BUT immaculate? If you cannot agree with the above, consider this: How about just prior to His conception. The Holy Spirit had some type of personal and intimate union with Her in order for Her to be conceived of the Holy Spirit, so might it not make sense that if indeed She ever even was immaculate, that it would have had to happen sometime before the moment of Jesus' conception? Otherwise, we would be saying that it was ok for the Holy Spirit to expose Himself to something that was not spotless albeit it were for but an instant, but not for Jesus who dwelled within Her for 9 months. She was spotless before She was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Now, from the instant She was conceived in her mother's womb, She was spared this sin of Adam. Every person that is born into this world has the sin of Adam handed down to them by their parents. THATS the way this sin is procured by the whole human race because thats the way God dictated it. There is no other way to get Origianl Sin. For God's purpose and by His will, God spared Mary of this sin due to the impending position that She was to partake of later in life, hence, any child, conceived of the Holy Spirit that She would have bore, would not have had the necessary ingredient to be born in original sin because She was not born in original sin, and therefore had no stain or effects of it--- and therefore the sin itself nor its concupiscence could be handed down to Her child. Aside from all that, we all love our mothers. If you could create your mother, you would want to make her as lovely and as perfect as you could. Well, Jesus could and DID create his mother. He did indeed make her perfect and without any stain of sin. And Jesus never for once second allowed his mortal enemy, the devil, to have dominion over his beloved mother.

[Stubborn]

Thought you might enjoy this. Its not something that we normally hear anymore but today is the Feast of The Death of Our Lady (58). This feast is more lovingly called “the Dormition” (the Sleep) of Our Lady. For although she really and truly died, Mary’s death lasted for only forty hours, the same length of time as Our Lord’s death. Then, with her body incorrupt, Mary was restored to life and was assumed, body and soul, into Heaven. The Apostles, with the exception of Saint James who had died, and of Saint Thomas who was brought later, were miraculously transported from the parts of the world where they were preaching to attend the death of Our Lady in Jerusalem, when she gave up her immaculate and spotless soul to God. Saint Timothy, Saint Denis the Areopagite and Saint Hierotheus, his friend, were also brought miraculously to Our Lady’s bedside. Jesus Himself came down from Heaven to assist at Our Lady’s death. Just before Mary died, Jesus gave her the Blessed Eucharist, the Body and Blood which she had given to Him when she conceived Him at Nazareth. Our Lady was buried reverently by the Apostles at the foot of the Mount of Olives, just below the place where Our Lord had sweat blood on the eve off his Passion. It was not far from the grave where Saint Lazarus had been buried and was raised from the dead by Jesus. Mary’s soul, during the interval when her virginal body lay dead, was able to visit the souls in Purgatory so as to comfort and to release them, just as Our Lord’s soul, during the three days He lay dead, went to comfort the souls in the Limbo of the Just. Our Lady was seventy-two years old when she died.

[biblewonk]

Nope, not going to happen. As I age (I'm only 24), I'm becoming more traditional.

My wish for you is that you become scriptural and put away the "traditions of men".

[biblewonk]

Funny how Calvin, Luther and Zwingli were all devoted to the Blessed Mother only to have their followers chuck their teachings some four centuries later.

I wish you could drop some verses instead of droping names. I don't remember reading anything in the bible from Calvin, Luther or Zwingli. Kind of like I don't remember reading anything in the bible about emaculate conception, assumption/assention which ever one applies to Mary, Dispensitrix of all Graces, Mother of the church, Queen of heaven. Actually the Queen of heaven is in the bible.

[Convert from ECUSA]

Thanks, Stubborn. I appreciate the post!

[Pyro7480]

She was conceived in the "normal" matter, in the sense that she has one human father, whose name is Joachim, and one mother, whose name is Ann. However, through the power of God (through whom all things are possible), she was spared the stain of original sin.

[Pyro7480]

You see, this is another thing where our theologies differ. Therer is a difference between Sacred Tradition, which is inspired by the Holy Ghost, and the "traditions of men," such as liturgical clothing.

[Pyro7480]

See my post 71.

[topcat54]

"So, original sin doesnt apply to Mary? - Can you point me to the Scriptural basis for that please"

Angel Gabriel: Hail Mary, full of Grace

"And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people."

And so I take it Stephen was also immaculately conceived.

[biblewonk]

You see, this is another thing where our theologies differ. Therer is a difference between Sacred Tradition, which is inspired by the Holy Ghost, and the "traditions of men," such as liturgical clothing.

There would have to be wouldn't there. It's called damage control.

[Pyro7480]

Whatever...

[topcat54]

It's called typology. When God ordered the Ark of the Covenant to be made, which contained the written Word of God, He ordered that it by made of pure materials.

The greatest effort in typological interpretation by Mr. Madrid comes in his attempt to parallel the Ark of the Covenant and Mary. The first parallel he draws has to do with the fact that God took such great pains to make sure the Ark was properly constructed. He says,

    God wanted the ark to be as perfect and unblemished as humanly 
    possible so it would be worthy of the honor of bearing the 
    written Word of God.  How much more so would God want Mary, the 
    ark of the new covenant, to be perfect and unblemished since she 
    would carry within her womb the Word of God in flesh.

Does this kind of interpretation bear the weight of investigation? While we admit the force such things carry with those who already accept these doctrine, we point out that there is no way to test the interpretation. We can easily point out absurdities to which the parallel can be pushed--for example, must Mary have been stolen by God's enemies for a time, so that she could be brought back to the people of God with great rejoicing? Who was Mary's Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:3-8)? Madrid draws a further parallel between the three months the ark was with Obededom and the three months Mary was with Elizabeth. What, then, is the parallel with David's action of sacrificing a bull and a fattened calf when those who were carrying the ark had taken six steps (2 Samuel 6:13)? See, Mr. Madrid feels free to pick and choose what aspects of Mary's life he wishes to parallel in the ark, and which he does not--there are no rules in this kind of interpretation, and it can lead to just about any conclusion. Pat seems to recognize at least some of this, for he says,

    Granted, none of these verses "proves" Mary's Immaculate 
    Conception, but they all point to it.  After all, the Bible 
    nowhere says Mary committed any sin or languished under original 
    sin.  As far as explicit statements are concerned, the Bible is 
    silent on most of the issue, yet all the biblical evidence 
    supports the Catholic teaching.

We are left wondering at Mr. Madrid's definition of "biblical evidence," but we are glad to see that he recognizes that all that has come before does not "prove" the Immaculate Conception. One will believe that doctrine only if one believes that the Roman Catholic Church is infallible and has an authority that does not need Scriptural basis. It seems that, sadly, Mr. Madrid accepts Rome's claims.

A Biblical Basis for the "Immaculate Conception"?

[HarleyD]

Jesus' response to the first Catholic:

"While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed." But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it." Luke 11:27-28

Blessings to you OP in this stormy weather.

[sr4402]

Mary is the Greatest Intecessor!!!

Sorry that title is reserved for Christ alone:

Romans 8:34; "who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

This verse clearly teaches that Christ is the greatest intercessor, by the virtue of his death on the cross and the fact that he is at the "right hand of God", the position of power.

Romans 8:26-27 clearly shows that the Holy Spirit also intercedes for the beleiver. So the path is - Believer -> Holy Spirit -> Christ -> The Father.

I think what is happening here is to elevate Mary to the position of God... i.e. Greatest Intercessor - Sinless - forgiving sins. In other words deifying Mary, rather than seeing her as an exceptional believer which the scripture clearly indicates.

If Mary is sinless, and forgives sins, then there is no need for Christ's death on the cross and that would be another way to heaven bypassing Christ's attonment.

But Christ said (John 10:1) "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber." and (John 10:9,10) I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

God alone is worthy of our worship. Christ alone is worthy for redeeming us of our sins and giving Eternal and abundant life to the believers . The Spirit alone is worthy for interceding on our behalf, and the Father alone is worthy above all.

If, Mary, were looking down from heaven above, and I believe she is, she would say to you all to worship God alone and not her. For she says "and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior" Luke 1:47.

[Stubborn]

I think what is happening here is to elevate Mary to the position of God... i.e. Greatest Intercessor - Sinless - forgiving sins. In other words deifying Mary, rather than seeing her as an exceptional believer which the scripture clearly indicates. Thats a typical misunderstanding that all non catholics have and in no way reflects what catholics believe.

No offence intended but that is actually quite absurd.