Lourdes Rosary Meditations #14

The Assumption of Mary

Ruth, pictured on the top left, was from a non-Israelite tribe, but by the Providence of God, she became an Israelite through marriage, and was in time the great-grandmother of King David. She says to Naomi, of the tribe of Ephratha, “Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God.” Opposite her is Judith, the great warrior woman who defeated and beheaded Holofernes, who was trying to destroy the people of God. Judith alone had believed God would deliver them, and in fact He did through her. She is therefore called “the greatest honor of our people.”

Both of these figures point to our Lady, Who Herself was descended of David and became, as the Mother of God, the greatest honor of our race, the most beautiful and sublime human person to ever have lived. The Old Testament women look to our Lady in this image, Who is being assumed, for their place in the divine plan made it possible for our Lady to give Her assent to the Will of God. Without Ruth, there would have been no David, Joseph, Mary, or Jesus. Without Judith, the people of God would have been destroyed. But since they gave their assent to God, Mary could in due time as well.

The assent, or fiat, of our Lady to the angel Gabriel is the moment She became the Mother of God. Before that, She had already been immaculately conceived. As such, She was the first to receive the first fruits of the Cross and of the divine presence among us in Her Son. Now, in Her assumption, She is the first to receive the fruits of the Resurrection of Her Son as well as She is assumed, body and soul, into Paradise. And just as the Paschal Mystery was a working of the whole Trinity, so too is the Assumption of Mary. The Trinity therefore welcomes Her into heaven as angels of different choirs venerate and honor Her with incense and praises.

Of course, the Apostles below do not want Her to go, but they may remember words our Lord said concerning Himself, and how they could apply now too: “It is better for you that I go.” For now Mary sits enthroned in heaven, and can advocate most powerfully for us with Her Son the King. Her positioning in this mosaic implies this: She is between the Three Persons of the Trinity, suggesting that She is now in the very Heart of God. She had never had anyone in Her own Heart more than Him, and now She is taken into His. May She intercede for us from Her place in Heaven!