⭐ The Vigil of the Assumption prepares the faithful for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, a dogma of the Catholic faith which proclaims that the Blessed Virgin, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. This event is not explicitly narrated in the Scriptures but is a truth of faith supported by Apostolic Tradition. Mary's Assumption is seen as the logical consequence of her Divine Maternity and her Immaculate Conception; being the "Ark of the New Covenant," her body, which bore the Word of God, could not know the corruption of the tomb. Her glorification anticipates the resurrection that is promised to all Christians.🎶 Introit (Ps 44: 13, 15 & 16 | ib. 2)
Vultum tuum deprecabúntur omnes dívites plebis... All the rich among the people shall entreat thy countenance; after her shall virgins be brought to the King, with joy and gladness. Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. ℣. Glory be to the Father…
📜 Epistle (Ecclus 24: 23-31)
As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and honesty. I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. My memorial is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.
🕊️ Gospel (Luke 11: 27-28)
At that time: As Jesus was speaking to the multitudes, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.
🤔 Reflections
📚 The woman’s praise of Mary was a true praise, but the Lord turned her attention from the mother to the Master she bore, for His mother is blessed precisely because she heard the word of God and kept it, not because the Word was made flesh in her and dwelt among us. Therefore, Mary is more blessed in receiving the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ. The maternal relationship would have profited her nothing if she had not borne Christ more happily in her heart than in her flesh. (St. Augustine, Sermon 25, 7). The Divine Wisdom, which says in the Epistle "in me is all grace of the way and of the truth," built a house for herself, the Virgin Mary, and in it wonderfully united the divine and human natures. And how could grace not find its way in Mary, through whom the Savior Himself, who is all grace, came to us? (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon on the Aqueduct).
🔗 The Gospel of Luke (11:27-28) finds a direct thematic complement in Matthew (12:46-50) and Mark (3:31-35), where Jesus' mother and brothers seek Him. In response, Jesus extends the notion of family, stating, "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." This passage does not diminish Mary but reinforces Luke's assertion that the supreme blessedness lies in obedience to the Word of God, a virtue Mary perfectly embodied at her Annunciation ("Be it done to me according to your word"). The Gospel of John, in turn, complements this by showing Mary at Calvary (John 19:25-27), where Jesus entrusts her as a mother to the beloved disciple, establishing her spiritual maternity over all who, like her, "hear the word of God and keep it."
⚔️ The writings of St. Paul provide the theological framework for the glorification of Mary implied in the feast. While the Epistle from Ecclesiasticus describes her as a vessel of honor and virtue, Paul speaks of Christians as "earthen vessels" that hold the treasure of God's glory (2 Cor 4:7), with Mary being the purest of these vessels. The promise of eternal life to those who make her known (Ecclus 24:31) echoes Pauline theology of the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, Paul describes the transformation of the corruptible body into a "glorious," "incorruptible," and "spiritual" body. Mary's Assumption is the anticipated and perfect fulfillment of this promise, the prototype of the glorification reserved for those who, like her, conform to the will of God, moving from obedience to the flesh to obedience to the Spirit (Rom 8:5-6).
🏛️ Church documents, especially the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus (1950) by Pope Pius XII, which defined the dogma of the Assumption, deepen the liturgy's theology. The document connects the incorruption of Mary's body with her victory, united with Christ, over sin and death, a theme present in the Epistle ("my flowers are the fruit of honour"). The Constitution states: "The august Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a mysterious way with Jesus Christ... finally obtained, as the ultimate crown of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven" (Munificentissimus Deus, 40). This complements the blessedness declared in the Gospel, showing that obedience to the Word of God culminates not only in spiritual holiness but in the total glorification of the person.
