Subj : August 15th - The Assumption of Our Lady To : All From : rich Date : Wed Aug 14 2019 09:30:17 From: rich August 15th - The Assumption of Our Lady One often hears meditations on the sorrows of Our Lady, but people from times past, unlike contemporary men, also used to speak often about the joys of Our Lady. For this reason, one of the most famous sanctuaries in Brazil is the Church of Our Lady of the Pleasures, on Guararapes Mount, erected in honor of her joys. Today, the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, let us consider her pleasures. There is a good reason to do this. St. Thomas Aquinas sustains that no one can subsist on earth in complete unhappiness. To support the suffering of life, a person needs to have some pleasure, even if small; otherwise a constant and intense sorrow is insupportable. He was not speaking of pleasures as the world imagines them, but about the good Catholic pleasures and joy. Our Lady had many joys. The Magnificat is the expression of the supreme one, the Incarnation, but there are others, such as those celebrated in the joyful mysteries of the Rosary. None was greater, in a certain sense, than that of the Assumption. . The joy of the Queen gradually increases as the day progresses. She awakens glad, and her joy swells until the moment of the coronation, when it reaches the pinnacle. Then her triumph is complete, and her joy is one that reflects the dignity, honor and magnificent destiny of ruling a great people. Now, let us consider the Assumption of Our Lady. After her most serene death and resurrection, Our Lady knew that she would be taken to Heaven. She knew because she had reached the summit of her sanctity and wisdom, which communicated to her that the hour of her glorification had come. Also her love of God had never been so intense and she felt that the moment of the Beatific Vision was near. So, Angels from the highest Choirs came down to bring her solemnly to Heaven. I imagine that her angelic carriage, to use a metaphor, was preceded and followed by a cortege of selected Angels, perhaps warrior Angels with many victories against the Devil, like the military cortege of the Queen of England. Then she arrived at that most solemn place in Heaven where the inhabitants were gathered to pay her homage. She was received by her chaste spouse St. Joseph and together, as in a cathedral, they processed down an aisle among the ordered ensemble of Saints. As she passed and moved toward the throne of the Holy Trinity, Who awaited her, she received the reverence of all the Saints and Angels. In this cortege of honor, she not only received the homage of each one, but she had a perfect understanding and discernment of what each homage represented. To each Saint or Angel, whom she personally recognized, she gave the proportionate retribution of affection and admiration. She took great joy in this hyperdulia of the inhabitants of Heaven honoring her because she was the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the creature most faithful to Him. As the procession came to an end, the feast of the Assumption reached its apex. For the first time Our Lady experienced the Beatific Vision; at that same moment she was received by the Divine Word, the Holy Ghost, and God the Father. They solemnly welcomed her, greeting her as the most beloved Daughter of the Father, the most admirable Mother of the Son, and the most faithful Spouse of the Holy Ghost. Then they proclaimed her Queen of Heaven and Earth. After this proclamation, the Three crowned her as such. All the preceding steps of her Assumption led up to that stupendous end. She ardently desired that end and it enormously pleased her. This hypothetical description gives you a faint idea of the ensemble of joys Our Lady experienced that day. I want to stress that this is not a hyperbole, an exaggeration. I think that a feast like this actually took place in Heaven as part of the Assumption of Our Lady. Her assumption, her glorification, and her coronation were three things that came together in a grand ceremony in Heaven. A similar glorification will take place at the end of History after the Last Judgment. Following the supreme glorification of Our Lord as King of History and the solemn recognition of His victory over Satan and his cohorts and armies, it is probable that Our Lord will pay a final homage to Our Lady, and again the Holy Trinity will confirm her sovereignty over Heaven and Earth--the glorified Earth at the end of the world. It is my opinion that this glorification of Our Lady at her resurrection and assumption had an effect on earth and nature. As at Fatima when the sun changed its colors and danced, twirling toward the earth to confirm the words she spoke to the children, on the day of her Assumption, I imagine the sun was shining with a special glorified light, the air was exceptionally pure, and all nature was immensely joyful. The face of Our Lady before the Assumption would have shined with increasing brilliance expressing the great love of God she was feeling, her eagerness to be with Him, and a presentiment of the joys she would shortly have. I think that the last day of Our Lady on earth in a certain sense represents the transfiguration of Our Lady; it was her Tabor. The persons who were with her and saw her would never forget that day for the rest of their lives. I think that she will communicate to us and to the entire earth some of the joy she had on the day of her Assumption and that she now has in Heaven when the Reign of Mary predicted in Fatima will be solemnly established. There is an invocation in a Litany to Our Lord in which we ask: ut ad celestia desideria erigas, te rogamus, audi nos--That our souls be raised to the desire for celestial things, we pray Thee, hear us. This invocation should be the conclusion of our meditation on the Assumption of Our Lady. We should ask that we may love the celestial happiness of Our Lady in order to give her glory and that we may one day be with her in Paradise. We should also love and meditate on her joys as a way to accept with peace and resignation the sorrows and sufferings God sends us so we might prove our love for Him. See Images at: http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j086sdAssumption8-15.htm Bible Quote: For the spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world: and that, which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice. (Wisdom 1:7)=C2 DRB Saint Quote: Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity. --St. Therese of Lisieux <><><><> The Science of Divine Love The science of divine love operates in the dimensions of intensity and depth, rather than in the worldly one of quantity. Adopting this principle, it follows that the smallest number of believers with the most pure love will have the most significant effect on the Church, compared to a greater number of believers who have less love for God. The lives of the saints are a living witness to the power of one soul in influencing =E2=80=9Cthe destiny of the whole world,=E2=80=9D as describ= ed vividly in the Diary of St. Faustina. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .