OTF Episode 92 Assumption Hello and welcome to The One True Faith.. the most disturbing hour on television because we talk about eternity. And our topic for this season is one worth exploring in great detail because of the tremendous need. For 13 episodes we are talking about the Blessed Virgin Mary.. her life.. faith.. Her role in the Church.. Church teaching about her and so forth.. and most importantly -- her importance for the world right now. Tonight.. the Assumption.. and the various truths that point to it.. and the basis for the belief. Now whenever Catholics start talking about Mary.. all the attacks begin from those who do not like the Church. Some don t like it because they don t understand it. Some don t like it because they truly despise it. And some don t like it because they know instinctively that the Church s eternal truths mean they have to change how they are living their lives and they simply do not want to. The doctrines about Our Blessed Mother are.. they think an easy punching bag.. through which to attack the Church. WRONG. A little word of caution.. you can choose to not like Catholics in general or Church teaching in some specific areas.. but don t say anything about Our Mother. We get downright ornery about it. The whole issue about Mary is that the teachings about Her point to the Eternal truths. For example.. Many modern men deny that mankind has fallen by sin.. believing that the concept of original sin and all the evils, that were allegedly its consequence, are pure fantasy. With this rejection, there is logically no place left for Christ, for the Church, for grace or for anything that is above and beyond nature; in one word the whole edifice of faith is shaken from top to bottom. These are the words of Pope St. Pius X.. who had to stare down the whole evil of modernism and its denial of objective truth. He continued.. "But let people believe and confess that the Virgin Mary has been from the first moment of her conception preserved from all stain; and it is straightway necessary that they 1
should admit both original sin and the rehabilitation of the human race by Jesus Christ, the Gospel, and the Church and the law of suffering. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is the answer, by its obligation of recognizing in the Church a power before which mankind not only has the will to bow, but the intelligence to subject itself. Our Lady.. as St. Pope Pius X says was kept the more free from all stain of original sin because she was to be the Mother of Christ; and She was the Mother of Christ, so that the hope of everlasting happiness might be born again in our souls. It is that question of everlasting happiness that brings us to another dogma concerning Our Lady the dogma of the Assumption. So.. what is it.. Well.. first the official teaching is.. as declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950.. By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. The feast of Our Lady s Assumption is often called the Virgin Mary s Heavenly birthday. Our Lady in Heaven is humanity in its full pre-destined glory now realized. As the Church Fathers said of Her.. She is our race s single boast. Her presence in Heaven alongside Her Heavenly son is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah.. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. The end for which the Father sent the Word was for man to be in Heaven. As such.. Our Lady becomes the first and greatest model of our destiny. So he is the great lady of Hope. She is the morning star showing the dawn of Heaven to us. She is the queen of Heaven.. now having fulfilled in her.. God the Father s promise to the serpent immediately following the Fall of Man in Eden.. She will crush your head. It is noteworthy that so many Doctors and Fathers of the Church saw the intrinsic link between Our Lady and salvation.. because they see the inseparable link between Jesus and Mary.. just as God the Father promised in the Garden.. Salvation would come by Christ.. through Mary. St. John Damascene in fact said.. Devotion to you, O Blessed Virgin, is a means of salvation which God gives to those whom he wishes to save". 2
St. Louis de Montfort recounts various examples of saints and their teachings and inner revelations of this truth. St. Francis.. saw in ecstasy an immense ladder reaching to heaven, at the top of which stood the Blessed Virgin. This is the ladder, he was told, by which we must all go to heaven. St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary one time and in a nearby town.. there was an unfortunate heretic who was possessed by a multitude of devils. These evil spirits to their confusion were compelled at the command of our Lady to confess many great and consoling truths concerning devotion to her. Why does Mary have such a privileged place? The short answer is because God wills it. HOW do the privileges of Mary come about? Mary alone found grace before God without the help of any other creature. All those who have since found grace before God have found it only through her. She was full of grace when she was greeted by the Archangel Gabriel and was filled with grace to overflowing by the Holy Spirit when he so mysteriously overshadowed her. From day to day, from moment to moment, she increased so much that she attained an immense and inconceivable degree of grace. So much so, that the Almighty made her the sole custodian of his treasures and the sole dispenser of his graces. She can now ennoble, exalt and enrich all she chooses. She can lead them along the narrow path to heaven and guide them through the narrow gate to life. She can give a royal throne, scepter and crown to whom she wishes. Jesus is always and everywhere the fruit and Son of Mary and Mary is everywhere the genuine tree that bears that Fruit of life, the true Mother who bears that Son. There is one other creature with whom Mary shares a deep common trait. St. Michael. St. Michael resisted the temptation of Satan in the spiritual realm when he sought to seduce the heavenly court into his rebellion against God. Without the aid of any other creature.. or prior example.. Michael rose up and led the counterrevolution against him and defeated him. Likewise.. Mary receives her graces without the assistance of any other creature. Her graces and the bestowal of them are singular and therefore by definition.. particular. While remaining a creature.. she is above ALL other creatures. While Michael becomes the prince of the heavenly host for his singular nobility.. 3
Mary becomes the Queen of the Heavenly court by her deep humility. It was after all her humility that God so rewarded. She is so close to God.. so intrinsically bound up in the Divine.. that from the first moment of her conception until her time on earth was completed.. she was the complete possession of her son. So.. now in heaven.. she is the COMPLETE possession of her Son MORE perfectly. Her body is in a state of endless glory magnifying the Divine in ever increasing wonder. So filled with grace.. literally FILLED WITH THE AUTHOR OF GRACE HIMSELF.. she declares before Elizabeth.. My soul Magnifies the Lord and Spirit rejoices with God my Savior. God raises this to the greatest heights possible by assuming his mother into the presence of the Holy Trinity. How explosive that moment must have been.. a thousand million nuclear explosions of glory on top of glory as Our Lady broke the bonds of this earthly life and assumed her seat at the right hand of her Heavenly Son. Think of the joy and love within the Trinity Itself as the Perfect human Being.. as the end.. the goal.. of all creation finally approached the Divine Presence in the Living flesh.. fashioned for her so she could.. in her turn.. give it back to Him who made her. Then a great sign appeared in the sky.. a woman clothed with the sun.. with the moon under her feet and crown of 12 stars on her head. It was not just the sun in the sky she is clothed with.. she is clothed with the Son of God. From hence forth.. all generations will call me Blessed because the Almighty has done great things for me and Holy is his name. Mary is God s Masterpiece. Not only his masterpiece of grace on earth.. but also of glory in Heaven. A gifted artist.. after completing and finishing his prized work.. then looks for the perfect frame in which to house it. When Our Lady s earthly life was completed.. the Divine artist drew her up to frame her in Heavenly glory. Now he presents Her to the world for their admiration and honor for the work of his Hand. I am the handmaiden of the Lord. Of all the sublime and obvious truths of the Catholic Faith.. the truths about Mary are the most immediately revealing. When we come back.. Mary is the Living Beatitudes. Stay with us. 4
BREAK #1 We are talking about Our Blessed Mother and her glorious assumption into heaven.. body and soul. And for those who object to this deep truth of faith.. the Church presents to you the obvious counter.. why would God allow the very body from which he drew his own flesh to lie in the grave and rot? As Psalm 15 says.. "For you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay". And why is Mary so beloved by God? Because of all creatures she most resembles Him.. in Body as well as Spirit. The Church Fathers.. as they pored over the Scriptures.. found deeper and ever deepening mysteries of truth in them. One of them wrote extensively on the Beatitudes after discovering that our Blessed Lord was actually laying out a path to spiritual perfection in them. Each one of these is revealed in the Life of the Virgin Mary. Blessed are the poor.. a detachment from the world and an attachment to Christ. No one exemplifies this Our Lady. Blessed are those who mourn.. no one mourned as Our Blessed Mother did. And a sword thine own heart shall pierce. Blessed are the meek. Meekness is associated with humility and no more humble creature of God ever walked the earth. For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.. he has lifted up the lowly. Our Lady was SO humble in fact.. that Satan.. in his puffed up Pride.. just totally missed her. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. No one so desired for God s righteousness to fill the earth more than Our Lord s mother. He has cast down the Mighty form their thrones.. Blessed are the merciful.. could any human be more merciful than the Mother of God. In her great love and compassion for humanity.. she begs for the well being of her spiritual children as she begged Her Divine Child at the Weeding at Cana.. Son.. they have no wine. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. She is in fact.. the Mother of mercy.. for God is MERCY. 5
Blessed are the pure of heart.. preserved from all from the first instant of her conception in her mother s womb.. no one could be more pure of heart than the Blessed Mother. Blessed are the peacemakers.. no one could make peace bring peace between heaven and earth as did the Queen of Heaven. She brought PEACE into the world. Blessed are you when men persecute you and revile you and speak all manner of evil against you for my sake.. is there any other mere human on earth who has been the object of so much scorn and ridicule because of the truth preached about her by the Church in the name of Christ? And all this beyond the persecution she suffered at the foot of the cross. So what are the blessings.. the beatitudes.. for these conditions? Think of the rewards in light of Our Lady s Assumption. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. They shall be comforted. They shall inherit the earth. They will be satisfied. They shall obtain mercy. They shall see God. They shall be called Son.. in this case Daughters of God. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Their reward shall be great in heaven. These are the steps to spiritual perfection. Having attained perfection.. these are your lot.. for Eternity. It is perfect and right and just that Our Lady sits at the right hand of God right now.. assumed into heaven. Anything else would demonstrate a lacking in the Divine.. a sluggishness of heart to fulfill his own promises. Such a situation is simply not possible with God. God the Son imparted to his mother all that he gained by his life and death, namely, his infinite merits and his eminent virtues. He made her the treasurer of all his Father had given him as heritage. 6
Through her he applies his merits to his members and through her he transmits his virtues and distributes his graces. She is his mystical channel, his aqueduct, through which he causes his mercies to flow gently and abundantly. God does not change. He does not go back on course like a crazed out of control river. He would not with his right hand raise her to the Divine heights of bearing his Son to humanity.. and then with the other hand cast her into the grave to lie there until He returns. Since grace enhances our human nature and glory adds a still greater perfection to grace, it is certain that our Lord remains in heaven just as much the Son of Mary as he was on earth. What Son.. especially the Perfect Son.. would so consign His mother to the grave? Mary is most assuredly in Heaven with her son.. in the body.. because that is where she belongs. And she belongs there because her Holy Son wills it. From this day all generations will cal me blessed.. for the Almighty has done great things for me and Holy is His name. Those are not words that point to the grave. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. WHERE he lifted the lowly up TO was the thrones of heaven. And she was the first. Her children will follow. And here is another way to think of this. It is only right that the flesh that rose from the grave and ascended to Heaven.. should bring to Heaven with it.. the flesh which gave birth to it. Just as Our Blessed Lord remained on earth for a while after he rose.. Our Blessed Lady remained on earth for a while and then was taken up into Heavenly glory. This is our lot as well. It s just our wait is a little longer due to sin. We ll be right back with questions from the audience. BREAK #2 Q & A Wrap/Close 7