Feast of the Assumption of Mary
M Mons. Vincenzo Paglia
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Gospel (Lk 1,39-56) - In those days Mary got up and went hastily into the hill country, to a city of Judah. Having entered Zaccarìa's house, she greeted Elizabeth. As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed in a loud voice: «Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! What do I owe that the mother of my Lord comes to me? Behold, as soon as your greeting reached my ears, the child leaped for joy in my womb. And blessed is she who believed in the fulfillment of what the Lord told her." Then Mary said: «My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior, because he looked at the humility of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed. The Almighty has done great things for me and Holy is her name; his mercy to those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown the power of his arm, he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has overthrown the mighty from their thrones, he has exalted the humble; he has filled the hungry with good things, he has sent the rich away empty-handed. He helped Israel, he was his servant, remembering his mercy, as he had said to our fathers, for Abraham and his descendants forever." Maria stayed with her for about three months, then returned to her house.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

In the heart of the month of August, the Eastern and Western Churches celebrate the feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. In the Eastern Church it is said that, as the day of Mary's earthly end was approaching, the angels warned the Apostles scattered throughout the various parts of the world, and they immediately went to the bed of Jesus' mother. We read in Gospel according to Luke that "in those days Mary got up and went hastily towards the mountainous region, to a city of Judah". In those days Mary ran from Galilee to a town near Jerusalem, to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Today we see her running towards the mountain of the celestial Jerusalem to finally meet the face of the Father and her Son. It must be said that Mary, in the journey of life, never separated herself from her Son. We saw her flee to Egypt with little Jesus, then lead him as a teenager to Jerusalem, and for thirty years in Nazareth she contemplated him every day, keeping everything in his heart. She then followed him when she left Galilee to preach in every city and village. She was with him right up to the cross. Today we see her arrive on the mountain of God, "dressed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and, on her head, a crown of twelve stars" (Rev 12:1), and enter the sky, the celestial Jerusalem . The Apocalypse pierces the sky of history where good and evil face each other: on one side the woman and her son, on the other the crowned red dragon. The Christian reading has seen in this page the figure of Mary (image of the Church) and of Christ. Mary and Christ, intimately connected, are the highest sign of good and salvation. On the other bank the dragon, monstrous symbol of violence, is red like the blood it sheds, drunk with power (the crowned heads). Mary, with Jesus, forms the new "couple" that saves the world. At the beginning of the story, Adam and Eve were defeated by the evil one; in the fullness of time, the new Adam and the new Eve definitively defeat the enemy. Yes, with Jesus' victory over evil, even internal and physical death is defeated. And the resurrection of the Son and the assumption of the Mother stand out on the horizon of history.