Rosary: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Fourth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary
The Fourth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Feast Day: August 15th
Revelation 11:19 Then God’s Temple in Heaven was opened, and the Ark of His Covenant was seen within His Temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. 12:1 A great portent appeared in Heaven: a Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Psalm 132:7 “Let us go to His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool.” 8 Rise up, O Lord, and go to Your resting place, You and the Ark of Your might. 9 Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Your faithful shout for joy.
This fourth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary highlights the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. Just as the Father would not allow corruption to enter into the Body of His Son, He would not allow corruption to enter into the body of the mother of the Son. She who is without even the stain of sin, who is the Ark of the New Covenant, was not left to decay in the ground. God sent His holy angels to bring her body to Heaven.
As mentioned, the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant. Just as the Ark of the Old Covenant held the the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the word of God, so did Mary hold the greater Word of God. Just as the Ark held the staff of Aaron who was the high priest, Mary held in her womb the greater High Priest of the New Covenant. Just as the Ark held the manna/bread that came from heaven in the desert, Mary held the greater Heaven Bread from Heaven and He would become our Eucharist.
Note as well that the feast is called the Assumption, compared to the Ascension. For Our Lord ascended into Heaven through His own power, while the Blessed Virgin Mary was lifted up by the angels and assumed into Heaven through the power of God. It was not of her own doing. Christ alone has the power to ascend to God, yet He has the love, charity and humility to reach down to our lowly humanity and raise us up to Heaven. God Himself willed for the Blessed Virgin Mary to be honored and glorified through His power by raising her up to Heaven and showering her with His glory.
In this same way, although much less gloriously, Christ promises to raise us up on the Last Day and unite our bodies with our souls again. He promises, if we are faithful and obey Him, to unite our soul back to our body, but it will be a glorified version of our body that will no longer be subject to disease, illness, corruption and death. We celebrate the assumption of Our Lady but also celebrate the promise given by God that we will follow like her to Heaven one day.
Judith 13:18 Then Uzziah said to her, “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to cut off the head of the leader of our enemies. 19 Your praise will never depart from the hearts of those who remember the power of God. 20 May God grant this to be a perpetual honor to you, and may he reward you with blessings, because you risked your own life when our nation was brought low, and you averted our ruin, walking in the straight path before our God.”
15:9 When they met her, they all blessed her with one accord and said to her, “You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the great boast of Israel, you are the great pride of our nation!
Just as Christ was prefigured in the Old Testament through a multitude of stories and characters, Our Lady was prefigured in the Old Testament many times. She was prefigured by Eve, when God promised that the seed of the Woman would be at emnity with the seed of the serpent, and she would be the one who would crush the serpent. She was prefigured in Judith, who cut off the head of the enemy king of God’s people. She was prefigured in Esther, who saves her people from annihilation. She was prefigured by Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Ruth and many other women in the Old Covenant.
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:23 As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. 24 I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. 25 In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. 26 Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits.
Psalm 45:9 …at Your right hand stands the Queen in gold of Ophir. 10 Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house, 11 and the King will desire your beauty. Since He is your Lord, bow to Him; 12 the people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people 13 with all kinds of wealth. The Princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes; 14 in many-colored robes she is led to the King; behind her the virgins, her companions, follow. 15 With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the King.
God cannot be outdone in His love and generosity. He is eternally eager to bestow His glory upon us if we will just love and obey Him. Our Lady perfectly followed His will and love God more than any human ever has or could love Him. In return, God bestowed upon her a multitude of titles and honors. He glorified her with a crown of star in Heaven and made her His queen. She is queen of the universe and queen of the angels.
Luke 1:39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” 46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
Our Lady’s very soul magnifies the Lord. Think about that statement and see how stunning it truly is. The soul of Our Lady magnifies Our Lord. No one finds Christ by themselves. Each one of us needed someone to bring us to the Lord. In this, Our Lady is unique in that she brought to all mankind the Lord. She alone, through the Holy Spirit, conceived within her the God-man, the Second Person of the Trinity. She brought Christ to us all.
O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all, O Ark of the Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true Manna, that is, the Flesh in which Divinity resides. - St. Athanasius the Great (Homily of the Papyrus of Turin)
Links to the other Mysteries of the Rosary
JOYFUL MYSTERIES
Third Joyful Mystery - The Nativity of Jesus (coming soon)
Fourth Joyful Mystery - The Presentation in the Temple (coming soon)
Fifth Joyful Mystery - The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (coming soon)
SORROWFUL MYSTERSIES
First Sorrowful Mystery - The Agony in the Garden (coming soon)
Second Sorrowful Mystery - The Scourging at the Pillar (coming soon)
Third Sorrowful Mystery - The Crowning with Thorns (coming soon)
Fourth Sorrowful Mystery - The Carrying of the Cross (coming soon)
Fifth Sorrowful Mystery - The Crucifixion of Jesus (coming soon)
GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
First Glorious Mystery - The Resurrection (coming soon)
Second Glorious Mystery - The Ascension of Christ (coming soon)
Third Glorious Mystery - The Descent of the Holy Ghost (coming soon)
Fourth Glorious Mystery - The Assumption of Mary
Fifth Glorious Mystery - The Coronation of Mary (coming soon)
LUMINOUS MYSTERIES
First Luminous Mystery - The Baptism of the Lord (coming soon)
Second Luminous Mystery - The Wedding at Cana (coming soon)
Third Luminous Mystery - The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (coming soon)
Fourth Luminous Mystery - The Transfiguration (coming soon)
Fifth Luminous Mystery - The Institution of the Eucharist (coming soon)
This is the most amazing thing I have read in a while. I had never heard of the parallels between Mary and the Ark of the Covenant.