Rv 11:19, 12:1-6, 10; Ps 45:10-12,16; 1Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56
In the Annunciation the Virgin Mary heard the desire of her Lord and King. She turned her ear and forgot her people and her father’s house. Actually she turned the ear of her heart and heard for all of us the summons of the Master and she remembered the people God had called to be his own and she remembered that she was the true daughter of her Father in Heaven. For on this most happy day she responded with her whole and immaculate heart, “your will be done.” On this happy day, years later, she was summoned home to the side of her Son, Jesus the Lord. There as Queen Mother she takes her place at the Lord’s right hand in gold of Ophir. Indeed the Mother of God is borne in with gladness and joy into the palace of the King.
The Book of Revelation opens for us the mysteries of heaven and of the heavenly temple. Here we see with Saint John many great signs. A tender mother about to give birth and a terrifying serpent about to devour her child; such visions fill our hearts with excitement and anticipation. After giving birth she escaped into the desert and the child was caught up to God and his throne. The great mother in the sky is the New Eve; she is the one who was without sin from conception like the First Eve, but unlike the First Eve she never rebelled against God and his plan for her, for her Son and for all her children. She is the new mother of all the saints who, like her, long only for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. She is our mother, and like her First Born we, too, must be caught up to God and his throne. Else, we’re just dragon food.
Saint Paul, too, has a grasp of the glory in which all who are born of water and Spirit come to share. He sees the resurrection as belonging to Christ and to all who belong to Christ. He is the first fruits of this eternal harvest and we come later. His Mother, Mary too anticipates our arrival into glory. She who remained faithful in her heart bore faithfulness itself in her virginal womb. This sacred vessel of devotion, this pure throne of sinless the New Eve, is not allowed to know corruption. She is taken up into glory, soul and body to share in the fullness of a redemption in which she fully cooperated. This is not some deep psychic wish fulfillment. This is the reward of all who belong to Christ and give themselves as did the Virgin Mary to the plan of the heavenly Father. In the Assumption of the Mother of God we catch a glimpse of our future, of our glory in Christ, the New Adam, the Son of God made man in the womb of the worthy and sinless Virgin Mary.
At every evening sacrifice of praise the Church joins the Sinless Virgin Mary in her song of great rejoicing. At each vespers we too proclaim the greatness of the Lord. For God our Savior has done great things for us. Our very origins in the sin and disobedience of the First Adam and Eve have been retold. Our very human nature has been made new in the holiness and obedience of the New Adam and Eve. No longer do we define ourselves by weakness and rebellion; no longer does original sin and its continued tendency to sin limit our vision of ourselves and our future. We are a new creation. Now our very nature is reoriented toward God, and it is our delight to do his will and sing his praises unto the ages of ages. Finally, we leap for joy within, so near is the salvation by our God. Our union with Christ Our God, with his mother the Virgin Mary, and with all the Saints is the glimpse of glory available here at this and every Liturgy. A glorious vision which sustains us now and unto the fullness of the Kingdom, when Christ will hand over the Kingdom to his God and Father. This is our future, present, and only glory.
