Pope Benedict XVI’s Homily on the Solemnity of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(August 15, 2009) “The Feast of Assumption reminds us that Mary's life, like that of every Christian is a journey to follow Jesus, a path that has a clearly defined goal, a future already mapped: the final victory over sin and death and the communion full with God the Father and Christ Jesus,” said Pope Benedict XVI. He was delivering his Homily on August 15th on the feast of the assumption celebrated in the Parish of St Thomas of Villanova, Castel Gandolfo. He said that the Immaculate Conception, the Annunciation, Divine Motherhood and the Assumption are milestones, closely related to each other, with which the Church praises and sings the glorious destiny of the Mother of God, which also will be our destiny. The mystery of the conception of Mary refers to the first stage of the human history, that indicates the divine plan of creation, added the Pope and the last stage of the earthly pilgrimage of the Mother of God invites us to look at the way in which she has travelled the way toward the goal which is eternally glorious. In Mary’s glorification we contemplate, what we are called upon to reach finally, in the following of Christ and in obedience to his word, namely at the end of our earthly journey, said the Pontiff. Further the gospel passage stresses Mary’s Vocation who in docility to the Spirit of God accepted the Word in her life that indicated her new path in life. Following Jesus from Bethlehem to exile in Egypt, in the hidden life and public, to the foot of the Cross, Mary lived her steady ascent to God in the spirit of the Magnificat, joining in every one’s suffering in the path of faith of the church. In Mary's Assumption into heaven contemplate, then, one who, by singular privilege, is made a sharer in the soul and the body of the final victory of Christ over death.