Daily Gospel Reflection for August 15, 2017 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today's Gospel: Luke 1:39-56 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary's Magnificat is, in a way, a prophetical compendium of the Gospel story. As she reflects on God's power and works, she outlines the miracles that the child in her womb will perform. Scattering the proud Pharisees, lifting up the most miserable lepers, filling the hungry crowd on the mountainside with miraculous bread and fish, challenging the rich young man, and ultimately, saving Israel to whom He promised mercy so many generations earlier.

Mary, better than any of us, knows the glory of the Son of God, her son. But she also changed His diapers, taught Him to walk, and cooked His favorite dinner. He allowed His mother to know Him intimately, both as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, and as Jesus, the son of the carpenter and the Messiah.

This profound relationship between Mother and Son is commemorated in a special way today, as we celebrate Mary's Assumption: the 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." If you get the chance, read Pope Pius XII's declaration of the dogma, Munificentissimus Deus. Pius XII spends a paragraph outlining the ways in which he hopes this dogma will help us, among other things, "be more and more convinced of the value of a human life entirely devoted to carrying out the heavenly Father's will and to bringing good to others." Just like Mary was!

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Ponder:

What is one way I can be more like Mary today, and thereby more like her Son?

Pray:

Father, thank You for the amazing gift of Your Mother. Help me to understand her role in my salvation more clearly, and through her to be more closely united with You.