Reading 1
Revelation 11:19A; 12:1-6A, 10AB
God’s temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed One.”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (10bc) The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
The queen takes her place at your right hand in gold of Ophir.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear,
forget your people and your father’s house.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
So shall the king desire your beauty;
for he is your lord.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
They are borne in with gladness and joy;
they enter the palace of the king.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
Reading II
Brothers and sisters:
Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through man,
the resurrection of the dead came also through man.
For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
but each one in proper order:
Christ the firstfruits;
then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;
then comes the end,
when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father,
when he has destroyed every sovereignty
and every authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death,
for “he subjected everything under his feet.”
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Mary is taken up to heaven;
a chorus of angels exults.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”
And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.”
Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.
HOMILY
In a series of catechesis on Christian hope, Pope Francis dedicated one of his Wednesday Audiences to Mary as the Mother of Hope as we pray in the SAVE REGINA.
I am sure that you agree with me in saying that this solemnity highlights primarily our hope – hope which does not deceive us – our hope to go where she has gone before us assumed into heaven.
On the occasion of this solemnity falling in the Jubilee of Hope, permit me to highlight some important points Pope Francis spoke about during this session.
He starts by saying that Mary experienced more than one night on her journey as mother. Since her first appearance in the narrative of the Gospels, it was not easy to respond with to the Angel’s invitation: yet she responds with courage, despite knowing nothing of the fate that awaits her.
That ‘yes’ is the first step in a long list of examples of obedience that will accompany her journey as a mother. Thus, Mary appears in the Gospels as a silent woman, who often does not understand all that is happening around her, but who contemplates each word and each event in her heart.
We have a beautiful sample of Mary’s psychology: she is not a woman who is depressed by the uncertainties of life, especially when nothing seems to be going the right way. Nor is she a woman who protests violently or who curses life’s fate. She is instead a woman who listens. Pope Franis reminds us that there is always a great connection between hope and listening, and Mary is a woman who listens. She also observes (example Wedding in Cana).
Mary nearly disappears from the Gospel accounts: her remaining silent before the mystery of a Son who obeys the Father.
Mary welcomes life as it is conveyed to us, with its happy days, but also with its tragedies. Until Mary’s supreme night, when her Son is nailed to the wood of the cross.
Mary reappears precisely at that crucial moment: when a large number of friends disperse out of fear. Mothers do not abandon their children – even if a mother abandons her children I will not abandon you says the Lord and Mary works in tandem with God. Pope Francis explains that no one knows which was the crueller passion: Jesus or the agony of his mother.
The Gospels are extremely discrete. John records Mary’s presence with a simple verb: she was “standing by”. She stood by. They say nothing of her reaction: whether she wept, whether she did not weep etc. These details are left to our imagination but she stood there, at the worst moment, at the cruellest moment, and she suffered with her son.
She was simply there in the thickest darkness. She did not go away. Mary is there, faithfully present. She didn’t know the future resurrection her Son was opening at that instant for us.
We will find her again on the first day of the Church; she, mother of hope, in the midst of that community of such fragile disciples: one had denied Jesus, many had fled. She simply stood by, in the most natural of way, as if it were something completely normal awaiting the Holy Spirit.
Our hope concludes Pope Franceis is that we have a Mother in heaven who is the Holy Mother of God. Because she teaches us the virtue of waiting, even when everything seems to lack meaning: she is ever confident in the mystery of God, even when God seems to have disappeared due to the evil of the world. In the most difficult moments, may Mary, always support our steps, may she always say to our hearts: “Arise! Look forward, look to the horizon”, because she is the Mother of Hope.
BIDDING PRAYERS:
Confident that Mary intercedes with the church, let us pray to be faithful to the Word that brings us eternal life.
Our prayer response is, “Lord, fill us with your love.”
- Mary’s being rejoices in the saving power of God. May the Spirit of her son inspire the church’s praise of God’s endless mercy. We pray: “Lord, fill us with your love.”
- Mary showed complete fidelity to the word of God and became blessed among women. May our fidelity to the gospel fill us with every spiritual blessing. We pray: “Lord, fill us with your love.”
- Mary hastened into the hill country to be with her kinswoman, Elizabeth. May we hasten into the hill country of human need to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray: “Lord, fill us with your love.”
- Mary uses her voice in the reign of God to intercede for us. May we use our voices in this realm to advocate justice for the poor. We pray: “Lord, fill us with your love.”
God our Savior, with Mary we praise the greatness of your love that sanctifies all creation. Receive our prayers and uphold your servant church in the power of your Spirit. We ask this through Jesus, our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
