Solemnity of the Assumption (15 August 1983)

On Monday, 15 August 1983, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass for the Solemnity of the Assumption at the Grotto of the Apparitions in Lourdes, France. In his homily, the Pope declared that “Mary is the first of the redeemed. In Her, too, the transformation of the history of the cosmos into the Kingdom of God has already begun.”

1. A great sign appeared in Heaven: a Woman clothed with the Sun" (Apoc . 12, 1).

We came today on a pilgrimage towards this Sign.

It is the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into heaven: behold, the Sign reaches its plenitude. A woman wears the sun of the inscrutable Divinity . The sun of the impenetrable Trinity. "Full of grace": She is filled with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as they are given to Her as one God — the God of creation and revelation, the God of Covenant and Redemption, the God of the beginning and of the end. The Alpha and the Omega. The God-Holiness.

A woman covered in sunlight.

Today we make the pilgrimage to this Sign. It is the Sign of the Assumption into heaven, which takes place above the earth and at the same time rises from the earth. From this land in which the mystery of the Immaculate Conception was inserted. Today these two mysteries meet: the Assumption into heaven and the Immaculate Conception. Today their complementarity becomes evident .

Today, for the feast of the Assumption into heaven, we came on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, where Mary said to Bernadette: "I am the Immaculate Conception" (Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou).

2. We came here because of the extraordinary Jubilee that marks the Year of Redemption. We want to live this Jubilee with Mary .

Lourdes is the place adapted for such proximity.

Here, some time ago, "the Beautiful Lady" spoke to a simple young woman from Lourdes, Bernadette Soubirou, recited the Rosary with her, entrusted her with some messages. When we come on pilgrimage to Lourdes, we want to enter again into the context of this extraordinary proximity that, here, never ceased, but on the contrary, was consolidated.

This closeness to Mary constitutes the soul of this sanctuary.

We came on a pilgrimage to Lourdes to be with Mary.

We came on a pilgrimage to Lourdes to get closer to the mystery of Redemption .

No one more than Mary immersed herself in the depths of the mystery of Redemption. And no one else than She can bring this mystery closer to us. Mary is at the very heart of the mystery. We hope that during the year of extraordinary Jubilee the very heart of the mystery of Redemption pulses stronger within us.

This is what we are here for.

We meet in Lourdes on the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into heaven, when the Church proclaims the glory of her definitive birth into heaven . We want — above all through the liturgy — to participate in this glory.

And at the same time we want — through the glory of his birth to heaven — to venerate the happy moment... of his birth on earth . The Year of Redemption 1983 guides our thoughts and our hearts towards this happy moment

3. But first of all: the birth into heaven — the Assumption into heaven . It can be said that the liturgy shows us the Assumption of Mary into heaven in three aspects. The first aspect is the Visitation to the house of Zechariah.

Elizabeth says: "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb... Blessed is she who believed that the things spoken to her from the Lord would be fulfilled" ( Luke 1:42.45).

Mary believed the words spoken to her by the Lord — and Mary welcomed the Word who became man in her and who is the fruit of her womb.

The Redemption of the world was founded on Mary's faith, it was linked to her "Fiat" at the moment of the Annunciation. But it began to take place due to the fact that "the Word became man and dwelt among us" ( John 1:14).

At the moment of the Visitation, Mary, on the threshold of the hospitable house of Zechariah and Elizabeth, utters a phrase that referred to the beginning of the mystery of Redemption. She says: "The Almighty has done great things for me: his name is holy!" ( Lc . 1, 49).

This phrase, taken from the context of the Visitation, is inserted, through today's liturgy, in the context of the Assumption! The entire Magnificat pronounced at the time of the Visitation becomes, in today's liturgy, the hymn of the Assumption of Mary into heaven .

The Virgin of Nazareth spoke these words when, through her work, the Son of God was to be born on earth. With what strength should She pronounce them when, through the work of Her Son, She Herself will be born to heaven!

4. The liturgy of this solemn feast reveals to us the second aspect of the Assumption with the words of St. Paul in the Epistle to the Corinthians .

The Assumption of the Mother of Christ into heaven is part of the victory over death, this victory whose beginning is found in the resurrection of Christ : "Christ rose from the dead as the firstfruits of those who died" ( 1 Cor . 15, 20).

Death is man's inheritance after original sin: "All die in Adam" ( 1 Cor . 15, .22).

The Redemption wrought by Christ made this inheritance overcome : "In Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ as the firstfruits; then those who are Christ's..." ( 1 Cor . 15, 22 -23),

And who, more than his Mother, belongs to Christ? Who, more than She, was redeemed by Him? Who cooperated for her Redemption, in a more intimate way than she did for her "Fiat" at the Annunciation, and for her "Fiat" at the foot of the Cross?

Thus, it is in the very heart of the Redemption wrought with the Cross on Calvary, it is in the very power of the Redemption revealed in the Resurrection, that the victory over death experienced by the Mother of the Redeemer finds its source , that is, his Assumption to heaven .

This is the second aspect of the Assumption that today's liturgy reveals to us.

5. The third aspect is expressed by the words of the responsorial Psalm; and it is the poetic language of this Psalm that expresses it: the king's daughter, adorned with precious clothes, enters to take her place next to the king's throne :

"Your throne, like God's throne, is forever!

Scepter of justice, is the scepter of your kingdom!" ( Ps . 44.45, 7).

In Redemption, the Kingdom of God is renewed, begun with creation itself, then destroyed in the heart of man by sin.

Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, is the first to participate in this kingdom of glory and union with God in eternity.

His birth into heaven is the definitive beginning of the glory that the sons and daughters of this earth must achieve in God Himself, by virtue of Christ's Redemption.

Indeed, Redemption is the foundation of the transformation of the history of the cosmos into the Kingdom of God .

Mary is the first of the redeemed. In Her, too, the transformation of the history of the cosmos into the Kingdom of God has already begun:

This is what is expressed by the mystery of his Assumption into heaven; birth to heaven, with your soul and your body.

6. Through the Assumption of the Mother of God into heaven—her birth into heaven—we wish to honor the happy moment of her birth on earth .

Many ask the question: when was Mary born? When did she come into the world? Many people ask this question especially now as the second millennium of the birth of Christ approaches. The birth of the Mother must obviously precede the birth of her Son . Wouldn't it be appropriate to celebrate the second millennium of Mary's birth first?

The Church makes reference to history and historical dates when celebrating anniversaries and jubilees (respecting the precise data that science provides). However, the right rhythm of anniversaries and jubilees is determined by the history of salvation : We must first of all refer in time to the events that gave us salvation, and not just observe, with historical precision, the moment of these events.

In this sense, we accept that this year's jubilee of Redemption refers — after 1950 years — to the event of Calvary, that is, to the death and resurrection of Christ. But all the Church's attention is focused first and foremost on the salvific event (in addition to consideration of the date), and not just on the historical date.

At the same time, we emphasize that this year's extraordinary jubilee prepares the Church for the great jubilee of the second millennium (the year two thousand) . In this aspect, our Year of Redemption also has the character of an Advent : it introduces us to waiting for the jubilee of the Lord's coming.

But, Advent is in a very particular way Mary's time . It is in Her alone that the expectation of the entire human race, with regard to the coming of Christ, reaches its culmination. This waiting is taken by Her to its fullness: the fullness of Advent.

Through this year's Jubilee of Redemption, we wish to enter this Advent . We wish to participate in the expectation of Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth. We hope that, in the jubilee of this salvific event, which has the character of Advent, his own coming, his own birth on earth, will also be present .

Yes: Mary's coming into the world is the beginning of the salvific Advent.

And that is why we make a pilgrimage to Lourdes: not only to honor, on the Solemnity of the Assumption, Mary's birth into heaven, but also to honor the happy moment of her birth on earth.

We came on pilgrimage to Lourdes, where Mary ("the Beautiful Lady") said to Bernadette: "I am the Immaculate Conception" (Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou).

With these words, She expressed the mystery of her birth on earth as a salvific event closely linked to Redemption — and linked to Advent.

Beautiful Lady!

O Woman whose mantle is the sun!

Welcome our pilgrimage in this year of Advent of the jubilee of Redemption.

Help us, with the light of this jubilee, to penetrate your mystery:

— the mystery of the Virgin Mother,

— the mystery of the Slave Queen,

— the mystery of the Omnipotence that became a supplicant.

Help us to discover more fully, in this mystery, Christ, Redeemer of the world, Redeemer of man.

You have for your mantle the sun, the sun of the inscrutable Divinity. The sun of the impenetrable Trinity. " Full of grace" to the limit of the Assumption into heaven!

And at the same time...

for us who live on this earth, for us, poor exiled children of Eve, You have as a mantle the sun of Christ from Bethlehem and Nazareth, from Jerusalem and Calvary. You are clothed with the sun of the Redemption of man and the world through the Cross and the Resurrection of your Son.

Make this sun shine without ceasing for us on this earth!

Make it not darken in the souls of men!

Make it illuminate the earthly paths of the Church, of which You are the first figure!

And may the Church , fixing its gaze on You, Mother of the Redeemer, learn to always be a mother!

See, O Mother! This is what the book of Revelation says:

"The Dragon stopped before the woman who was about to give birth, preparing to devour her child as soon as he was born" ( Apoc . 12, 4);

O Mother who, in your Assumption into heaven, experienced the fullness of victory over the death of the soul and body, defend the sons and daughters of this earth against the death of the soul! O Mother of the Church!

In the face of humanity that always seems fascinated by temporal things — and when "dominion over the world" hides the perspective of man's eternal destiny in God — be Yourself God's witness!

You, Mother of God! Who can resist a mother's testimony?

You who were born for the fatigues of this world: immaculately conceived!

You who were born to the glory of heaven! Assume to heaven!

You who are clothed with the sun of the unfathomable Divinity, the sun of the impenetrable Trinity, filled with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!

You to whom the Trinity gives itself as one God , the God of creation and Revelation! The God of Covenant and Redemption. The God of the beginning and the end. The Alpha and the Omega. The God-Truth. The God-Love. The God-Grace. The God-Holiness. The God who overcomes everything and embraces everything. The God who is "all in all."

You who have the sun as your cloak! Our sister! Our mother! Be God's witness!...

— before the world of the millennium that ends,

— before us, the exiled children of Eve, be God's witness!

Amen.

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