The Coronation of Our Lady, Gentile da Fabriano, Italian 1420
St Chrysostom’s delights in and celebrates its Catholic Anglican tradition. In our tradition we love to celebrate the saints, our friends in faith, and above all Mary, Our Lady, the mother of Jesus Christ our God, the mother who prays for us and loves us in the fullness of God’s kingdom.
Madonna of the Wheat (detail) c. 1450
The Assumption is Our Lady’s principal feast, a feast celebrated by the majority of Christians around the world.
Protestant reformers honoured the feast, Martin Luther regarded it as a fact, and the Protestant reformer, Martin Butzer, saw no reason to doubt the Assumption of Mary into heavenly glory. “Indeed, no Christian doubts that the most worthy Mother of the Lord lives with her beloved Son in heavenly joy.” Muslims honour Mary as ‘chosen above the women of all nations’ and some Muslim scholars teach her Assumption as historical fact.
This is a feast to celebrate glory, a feast reflecting Easter glory. The feast celebrates Mary being taken body and soul into heavenly glory and so celebrates too the destiny and dignity of the human body, and especially the dignity of womanhood. This glorious feast of Mary’s passing to the fullness of God’s glory encourages us to see Christ’s resurrection as not an end in itself. The resurrection is for us too. Christ rose so that we would be raised with him and live, not as disembodied spirits, but as fully human beings in the glory of God forever. What Mary enjoys now, we shall enjoy when our time comes.
Our Lady of Montserrat
Fr Chris comments:
“The Assumption of our Lady for me allows a glimpse into what God wants for all of his followers. To be able to be with our Father in heaven, rejoicing and singing:
When endued with so much beauty,
Full of health, and strong, and free,
Full of vigor, full of pleasure
That shall last eternally!
Fireworks, and celebration of our perceived destiny, are only a dim reflection of what we hope for ourselves, and know for our blessed Lady!”
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