A human heart beats for us in heaven!
What kind of heart is that?
It is the heart of the Blessed Mother,
who ascended to heaven with body and soul. It is a genuinely human heart that, from heaven, is motherly for the people who still make pilgrimages on this earth.
The feast of the Assumption of Mary was proclaimed 70 years ago by Pope Pius XII. It reminds us of Mary’s unique role in the plan of salvation. Our father and founder, Father Joseph Kentenich, often described her life. According to the divine plans, Mary is the co-redemptrix in the work of redemption. She not only participated in the plan of salvation during Jesus’ earthly life, but also works by his side in heaven. As Mother and Queen, she continues the mission entrusted to her under the cross of her divine Son. “See, there is your mother!”
The heart of Our Lady beats for us in heaven. If during her earthly life she asked Jesus for help in the needs of people: “They have no more wine” and asked people to do everything that Jesus says, all the more she does so from heaven with maternal concern.
The truth of faith that “the pure Mother of God, the always virgin Mary, ended earthly life and was absorbed into heavenly glory with body and soul”, makes us more and more aware that
A truly human heart beats for us in heaven.
The dogma of the Assumption of Mary illuminates the faith of the Church on her way to eternal life. “We are heirs of heaven”, St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans. We believe in eternal life and the resurrection of the body. Not only our souls but also our bodies are redeemed and glorified through the merits of the suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord.
In this sense, the Ascension dogma gives eloquent answers to current problems, such as to the question of the divine image of man in the face of the spread of terrifying “anthropological heresies”. What does the Assumption of Mary tell us in a society that is through and through existentialistic, naturalistic and materialistic?
When we believe in eternal life, we remain aware that we are heirs to heaven. We know that life does not end with death. We appreciate the value of material goods, but when we receive heaven as an inheritance, we do not place our hopes in these goods alone and do not expect our bliss in earth life.
In the prayers of our father and founder, which he wrote as a prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp, he prays in the Schoenstatt Office in view of the Blessed Mother:
“You show us the transitoriness of the earthly world,
until you have led us to things eternal.
Teach me to live each day so that my dying becomes easy,
as befits an heir of heaven.
Teach me to judge myself each night in such a way
that after death I may see you and God”.
The Queen’s heart beats in heaven for us!
We say that a creature is a queen or a king because of its nature, beauty, strength, and superiority over other beings. This is how we know that the Blessed Mother is Queen, she is the firstborn creation, full of grace, she gives beauty and holiness to all creation.
A queen is responsible for the welfare of those entrusted to her. This is how Our Lady works in heaven at the side of Christ, King of the world.
The Mother of God is Queen! This is what today’s festival tells us. She is Queen. The Triune God himself considers her worthy of this title and crowned her as Queen of heaven and earth. This title is also very valuable to our Schoenstatt Family and brings back many memories, rekindles our hope, reminds us that a royal heart beats for us in heaven.