Comforter Of The Afflicted

There’s something very comfortable about this feast of Our Lady’s Assumption into heaven.  Maybe it’s the time of year—the days are starting to shorten and cool down, it’s harvest time, the children are back at their studies, and we’re reminded of the eternal round of the annual calendar.  The ancient name of today’s feastday reinforces our resigned acceptance of the passage of time: “Lady-Day-in-Harvest”…  this somehow captures perfectly the mood of mid-August and the transition from bright golden sunshine into lengthening shadows and falling leaves.

But it’s the very nature of the feast itself that is surely the source of our restful musings.  What is it about the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, body and soul, into heaven, that reassures us as we pass from the sunlight into the winter darkness?  It is surely this, that we are made aware, and not just aware but dogmatically certain, that after the joys and sorrows of this life there is a reward for those who work in the Lord’s vineyard.  That after these days of wine and roses when we finally pass into eternity, the path of our Lady is there for us to follow.  She shows us today the way from earth to heaven, she assures us that it is possible for us to make this journey, for she has made it before us.

Soon the autumn leaves will fall, our annual reminder of our own brief lives.  The month of November with its mournful requiems and thoughts of death haunts our future as each year we come a little closer to our own final breath.  But our hearts need not be troubled.  Just as surely as the joys and sorrows of our Rosary are followed by the Glorious Mysteries, so will the tribulations and vicissitudes of this life find their fulfillment in our own glorious transformation into glory.  Of course, we need to do our part to avoid losing ourselves along the way, but with the help of God’s grace, his sacraments, his truths and moral guidance, we need do nothing more than call out to our Mother in heaven who will always be there as our Star of the Sea, holding us steady as we cross the bar from the raging waves of open sea into the calm of our safe harbor.

The more we fear the future, the greater assurance our blessed Lady will extend to us.  Even in times of desperation she is the Comforter of the Afflicted who will reach out to us her children and guide us to her Son.  Summer may be ending, the winds are changing, dread times may be ahead, but as we behold the Holy Virgin Mary rising into heaven today, we realize that with her intercession, we have nothing to fear.  Ave, Maris Stella—Hail, thou Star of the Sea!  Be the light that guides us home.