In the Assumption of Mary, our eternal destiny is revealed to us

The Assumption of Mary shows us that death is not the end of life, but the boundary between our earthly life lived in faith and our heavenly life lived in the vision of God, but also in service to life. Mary, who gave birth to Life itself, shows by her Assumption that the distance between Heaven and Earth is obliterated. In the Virgin Mother, received in Heaven, is revealed the eternal destiny that awaits us beyond the mystery of death—a destiny of complete happiness in the divine glory.

"Mary," Pope Saint John Paul II wrote, "was received in Heaven to serve. She is still ‘the handmaid of the Lord’ in eternal glory. She helps prepare the final Kingdom of the Son, and serves it. ‘The glory of serving’ continues to be her royal exaltation: received in Heaven, she does not end there her salvific service, but makes use of her maternal mediation until the eternal crowning of all the elect" (id, 41).

"No one trusted God more than Mary, as her Magnificat expresses: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord.’ Mary proclaims the Lord great and therefore desires that God be great in the world, great in her life, and present among us all" (Benedict XVI, homily of August 25, 2005).

The Mother of Christ, in a motherly way, shows us that God is a father, who is great in mercy, and not a 'competitor' in our life, as if he were a despot wanting to take away our freedom. Mary knows that if God is great, we too are great, and we must strive, with Mary, to understand that we too can be accepted, received, and welcomed into heaven only if God is great in our life, everywhere, and in all moments of our life.

God manifests His greatness by making himself ‘small’ within us, and the person who is really ‘small’ can be great with God and live in him and with him for eternity.

Archbishop Francesco Follo,

Meditation for the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, August 15, 2019 - Zenit