The Church has always seen in
the woman of Revelation, adorned with the sun, the moon and the stars, the
Blessed Virgin Mary. That is why many pictures of Mary Immaculate represent her
with the moon under her feet and with her head surrounded by a crown of twelve
stars. And that is why the liturgy of the Assumption has chosen this passage
from the last book of the Bible as the first reading.
Nevertheless, scholars tell us
that the woman of Revelation symbolizes God’s people in the Old and the New
Testament: the Israel of old gave birth to the Messiah, and then became the new
Israel, the Church, which suffer persecution by the dragon—the Devil. To be
sure, Jesus was born of the people of Israel; but it is also true that he was
begotten by the Virgin Mary. So, who is right?
There is no contradiction
between the two interpretations: they are both true. There is a close
connection between Mary and the people of God. She, too, belonged to the people
of Israel; she is the Daughter of Zion; in the Tota Pulchra we call her Gloria
Jerusalem (“the glory of Jerusalem”) and Laetitia Israel (“the joy
of Israel”); the Second Vatican Council says that “she stands out among the poor
and humble of the Lord, who confidently await and receive salvation from him” (Lumen
Gentium, 55); we could consider her as the summit of the Israel of old, the
most beautiful flower blossomed from the ancient people of God.
At the same time, Mary is the
beginning of the new Israel, that is, the Church. We use different titles to
express the place of the Virgin in the Church: first-fruits, model, exemplar,
image, icon. She is a member, a unique member, the highest member of the
Church. We can find this truth expressed in the first verse of the first
reading: “God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could
be seen in the temple.” The temple of God is the Church; the ark of the
covenant, which is inside the temple (the temple was exactly built to keep the
ark of the covenant), is the Blessed Virgin Mary, who carried in her womb the
Son of God. In the temple of the Church, Mary is the Holy of Holies, the
holiest place in the temple. Mary is the holiest member in the Church. In her,
the Church has already reached its perfection.
That is why we have to turn
our eyes to Mary: not only because she is our model to imitate, but also, and
above all, because we can see in her what is our final destiny. She has already
experienced what we are called to experience in turn. If she is holy, we are
called to be holy. If, at the end of her life, she was glorified, not only in
her soul but even in her body, it means that we, too, some day will be raised
up, like Jesus and Mary.
For this reason, the Council first
and then the liturgy consider the Virgin “a sign of sure hope and comfort” (signum certae spei et solatii) to
us. Sometimes we could get discouraged, because we see ourselves unable to
respond properly to our Christian vocation. It seems to us that what God asks
of us is beyond our strength. Seeing that a human being is now in heaven,
seated at the right hand of her Son, sharing in his glory, fills us with comfort
and hope, since it means that it is not impossible for us to reach the same
destination. Let us ask her to accompany us in our journey toward heaven.
Q
