Mary's Assumption draws us to Heaven

This sermon by former USA District Superior, Fr. Francois Laisney, was given in 1984 and reproduced in The Angelus magazine in October 1984.

"And I, when I shall be lifted up from earth, I shall draw everything to myself."

My dear brethren,

These words of the Gospel seem very well adapted to this Feast. However, they have been said not by Our Lady, but by Our Lord; and He was not even speaking of His Ascension, but of His Passion and death on the Cross.

Nevertheless these words, "And I, when I shall be lifted up from earth, I shall draw everything to myself," still remain very adapted to the Feast of today. And in order to understand how they are fitting let us contemplate what I would call the “Two Assumptions of Our Lady”, following the “Two Ascensions of Our Lord”.

Our Lord ascended to heaven 40 days after His Resurrection; you all know that; but why? Because, before, He ascended Mt. Calvary and was lifted up on His Cross. St. Paul insists on this connection:

He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross, for which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those who are in heaven, on earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father." (Phil. II 8-11)

You see how St. Paul exposes the glorification and exaltation of Our Lord as the consequence of His humiliation and death on the Cross. His Ascension in the glory of heaven follows his Ascension of Mount Calvary. He was first lifted up on the cross, then He ascended into heaven.

Speaking of His death on the cross, Our Lord said: "And I, when I shall be lifted up from earth, I will draw everything to Myself" (Jn. 12:32). Who is the one first drawn by Our Lord, when He was lifted up from earth on His Cross? Our Lady! She is the first at the foot of the Cross, she—without the example of others—followed Our Lord. She was attracted, drawn by His Sacred Heart. And because she was so much united with Him in His Passion, because she was drawn so close to Him at the foot of the Cross, she was also drawn, lifted up to heaven by Him to be there the created person closest to the Creator! So I would say the first "assumption" of Our Lady was when she was drawn by her Son at the foot of the Cross and the second is a consequence of the first: she was lifted up to heaven with her body and soul.

But it was not sufficient for Our Lord to draw His mother so close to Him, He gave her the power to draw others after her, at the foot of the Cross, then to heaven. "There stood by the cross of Jesus His mother," then "St. John the Apostle, St. Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleophas, and St. Salome." These would never have been there by themselves: they were there because they followed Our Lady—they were drawn by her. They will be drawn by her to heaven on the Last Day.

So Our Lady can truly say on the Feast of the Assumption:

And I, when I will be lifted up from earth, first at the foot of the cross, then as Queen of Heaven, I will draw everything to myself, first at the foot of the Cross, then in heaven."

My dear brethren, today many would like to be drawn by her into heaven to go with her, but few accept to go with her, to follow to the foot of the Cross!

Many enemies of the Cross! Shall we be enemies of the Cross as the modern world is? Let us accept to be drawn by her at the foot of the Cross, let us take generously our crosses!

What is our first cross? We must be "dead to sin, and living unto God in Christ Jesus Our Lord." Do you think that St. John the Apostle, or St. Mary Magdalene, after having been at the foot of the Cross and having contemplated so closely the sufferings and death of Our Lord, do you think that they could dare to "crucify again Our Lord" by mortal sin? I don't think so! If so many—even Catholics—fall into mortal sin, it is because they don't have the Cross of Our Lord impressed upon their soul, they never meditate truly and deeply on His Passion.

My dear brethren, you who assist regularly at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the same Sacrifice as the Sacrifice of the Cross, how could you live again in sin? Open the eyes of your faith and see on the altar the Victim of Calvary, the Lamb of God, His Blood sacramentally separated from His Body! You can receive the same graces at the foot of the altar now, as if you would be with Our Lady, St. John and the holy women at the foot of the Cross!

Let us be drawn by Our Lady to die now to sin forever and to live unto God in Christ Jesus Our Lord forever. In any temptation let us look at the Cross, let us look at Our Lady standing at the foot of the Cross and let us stand with her! The devil cannot reach us there.

And what is our second cross? All and any tribulation here below: bad health, temporal difficulties, spiritual darkness and difficulties with our neighbor. Let us accept this cross and offer ourselves as victims with Our Lady and with Our Lord. Let us never render evil for evil, but let us overcome evil by good, by the good of forgiving. "Father forgive them, they know not what they do."

And for some there is a third cross. Our Lady draws some to a closer oblation of yourselves in the consecrated life: priests, monks and nuns. She can be called the Mother of Vocations. I know that she has already called some of you to a closer union, a more intimate union with Jesus Christ Crucified. Do not be afraid, your heavenly Mother is there before you, in any difficulty to lift up your eyes towards her, and you will find in her Immaculate Heart refuge, protection, strength, help and consolation to fulfill your vocation with the same generosity.

And to all of us, my dear brethren, she offers us today the most certain hope that if we follow Our Lord with her at the foot of the Cross, we shall follow Him with her in heaven, even with our body at the Last Day. This Feast of the Assumption is thus very encouraging for us, it strengthens our hope.

Let us pray to Our Lady that she deigns to draw us with her. "And I, when I shall be lifted up from earth, I shall draw everything to myself." Amen.