Written by Father William Jenkins

During the month of August we celebrate the wonderful consummation of Our Blessed Mother's life. On the Holy Day set for August 15, we commemorate her Assumption into heaven, when God finally called her to join Him in heaven. One week later we honor her Immaculate Heart, and we rejoice to think of that moment when the Sacred Heart of Jesus was re-joined in heaven by the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Within this one week in August each year, we celebrate the events recalled in the 4th and 5th Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary: the Assumption and the Coronation of Our Lady. By lovingly recalling these events, we pay fitting tribute to the work of God's grace in Mary's soul, and we fulfill the prophecy of her Magnificat by calling her "blessed."

No sooner had our first parents sinned than God promised to send a Redeemer — a Redeemer Who would be the offspring of a woman who would be the enemy of Satan. This mysterious "woman" who would be mother to the Redeemer would have to be of a very special quality. She would have such great humility that, even when God sent an archangel to present God's unique plan for her and ask her consent, she would not be filled with pride but would rather become even more humble. This woman would have to be so virtuous that, when the Redeemer was born to her in a distant stable and then she had to flee far away to a foreign land to rescue her Child from Herod's plot, she would never even consider feeling sorry for herself. She would have to be so patient that, when her Son remained in Jerusalem and she was anxiously seeking Him for three days, she never indulged in any trace of frustration or impatience.

The woman whom God called to be mother of the Redeemer would have to be so completely devoted to the Divine Will that she would be the one to ask her Son to begin the road to Calvary by performing the miracle at Cana, and she would request this without any hesitation or reservation. She would then have to accept her role by following the Redeemer in quiet anonymity as He taught the multitudes, healed their diseases and even raised their dead to life, and never would she seek special consideration for herself nor would she draw attention or admiration to herself by boasting, "I'm His mother!" She would have to be willing to Him stand under the Redeemer's cross, unable to help Him in any way and without complaint. She must endure the agony of seeing of tormented in body and soul, and hear the cruel taunts and blasphemies hurled at Him, with a forgiving heart completely free of any thoughts of anger or revenge. She must be able to conduct her Son's tortured body to the tomb and leave It there in the darkness of Holy Saturday while never once allowing that darkness to pervade her soul or ever waver in her faith.

Where would God ever find such a woman? He would have to create her! God had created Eve in sanctifying grace, but the woman who would be mother of the Redeemer must be holier than Eve because she would have to succeed where Eve had failed. This woman would resemble her Son and Redeemer not only in body but also in soul. There would be not only a striking physical resemblance between the Redeemer and His mother, but her soul would have to closely resemble His Own in a most remarkable way, because she would be bound to Him by a unique maternal love and would be called upon to share with Him also in a unique way the hardships and sufferings of the Redemption.

This is the mysterious woman prophesied to be at enmity with Satan and whose Child would triumph over him. In the month of August every year, we celebrate the consummation of her glorious life and join our voices with those of the angels and saints in heaven to proclaim her blessed.