The Assumption of Our Blessed Lady

O GLORIOUS Queen of all the heavenly host, whose sacred body, the immaculate temple of the Divinity, is now assumed into heaven, I unite my voice to the choirs of angels who celebrate thy triumph. “Winter is now past” for thee, O fervent follower of thy crucified Son. In this world, like him, thou hadst not any part in its perishable possessions, but now all the treasures of heaven are thine—they are thine to enjoy, and thine to distribute, for thy intercession “is now an infinite treasure to man, which they that use, become the friends of God.” Thou wert buried in obscurity in this valley of tears, but now thou “art compared with the light,” and “art found before it.” O Mother of God, elevated to the highest pinnacle of glory, should not thy triumphant exaltation encourage us to despise this world, and aspire after the next; for, O amiable Virgin, how short were thy sufferings on earth, yet, for all eternity, thou “shalt be admired in the holy assembly; among the elect thou shalt have praise, and among the blessed thou shalt be blessed.” Look down then with compassion on us poor banished children of Eve—draw our hearts after thee by filial confidence and vigorous exertions to imitate thy virtues; above all, obtain for us that true humility, which neither seeks nor values any earthly distinction; detachment from the things of the world; purity of heart, and such ardent love for Jesus Christ as may cause us to despise this earth, and incessantly sigh after those eternal joys, which the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive.