Readings: Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 24:23–31; St. Luke 11:27–28
On this vigil of Our Lady’s Assumption, the Church places before us two texts that shine with Marian light. From the book of Ecclesiasticus, Holy Church applies to Mary the lofty praise of Wisdom:
“As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.” (Sir 24:23–24)
From the Gospel of St. Luke, we hear that as Our Lord spoke to the crowd, a woman cried out:
“Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breasts that nursed Thee!”
But He said: “Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.” (Lk 11:27–28)
At first glance, the Gospel seems almost to redirect the praise of His Mother to a broader audience. But the Fathers of the Church, in their wisdom, see here not a denial, but an elevation.
St. Augustine notes that Mary is blessed indeed in the flesh, for she bore the Word made Flesh, but she is even more blessed for having conceived Him first in her heart by faith before conceiving Him in her womb. As he says: “Mary is more blessed in receiving the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ.” (Sermon 25 on the Saints)
St. Bede the Venerable sees in Christ’s words the perfection of Mary’s discipleship: she is the model of one who “hears the word of God and keeps it.” No one has ever done so more fully than she, for she kept all these words, pondering them in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19).
When the Church reads Sirach 24 on this vigil, she applies to the Blessed Virgin the praises that originally spoke of Divine Wisdom. Mary is the fruitful vine whose blossoms are honour and virtue; she is “the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope” — virtues that spring up in all who take her as mother. St. Ambrose dares to say that through Mary, “the gate of heaven was opened to us,” for she is the living temple in which the Word took up His dwelling.
This union of the Old and New Testament readings reminds us that Mary’s glory lies not only in her unique divine maternity, but in her perfect fidelity to the Word. Her Assumption — the mystery we vigilantly await — is the crown of this fidelity. She bore Christ in her body; she kept Him in her heart. Therefore, as St. John Damascene proclaims, “It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her body incorrupt in death; she, who had borne the Creator as a child, should dwell in the divine tabernacles.”
The Vigil invites us to imitate the faith and obedience of Mary, that we may share, in our measure, in her blessedness. As St. Eusebius the Confessor — whose feast is commemorated today — endured all for Christ, so must we bear the word of God with patience, guarding it from the enemy. For to keep the Word, as Mary did, is to prepare for our own rising to heaven.
Let us therefore pray this night with confidence:
O Mother of fair love, teach us to hear the Word of God and keep it, that our lives may blossom with the fruit of holy hope, until we too are gathered into the eternal dwelling of thy Son.