My lover speaks; he says to me,
"Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
and come!
"For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone. ...."
(Sg 2:10-11)
Mary's sorrows are now over because her mystical union with God has now blossomed into a realm of joy and glory beyond all understanding. God raised Mary into His heavenly realm body and soul because such a pure being could not undergo corruption.
St. Peter Damien contemplating Mary's Assumption says: "'We find it more glorious than the Ascension of Jesus Christ; for to meet the Redeemer, angels alone came forth; but when the Blessed Virgin was assumed into glory, she was met by the Lord of Glory himself accompanied by all the saints and angels." (St. Alponsus Maria de Liguori, The Glories of Mary, Helicon Press, Inc., Baltimore, MA, 1963, p. 94)
 Be Joyful Mary (music by Bro. Renatus Foldenauer, CSC)
Be joyful, Mary, heav'n Queen,
be joyful Mary! |
Dante in the Paradiso envisions Heaven as a snow white rose around the throne of God ("O Triunal light that is a single star"). Around the Deity are angels and souls of the Saints arrayed as petals of the mystical rose that gives glory to God. Then Dante realizing the central role Mary played in the history of salvation quotes the prayer of St. Bernard,
"Love warmed the eternal peace within thy womb
To bear the flower we now unfolded see!
All love is sphered in thee, all loveliness in thy bright torch;
and those who wait below
in thee the living spring of hope shall know."
(Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, translated by S. Fowler Wright)
"That Mary herself should be designated as Mystical Rose, whose beauty leads to God, whose fragrance attracts our souls to Christ as bees are attracted to the rose blossoms, would fit right into Dante's views of Mary's commanding role in the economy of salvation." (Msgr. Charles Dollen, Reflections on the Litany of Loreto, Our Sunday Visitor Inc., IN, 1989, p. 121).
