O Queen Triumphant

Photo Credit: Fr. Lawrence, O.P.

This day the Virgin Mary ascends into heaven;
rejoice for she reigns with Christ forever. 
- Magnificat Antiphon, Second Vespers (Extraordinary Form)

“He whom she received at His entrance into this poor world, receives her today at the gate of the holy City. No spot on earth so worthy of the Son of God as the Virgin’s womb: no throne in heaven so lofty as that whereon the Son of Mary places her in return. What a reception each gave to the other! It is beyond the power of expression, because beyond the reach of our thought. Who shall declare the generation of the son, and the Assumption of the Mother?” - St. Bernard on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

"Mary was cared for by St. John for twelve years after our Lord's Resurrection. Her life was spent helping the Apostles and in praying for the conversion of the world. On the third day after Mary's death, when the Apostles gather around her tomb, they found it empty. The sacred body had been carried up to the celestial paradise. Jesus Himself came to conduct her thither; the whole court of heaven came to welcome with songs of triumph the Mother of the Divine Word. 

"Almighty everlasting God, Who has taken body and soul into heaven the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Thy Son: grant, we beseech Thee, that by steadfastly keeping heaven as our goal, we may be counted worthy to join her in glory."
- Collect: Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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O Prima Virgo Prodita

O Virgin, who of all God's work
From His creating breath came first,
Predestined in thy womb to bear
The eternal Son of God most high.

Thou art the woman fore-ordained
Victorious o'er man's enemy,
Uniquely filled with heaven's grace, 
Unblemished in thine origin. 

The life by Adam's sin extinct,
That Life thou didst in thee conceive,
Clothed with man's flesh and perfected
A Host divine for sacrifice.

Death, once the wages owed to sin,
In its defeat deserth Son, 
In body to the stars art raised. 

Higher, resplendent, glorious,
Woman most perfect doth ascend:
Our human nature doth in thee
The peak of every beauty reach.

​O Queen triumphant, turn thine eyes
On us exiled from heaven and thee:
With thee to help us may we reach
The happiness of home in heaven.

O Jesus, who wast Virgin-born,
May every glory be to Thee,
The Father and the Spirit so kind,
Throughout the ages evermore. ​