Homily — Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady
Speaking of Our Lady’s assumption into heaven, Saint Bernard says, “This is a precious gift that our earth today has presented to heaven: thus, by this exchange, human realities are united to divine realities, the earthly to the heavenly, those from below to those on high, in a happy pact of friendship.” (St. Bernard, First Sermon on the Assumption.) In this exchange, the earth has offered its most sublime fruit and then from there descend upon us the most perfect gifts, “come down from the Father of lights.” Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption along with the rest of Church, but in a manner that is particularly special for us because, because for us Cistercians it is the patronal feast of our Order. Today’s feast, therefore, says something very important about who we are, about our place in the Church, and about our relationship with the Church and the world we live in. There are various ways to approach the meaning of this feast both for the early Cistercians of the ...