Mary: The Fulfillment of God's Will

Mary was taken up into Heaven.
What do we mean by this? In the case of Mary we mean something different than when we say the saints are in Heaven. We have the relics of the saints but Mary was taken up body and soul, there are no fragments of her body here on earth. One day the bodies of the saints will be united to their soul just as one day the souls of those in purgatory will be united  to their bodies and even those now in Hell. But Mary because of her Immaculate Conception, this singular Grace of God, is now in that state of Resurrection that even the greatest of saints must wait for, in that sense she is more like her Son and Lord than any other Saint. Thus we honour God with latria and the saints with dulia but Mary with hyperdulia.

She already enjoys the fullness of what we hope for at the 'consummation of the ages'. Our hope is what we say in our funeral rites, 'In my flesh I shall see God', 'I shall behold him face to face'. Mary uniquely enjoys the fullness of Grace, for she is the 'highest honour of our race'. She reflects as a perfect mirror without any blemish the Grace of God, she reflects and also contains Grace, nothing comes between her and God.

She is the purest, the most perfect, of creatures. Everything else that is created is marred by sin, everything whether it is a stone or bird, a human being or a distant star, every thought, every emotion, is touched by sin but not Mary, she is free of all contamination. On earth, even as the Immaculate, she is frustrated by evil beyond her as God's plan is frustrated by sinfulness. Though sinless, she is limited by the sins of others, like Jesus she inhabits the domain of the Lord of this World and is consequently limited by human culture, by the limits of human knowledge and yes, by the daily assaults of the Devil, the ancient dragon that stalks her, that causes her flee into he desert. In Heaven she is limitless, in heaven she truly experiences 'the fullness of Grace', she shares in God's complete freedom and in His knowledge and understanding, she has become as scripture prophesies and as the angel are 'like unto God'. Thus her motherhood, which on earth was limited, becomes the motherhood of all humanity, in perfect Communion with God she shares in His infinite love and infinite mercy, and infinite compassion. On earth she could intercede for those she knew, and certainly pray that God's will in all things might be done. In heaven she extends her maternal care too all, with motherly intimacy she know us and cares for us.

If we are truly Christian we need to have a Chris-tlike devotion to His Blessed Mother. It needs to be founded not on the saccharine, touchy-feelingness of much modern 'charismatic' devotion but on basic Christian teaching of death, judgement, heaven and hell and on above all a true understanding of what Christ has accomplished for us, especially by His Saving Death and Glorious Resurrection, for what Mary enjoys now is what we are called to enjoy after the Consummation of the Ages, when God's Holy Will is accomplished, for She is our model and our hope, and the fulfillment of God's will.