Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

(Homily of Saint Peter Canisius, Doctor of the Church)

The Church both reverently and frequently celebrates Feasts of the Mother of God. For She knows with certainty that it is a work pleasing to God and worthy of the faithful to honor, among all the Saints, the most saintly Mother of Our Lord and God on numerous established days of the year, with public ceremonies. And among these Feasts which have been observed for many centuries down to our own time, the Feast of the Assumption is considered the greatest and holds the chief place. For we can see that no other day was so happy and joyful for Mary herself, if we rightly contemplate the new happiness of soul and body granted to her on that day. As previously her soul and body had wonderfully rejoiced in the living God, now they did so as never before; she could now say with full right, “He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done great things to me.”
And so, O thrice blessed and truly august Mother, we who love thee and thy Son cannot but rejoice in thy wonderful and unequalled joy, the more especially because everything that was said to thee and about thee by the Lord is fulfilled by thy beautiful death, and made perfect in every way. Thou art blessed today, not only because thou hast believed but also because thou hast attained the fruit and purpose of all virtue and have merited at last to enjoy the glad sight of Him Whom thou so greatly loved and desired. When Emmanuel entered into the house of this world, thou, with hospitality, received Him as a Guest; today in turn thou art received into His Royal Palace and magnificently honored as befits the Mother of such a Solomon.
O happy day, which transferred such a precious gift from the desert of this world and brought it to the holy, eternal City in such a way as to stir up a communal and unbelievable joy in all the heavenly beings, and just as much admiration as joy! O happy day, which granted the long and ardent desire of the Bride, faint with love, to find Him Whom she had asked for, to possess securely what she had hoped for, resting completely in the perfect vision and enjoyment of that highest and eternal Good! O happy day, which raised up and exalted the humble handmaid of the Lord to such a height that she became the most glorious Queen of Heaven and Mistress of the world; nor could she have risen higher, since she was exalted to the very Throne of the Kingdom and seated in a glory second only to Christ’s! Clearly this happy day is to be honored, which established and proclaimed as our Queen and Mother one who is at once so powerful and so merciful that we may have her, who ever remains the Mother of the Judge, as a Mother of Mercy protecting and interceding for us with Christ, and faithfully watching out for whatever concerns our salvation