The feast of the Assumption and its Octave day bring before our minds the glory that the Father bestowed on Our Lady, her Queenship, and her Immaculate Heart. As in most Catholic Churches, our primary side altar is dedicated to Our Lady and we are blessed to have a particularly fine altar designed by Edward Pugin. St John Paul said that in the Rosary we contemplate with Mary the face of Christ and I think that our statue illustrates this well.

In continuity with previous councils and papal teaching, the Fathers of the second Vatican Council insisted that veneration of Our Lady should be “generously fostered” and that the exercises of piety which have been recommended by the Church should be given great importance. The Council said:

This most Holy Synod deliberately teaches this Catholic doctrine and at the same time admonishes all the sons of the Church that the cult, especially the liturgical cult, of the Blessed Virgin, be generously fostered, and the practices and exercises of piety, recommended by the magisterium of the Church toward her in the course of centuries be made of great moment, and those decrees, which have been given in the early days regarding the cult of images of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the saints, be religiously observed (Lumen Gentium 67)

Devotion to Our Lady is not something that was thrown out by the Church in the sixties – at least there was no excuse in Vatican II to do so.

We give great honour to the Blessed Virgin first of all because she is the Mother of God. This exalted vocation is itself reason for us to venerate her. We also praise her because she she was preserved free from original sin by God in view of His will to ask her consent to be the mother of the Word made flesh, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, God made man.

We also have devotion to Our Lady because God Himself has honoured her by making her the Queen of all the angels and saints in heaven.

To venerate Our Lady does not in any way detract from the supreme adoration that we give to Jesus Christ. After all, no sensible man on earth would be offended if I greeted his mother with respect or praised her virtues. We should not expect that somehow Our Blessed Lord would consider it a slight that we honour his Mother.

Quite the contrary, the dynamic of our prayer is “To Jesus through Mary.” Our Lady always takes us to Jesus. She leads us to worship her Son fervently, to follow Him faithfully, and to serve Him generously. We should also ask Our Lady every day to pray for us, pleading before God for the graces that we need to repent of our sins, to resist temptation, and to carry out the works of charity that the Holy Ghost inspires us to perform.

Let us turn to Mary in all our joys and sorrows. She teaches us to praise the wonderful works of God and she accompanies us in the sorrows of this life just as she accompanied Our Lord when she stood at the foot of the Cross. May she lead us to see Him face to face in heaven.

Sermon given by Fr Finigan at St Austin and St Gregory, Margate for the 21st Sunday of Year B 23 August 2015