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The Fourth Glorious Mystery - The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin

CHAPTER 9

How Precious Was the Death of Saint Mary, Both on Account of the Special Graces That Attended It,
and on Account of the Manner in Which It Took Place


It would seem that the divine Mother - all holy, and exempt as She was from the slightest stain of
sin - should also have
been exempt from death, the punishment of sin. But God was pleased that Mary should in all things
resemble Jesus; and as the Son had died, it was becoming that the Mother should also die. God
wished, moreover, to give the just an example of the precious death prepared for them. Thus He
willed that even the Most Blessed Virgin should die, but by a sweet and happy death.

Let us consider how precious was Mary's death: first, on account of the special favors by which it
was accompanied; and secondly, on account of the manner in which it took place.

There are three things that render death bitter: attachment to the world, remorse for sins, and the
uncertainty of salvation. The death of Mary was entirely free from these causes of bitterness, and
was accompanied by three special graces, which rendered it precious and joyful. She died as She
had lived, entirely detached from the things of the world; She died in the most perfect peace; She
died in the certainty of eternal glory.

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord (Apoc. 14:13). Who are these, who die, being already dead?
They are those happy souls who pass into eternity already detached, and, so to say, dead to all
affection for terrestrial things; and who, like St. Francis of Assisi, found in God alone all their
happiness, and with him could say, "My God and my all." But what soul was ever more detached from
earthly goods, and more united to God, than the beautiful soul of Mary?

St. John saw Mary represented in that woman, clothed with the sun, who held the moon under her feet
:And a great sign appeared