After the ascension of Our Lord it is generally believed that the Blessed Virgin went with St. John to Ephesus, where the beloved disciple fixed his See. There she lived in the strictest retirement with him, to whose protecting arm and gentle heart the best of Sons had confided her, in the last moment of His bitter agony. Years rolled on in that peaceful retreat; weary years, no doubt, to a heart so closely united to God, and so ardently desirous of seeing Him face to face; but yet, years made sweet by loving submission to that divine will before which her own will ever bowed in profoundest adoration.

At last the summons came. Three-and-twenty years had passed since she had seen Jesus rise gloriously above that mountain mentioned in the Acts, and had gazed upon His receding form till the bright cloud hid Him from her sight. The Virgin Mother had now reached her seventy-second year. Though she had run the course meted out to mortal man, time had traced the record of his passage but faintly upon her calm and peaceful brow. She went to the grave well-nigh as bright and beautiful as she had been in the days of her early youth. Tradition says that St. John took her to Jerusalem, when he became aware that death should soon separate him from that glorious Mother. She wished to die where she had seen her Child, her Lord, her Saviour pay the bitter price of man's redemption. There, in that city, so full for her of sad and of glorious memories, death came to lay his icy hand, ever so gently, upon her pure and spotless heart.

By a special providence, as tradition says, the Apostles were all, with one exception, assembled round her couch. They looked once more upon that face which so forcibly reminded them of Jesus. They heard again the sweet accents of that gentle voice. They knelt again to receive the parting benediction of her whom they regarded as their Mother and their Queen. As they gazed, a smile of heavenly joy illumined her face, the lips parted, and her bright spirit had gone--Jesus once more clasped Mary to His heart. Her sacred body having been first embalmed, after the manner of the Jews, with rich and precious ointments, was then carried by the Apostles, and deposited in one of those cave-tombs which are so common about Jerusalem.

Some days elapsed before the absent Apostle, St. Thomas, arrived. Being filled with grief because he had not seen the face of his Queen, he at last prevailed upon his fellow Apostles to withdraw the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre, that he might gaze upon her in death whom he had loved so tenderly during her life. His wishes were complied with; but when they had entered the tomb, they found not there the body of the holy Virgin. The linen cloths which had wrapped it round were folded and laid together in one place, and the flowers upon which it had reposed were scarcely faded. All present bore witness to the miraculous fact; and the universal sentiment which has ever prevailed in the Church, is that God united her spotless soul to her virginal body, and assumed it into heaven, where she now reigns, seated nearest of created beings to the awful throne of God.

This is the tradition which has come down to us, of the crowning event in our Lady's life--a holy death, followed by the glorious assumption of her virginal body into heaven. This may provoke a smile from the sceptic, or a blasphemy from the unbeliever; but the child of the Church will see in the festival, which has been instituted to celebrate this mystery, a sufficient guarantee for his belief. Also the fact that no relic of the Blessed Virgin's body exists, either in the East or in the West, is no slight proof that God assumed her body into heaven, as tradition maintains. For if her body had remained in the tomb, it would have been preserved most religiously by the pious reverence of the faithful.

However, be this as it may, we may strengthen our faith by noting the congruity of the mystery, and seeing how admirably it fits in with the rest of her life. Death, as we are told so often, is but the echo of life. Now the life of Mary was a miraculous one, and therefore it would not have been in keeping with itself, if the end of it had not been of a piece with all that had preceded. We should, therefore, naturally expect that her death would differ from that of ordinary mortals. Furthermore, if we reflect a little, we shall see that there is between our entrance into life, and our exit from it, a certain relation; because there is in both terms something that is similar. This is mortality. In our conception, death is in germ; our departure from this stage of life is but the completion, the development of the first seed of destruction. The germ of death in our conception is original sin, which is transmitted to us by our parents; the death which extinguishes our spark of life is the daughter of sin. Grace delivers us from both species of death--from sin, by baptism; from the consequence of death, by the resurrection.

Hence we are able to see how it is that the Virgin's destiny may differ from that of other men. In her conception God preserved her from original sin, that is to say, from the death of the soul; and He ought, therefore, to preserve her from the consequence of death, which is corruption. Like her Divine Son she passed through death, but stayed not in it. In her, as in Him, death was the fact of sin, but not its effect. He rose again to life by His own power--He raised her from the tomb through grace.

Therefore, with St. Augustine we may reason thus: 'If God had the power to preserve the virginity of Mary, while enriching her with the fruitfulness of a mother, He had the same power to preserve her body incorruptible in the tomb. If he had the power to do so, He had also the will, and if He willed it, He did it.'

Rejoice, therefore, with the whole Church of God upon this day, when Mary, the Mother of Jesus, after her weary pilgrimage, was summoned to her eternal rest. Represent to yourself the whole court of heaven going forth to meet her with canticles of joy, with sound of harp and of psaltery, while choir answered choir in ravishing strains of celestial minstrelsy. Angelic natures, looking at the beauty of that soul which came to them from the earth, cried out in astonishment: 'Who is she that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?' Jesus is there by her side, conducting her to that kingdom which His blood had opened for her and for all His other children. 'Lift up, therefore, your eternal gates, O! bright kingdom of God, and the Lord of glory shall enter in!' He takes His Mother by the hand, He seats her nearest His Almighty throne, and amid the acclamations of Angels and Archangels, of Thrones, Dominations, and Powers, of Cherubim and of Seraphim, the ever Blessed Trinity places upon her head the crown of glory, which she had merited by her marvellous virtues, by her humility, her submission, her piety, and the large share which she took, while here below, of Christ's bitter chalice of suffering and of sorrow.

On that exalted throne, Mary our Mother is seated. The King of heaven is her Son. She is powerful with Him, and when she intercedes, His loving heart will never say nay. Therefore, be of good courage! When you feel how worthless, and how little deserving of attention, are your own petitions for grace, ask her to pray for you and with you, that God, out of the love which He bears her, would deign to listen to your prayer. Look into your heart, and see what you need most. You need all those virtues which will make you like Mary, and also, in some degree, like her Son Jesus. Ask her to pray for you, that you may be obedient; that you may be submissive to God's holy will; that you may fight manfully against the devil; that you may lead a most pure and holy life. Ask all this with confidence, and at the same time do not forget to pray for final perseverance, that having led a good life, you may crown your days by a holy death, and deserve to enter that kingdom where she is reigning with Christ her Son, invested with that power and glory which He purchased for her at the price of His own most precious blood.