A place prepared

In today’s first reading from the book of Revelation (11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab) we have a copious amount of complex imagery, some of which has often been related to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

A great sign appeared in the sky,
a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child
and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon,
with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon
stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.

Again, this imagery is complex (as is generally the case with the Book of Revelation): the symbol of the woman has also been associated with the People of God, Israel, and the Church.

Yet one of the reasons why this passage is selected for today’s feast is the phrase “where she had a place prepared by God.”

This reminds us of a promise given by our Lord to his disciples in John 14:1-3:

Let not your hearts be troubled;
believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many rooms;
if it were not so, would I have told you
that I go to prepare a place for you?

And when I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself,
that where I am you may be also.

In the first reading, the place prepared for the woman is the desert – the classic place of continual renewal for God’s faithful. In today’s celebration of the Assumption, the place prepared is indeed the place prepared by her Lord, Savior and Son Jesus Christ.

As Christ has done for his faithful mother Mary, so shall he do – in his own time – for those who continue to serve him faithfully on this earth.

(Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, be merciful to me – a sinner)

Let not your hearts be troubled;
believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many rooms;
if it were not so, would I have told you
that I go to prepare a place for you?

And when I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself,
that where I am you may be also.