Saint John gives us two unforgettable images today.
A woman clothed with the sun.
And a great red dragon.
The woman appears in glory: the moon beneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head.
The dragon is powerful, violent and waiting to devour.
These two figures represent two kingdoms, two ways of exercising power, two completely different visions of what finally triumphs.
The dragon destroys life. The woman gives life.
The dragon depends upon fear. The woman depends upon God.
The dragon appears powerful. The woman is truly glorious.
And that struggle has never disappeared.
We see something of the dragon whenever human power turns against human life.
We see it when the unborn child is regarded as a problem to be removed.
We see it when the elderly or seriously ill begin to hear that death might be better than dependence.
We see it when pornography turns the human body into a commodity.
We see it when war reduces families and children to statistics.
We see it whenever the strong decide that the weak are inconvenient.
The dragon is ancient, but his methods remain remarkably familiar.
Saint John says that he stands before the woman “that he might devour her child.”
The dragon hates life because ultimately he hates the God who gives life.
But there is something else about the dragon.
He looks impressive. Seven heads. Ten horns. Seven crowns.
He knows how to make power visible.
That too is familiar.
Our world is fascinated by what can be counted.
Money. Followers. Votes. Influence. Property. Status. Celebrity.
We easily assume that the people who possess these things are the people who matter.
Then God gives us Mary.
A young woman from Nazareth.
She does not command nations.
She simply says yes to God.
And Saint John sees her clothed with the sun.
That is the difference between worldly power and heavenly glory.
Power tries to make other people small.
Glory comes from God.
Power says, “Look at me.” Power tries to possess.
Mary says, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
The dragon therefore represents more than visible evil.
His temptation reaches into ordinary life.
We encounter something of his spirit whenever we believe that happiness depends upon getting our own way.
My life.
My rules.
My desires.
Mary presents the opposite vision.
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.”
She does not lose herself by belonging to God.
She discovers what a human being was created to become.
And here Mary is also an image of the Church.
Catholic tradition has always seen the woman of Revelation as having this fuller meaning.
She points to Mary, but also to the Church.
The Church can sometimes look very unimpressive.
She has been persecuted by emperors.
Her churches have been destroyed.
Her martyrs have been killed.
Her teaching has been mocked.
Her members have sinned and sometimes grievously.
At different moments, powerful people have predicted her disappearance.
Yet kingdoms which once persecuted her have disappeared. The Church remains.
The Roman emperors are gone.
But today throughout Rome, Mass is being offered.
The Soviet Union attempted to build a society without God.
It closed churches, imprisoned priests and persecuted believers.
The Soviet Union is gone.
Christ is still worshipped.
In many places today Christians remain persecuted, churches are attacked, and believers suffer because they will not deny Christ.
The dragon still stands before the woman.
Yet the Church still baptises. Still absolves sins. Still celebrates the Eucharist.
Still ordains priests. Still teaches the Gospel. Still produces saints.
The glory of the Church is Christ.
She carries Him into the world.
Like Mary, the Church has been entrusted with something infinitely greater than herself.
She carries the Gospel.
She guards the Sacraments.
She buries the dead in the hope of resurrection.
Generation after generation, she places Christ before the world.
And the dragon cannot finally prevent it.
That is why today’s vision is so glorious.
Saint John does not show us a woman barely surviving.
He shows us a woman clothed with the sun.
The moon is beneath her feet.
Upon her head is a crown.
The final word about the Church is not weakness.
It is glory.
The final word about Mary is not Calvary.
It is glory.
The final word about the Christian is not the grave.
It is glory.
And the source of that glory is Jesus Christ.
The Assumption shows us that the dragon does not win.
Those who destroy life do not win. Those who persecute the Church do not win.
Even death does not win.
Christ wins.
And today we see His victory shining in His Mother.
The woman is clothed with the sun.
The dragon rages beneath her.
And the Church, despite everything she suffers in this world, continues towards the glory of her Lord.
That is the vision we must keep before us.
The dragon may rage, but his defeat is certain.
The Woman may suffer, but she is already crowned.
And what God has done in our Lady shows us where His Church is going:
through suffering, through death, and finally home to Christ in Heaven.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 