I was recently impressed by the serene and confident gaze of an image of Our Lady. How consoling it is to think about this heroic and all-loving, ever-faithful mother. She bore the sorrows, trials, and crosses just as any woman would, and yet her gaze is steady.

She sees and experiences the joys and sorrows of human hearts even now from Heaven because just as any mother rejoices and rises and bends low to be with her child, so Our Lady is with each of us.

Today we celebrate as a universal church—militant, suffering, glorious—the tremendous truth of the Assumption of Our Lady, body and soul into Heaven. We offer to you, O Mary, all of our joys, gratitude, suffering, worries, hopes, fears, dreams, and our very lives.

You, O Mother, are now face-to-face with God. Hear our prayers and grant us Marian hearts to follow the path you chose of total, all-consuming love of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Teach us the way of perfect surrender—the only way to everlasting peace, joy, and love.

[bctt tweet="Teach us the way of perfect surrender. // @srmariakim" username="blessedisshe__"]

listen to today’s devotion