Neither the steep path up Rueberry Lane nor the ‘refreshing’ breeze at the Lady Chapel deterred a crowd of people of all ages from making the annual pilgrimage in honour of Our Lady on the Feast of her Assumption.

This year Bishop Terry was joined by Abbot Cuthbert Madden of Ampleforth and Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds who preached. In his sermon Bishop Roche drew from all three readings of the day to show how this beautiful feast provided a ‘glimpse of the love of Jesus for His mother’, uniting ‘with Himself in glory the woman from whom He took His human soul and body which were the instruments of our salvation’.

In order ‘to penetrate this beautiful mystery we have need of a divine revelation and the most intense kind of poetry’, said Bishop Roche explaining that the dogma of the Assumption is ‘not something in addition to scripture but is the scripture’s deepest sense discerned in this very celebration’. Referring initially to the first reading, ‘behold, the sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the Ark of the Covenant could be seen inside it’, he then turned to the Book of Revelation, ‘peering more deeply into the heavens with the help of St John we see that the Ark of the Covenant is not the wooden box carried by the Israelites… (it is) a great sign appearing in the heavens, a woman adorned with the Sun, standing on the Moon, with twelve stars on her head for a crown. This is the Ark of the New Covenant in its perfect state. It is Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, assumed body and soul into heaven.’ Moving from the dazzling imagery of St John, Bishop Roche turned to the Gospel of St Luke and the visitation when ‘pregnant with the Word the Ark of the Covenant, Mary, hurries into the hill country to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with the one who will announce Jesus to the world.’ ‘Blessed are you amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus’ proclaimed Elizabeth. ‘But how much more true are these words today on our lips when we see that the fruit of Mary’s womb is the Son of God crucified, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven and that she is blessed among all women because He unites her entirely with Himself in His divine glory. The image of Mary assumed into heaven is an image of the future that God also intends for us’. For, as Jesus said in St John’s Gospel, ‘he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever and I will raise him up on the last day’.