With the sun streaming into the chapel at the Viatorian Province Center, Viatorians gathered to celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“Alleluia, alleluia. Mary is taken up to heaven, a chorus of angels exults,” Fr. John Milton, CSV, said before reading the gospel. “Alleluia, alleluia.”

Fr. Milton celebrates many of the daily Masses in the chapel, where is he known to boil down the gospel into a relevant message and thoughtful take-away for the rest of the day.

In interpreting today’s feast, Fr. Milton said that while there is no direct reference to the assumption in the Scriptures, it has been celebrated in the church as early as the 6th Century.

In Luke’s gospel, he described how Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary when she arrived — three months before the birth of John the Baptist — evolved over time into the Hail Mary, and that Mary’s response became the basis for the Magnificat, recited by Viatorians in their Daily Office prayers, every morning and evening.

Ultimately, Fr. Milton described the assumption as a promise: “It is a promise that faithful and prayerful living, and caring for those in need, will lead to a new and eternal life.”