A note from the sermon writer: I encourage you to think of an instance where a child who others thought was just sitting there in Mass or Catechism was actually paying close attention. For instance, in my own experience, I think of a boy in the back row who always seemed to be looking at his phone, but one day at school he defended the faith with articulate eloquence to a scoffer, quoting one of my homilies. That would go well with the point we’re going to be making about the Blessed Virgin later in this homily. With regards to my opening sentence, please adjust to your own experience.

            How well I remember as a child practicing a song with my fellow first graders for a procession at Mass:

Daily, daily sing to Mary.

Sing, my soul, her praises due.

All her feasts her actions worship

With the heart’s devotion true.

            I want to focus on the third line of the song¹ — “All her feasts her actions worship.” We celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin not only because of God’s generosity and grace, but also because of Mary’s glorious actions. So let’s talk about some of those glorious actions. 

The handmaid

            The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1927, took seventy-five years to produce, and provided definitions and histories for 414,815 words. As it turned out, one word was left out by accident: bondmaid. It’s a word that translates the term used by the Blessed

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