Evil and death will not have the final say

Dear Knights, Dames and Friends,

even in these times, our spirits are lifted towards the Holy City, towards those blessed Places where the mystery of salvation took flesh in human history. The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary is linked to the memory of the Dormition of the Mother of God, which has been venerated since the earliest centuries by the Church of Jerusalem, and leads us into the very heart of the Paschal Mystery: from the Cenacle to Gethsemane, from the Cross to the glory of the Resurrection.

At the invitation of Father Nikodemus Schnabel, I travelled to the Holy Land on pilgrimage last year and on my arrival, I was so warmly welcomed by the Benedictine community of the Dormition. While there, I was able once again to contemplate how the theology of Jerusalem springs from a journey through the Holy Places. Nothing in the Christian faith is abstract. The Word became flesh, God dwelt within our history, and the Blessed Virgin Mary is the most radiant sign of this redemption of the whole human person, body and soul. Ancient tradition hands down to us the image of the Apostles gathered around Mary in prayer. From that place, Zion, her body is carried into the Kidron Valley, near Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives. It is a journey that concerns not only Mary, but the whole Church: Mary precedes the People of God in the destiny of death and resurrection.

The Assumption is not merely a truth of faith, but a living hope that illuminates human history. In a time marked by war, violence and division in the Land of the Lord, the Assumed Virgin reminds us that evil and death will not have the final word. In a memorable homily for this solemnity, Pope Benedict XVI pointed to three profound dimensions of the Assumption.

First, that in God there is room for humanity: the Lord is neither distant nor indifferent to the sufferings of mankind. Second, Mary, as the Holy Ark, brings God to the world and the world to God. Third, within the human person there is room for God: the human heart is called to become a dwelling place for His presence. Some of the great Fathers of the Church of Jerusalem, such as Saint John Damascene and Saint Modestus of Jerusalem, contemplated the Dormition as the moment when Mary entered fully into the heavenly Jerusalem in order to continue her mission as Mother and Advocate of Christianity. She does not abandon the pilgrim Church, but ceaselessly intercedes before the throne of her Son for all her children scattered throughout the world. How relevant this consolation is for us today! As we witness so many open wounds in the holy places of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem and along the Sea of Tiberias, the Mother of the Lord continues to watch over the Christian people and all those who seek peace.

To her, dear friends, we entrust the intentions and prayers of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, commending to her care the Patriarch, the priests, religious men and women, and all the Christian communities of the Holy Land, who are called each day to bear witness to the Gospel amid trial and hardship. The Assumption also proclaims the dignity of the human body, as for centuries, the liturgy of Jerusalem has sung of the holiness of redeemed matter. Mary assumed into heaven proclaims to us that all creation is called to its final transfiguration. As Saint Paul teaches: “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” And in the Gospel of the Visitation we hear the Magnificat, the song of the Virgin: “for he who is mighty has done great things for me.” Mary recognises that all is grace, all is God’s gift. A faith that does not love the Mother of the Lord remains incomplete, for Mary is the sure path that leads to Christ.

Let us pray that through her intercession the world may receive the gift of reconciliation, that the Christians of the Holy Land may be granted the strength to persevere, and that each one of us may be given a heart capable of welcoming God. Let us reaffirm our conviction that the Lord does not abandon his people, for the earthly Jerusalem, scarred by human tears, is called to become the heavenly Jerusalem, where God will be all in all.

Fernando Cardinal Filoni

(August 2026)