NOTES for Luk 1:39-45
Just as the child leaped in Elizabeth's womb, everything within us rejoices at the thought of Mary, the Mother of our Lord. The feast of her Dormition is one of the brightest feasts, without a shadow of sorrow. It is an example of how a person dies yet does not leave the world, becoming its shield of prayer and remaining in a bond of prayer with the living. For Mary is always with us when we pray to her.
There is a legend that before the death of the Mother of God, before her Dormition, the angel Gabriel appeared to her just as he had in the days of the Annunciation and brought white, fragrant flowers, flowers that recalled the radiance of heaven and eternal life. It may be only a legend, but in it the human spirit speaks with all its love for Mary's holiness, purity, her whole image, and for Mary herself.