A story for every day...

Ahasuerus, King of Persia (485-465 B.C.), once ordered, at the instigation of his minister Aman, that all the Jews living in his states be massacred in a single day. When Queen Esther, a young Jewish woman, was informed of what was being planned, she prayed and fasted for three days with her attendants. Finally, after pleading for divine assistance, she went before the king, even though she knew that anyone who dared to appear before him without being called was punished by death. She threw herself at the feet of Ahasuerus, asking for mercy for herself and for her people. The king received her kindly and said to her: “You shall not die. This law made for all, is not made for you.” Finally Esther obtained by dint of prayers the revocation of the edict and thus saved her people.

Esther is an image of the Blessed Virgin. Through Adam’s disobedience all men are doomed to death and are born with original sin. Mary alone, the Queen of heaven, is an exception; by the grace of God the Blessed Virgin is exempt from original sin. Hence the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. And since death and its consequences are the consequence of sin, it was right that Mary should rise again, like Her divine Son, before Her body was affected by the corruption of the tomb. That is why Her Assumption is celebrated on August 15.