The
feast of the Assumption that we celebrate today means very simply
that Our Lady is in heaven. The teaching itself says: ‘At the end
of her earthly life, the Immaculate Mother of God, ever Virgin, was
taken to Heaven body and soul in heavenly glory.’ It doesn’t
say how it happened or when it happened, but just that it did happen
and that Mary is now in heaven, in body and soul. It is a way of
saying that because of the extraordinary position that Mary was
given, by being the Mother of Jesus, she shared in his sufferings and
she also shared in his resurrection and so was taken up to heaven at
the end of her life.
You
could be given the impression that it would have been easier for Mary
than for other people because she was without sin. However, the fact
that she was without sin means that she would have been more
sensitive to evil and would have suffered more because of it than
anyone else. From what we know in the Scriptures, she suffered from
the time that the Angel appeared to her and told her that God was
asking her to be the mother of God. She was pregnant before she came
to live with Joseph in a way that was impossible to understand from a
human point of view. According to Jewish law, to be betrothed to
someone meant that you were already married, but weren’t yet living
with them. So how would Mary explain this to Joseph? What
embarrassment, fear and tension there must have been for her. The
birth of Jesus was in a very difficult situation. Later on, Mary and
Joseph lost Jesus for three days and finally the arrest, torture and
death of Jesus. But Mary never gave up hope. She continued to believe
that God would make sense of it. After the resurrection she stayed
with and encouraged the Apostles as they waited for the gift of the
Spirit before Pentecost.
Over
the centuries Mary has appeared in various parts of the world. What
is significant in each place she has appeared is that what she asks
is nearly always the same. She tells us that we cannot exist without
God, that we need to turn away from sin, read Scripture, go to Mass
and to pray and fast. She is always pointing us to Jesus. It is never
about herself. She tells us that we need to confess our sins often,
yet sadly very few people feel the need for this. I wonder who
convinced them that it is not necessary? She also tells us that we
cannot live without God. Our life makes no sense without God. We will
only be on this earth for a short time, so we need to be careful how
we use our time. It always makes me sad when I see or hear of people
who get obsessed with money and material things, as if that was the
answer to everything. It is also sad to see how people can become
obsessed with power, which so often leads to the suffering of others.
The
life of Mary is a wonderful witness to us for several reasons. One,
it is a reminder to us of what God can do through a human being; a
14/15 year old girl. Mary is fully human and we should never worship
her as that would be idolatry, but we give her great honor as Jesus
did. We ask for her intercession as we continue on our journey to
heaven. She has been through dreadful suffering, so we can ask for
her help, knowing that she understands our suffering. When we find
ourselves losing hope, remember that Mary never lost hope, in spite
of that she had to go through. This feast of her being assumed into
heaven is our reminder that this is where we are destined to go if we
make the right choices.
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