Homily: The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Vigil)
Friends,
as we enter into our rest again on this Lord’s Day, we are given the great
opportunity to celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
into heaven. Ordinarily a day of
obligation—a feast that is so important for us to celebrate that the Church obligates us to celebrate it—this feast
is not skipped or moved to another day when it falls on Sunday, the Lord’s
Day. Rather, it takes the place of our
ordinary Sunday celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection. This is not because it is more important than
the Lord’s Resurrection, but rather because it is intrinsically connected to
the Resurrection and so serves to highlight it. Interesting also for us is that this feast
interrupts our series of weeks reflecting on chapter six in John’s Gospel (an
interruption within the interruption!). Nevertheless,
we’ll find that this interruption does not disrupt the message of the “Bread of
Life” discourse, but rather supports it.
So let’s enter into this reflection.
Our
first reading, from the First Book of Chronicles, describes how King David took
the Arc of the Covenant into Jerusalem to be enshrined in the city from which
he will rule over the tribes of Israel.
Although it describes an historical event, it is also an image that
foreshadows the event we celebrate today.
David is the greatest king of the Israelite people. He foreshadows Jesus, the King of the
Universe. David had established his
throne in Jerusalem, Judah’s greatest city, which would become a symbol of the
great “city” in heaven to which all of God’s children would one day be
welcomed. Having established his throne,
he goes to bring the Arc of the Covenant into a place that he had prepared for
it in Jerusalem. The Arc of the Covenant
was the sacrament of God’s presence among the people. In other words, it was the visible sign of
the invisible reality of God’s presence.
The Arc foreshadows Mary, who would bear the incarnate presence of God
into the world when Jesus was conceived in her womb, becoming the visible
presence of the still invisible God.
In
summary, David, the great victorious king of Israel, goes up to the great city
of Jerusalem to establish his throne, then returns to retrieve the Arc of the
Covenant, the vessel of God’s presence among his people, to take it up to the
great city to be enshrined there so that all of God’s people could venerate
it. In the same way, Jesus, the great
victorious king of the Universe, ascended into heaven to establish his
throne. Having done so, he returns to
retrieve Mary, the Arc of the New Covenant, the vessel through which God’s
incarnate presence established himself among his people, and he takes her up to
heaven to be enshrined there so that all of God’s people could venerate her.
Friends,
this is why these Old Testament readings are so important for us: they show us
how God, since the first sin of Adam and Eve, had been preparing us for the
events that would restore us to his friendship and allow us to live in perfect
communion with him in the eternal life of heaven. And they show his great tenderness for us:
Just as David lovingly returned to bring the beloved Arc of the Covenant to be
enshrined in the place of honor that he had prepared for it, so Jesus returned
to take up Mary, his beloved Arc, to be enshrined in the place of honor that he
had prepared for her.
Beyond
being a sign of the fulfillment of God’s plans for our redemption and
restoration to communion with him, Mary’s assumption into heaven is also a
prototype of the resurrection that we will experience at the final judgment. We all know and celebrate that Jesus, through
his life, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, has unlocked
the gates of heaven so that we, in what will be glorified human bodies, may
also enter heaven. In other words, we
know that, by Jesus’ resurrection our resurrection was made possible. By her assumption into heaven, Mary becomes
the prototype and the assurance of our resurrection.
Through
Mary’s assumption, God has shown to us what those who have remained faithful to
him can expect when Jesus returns.
Namely, that the souls of the Just who have died will be restored to
their bodies, now glorified, and that the Just who remain alive will have their
bodies glorified, too. Then all the Just
will be raised up to the place of honor prepared for them by the King in the
heavenly city. Mary’s assumption,
therefore, is the sign of what Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians in our
second reading today: that “death is swallowed up in victory”.
The
question remains, then: “So how do we get there?” In other words, “How do we prepare so as to
be ready to receive the resurrection God has planned for us?” In a single word: obedience. Today we celebrate that the Blessed Virgin
Mary, the Mother of God, was taken up, soul and body, into heaven. Certainly, God loves her in a special way
because she was the vessel through which his Son became Man. Nevertheless, she was assumed into heaven
because of her obedience, that is, her faithfulness to God’s will throughout
her life on earth. Yes, she was
conceived without sin and, yes, she was “full of grace” when she conceived the
Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, but it was her faithful obedience
to God that kept her ready to receive the gift of being assumed into heaven
when the time of her earthly life had ended.
My friends, this is good news!
Good, because it reminds us that the life of heaven is not just for
those who, like Mary, were specially elected by God for an extraordinary purpose,
but rather that it is available to everyone who chooses to “hear the word of
God and observe it”.
This
is the message of Jesus in the Gospel today.
One day, as Jesus was teaching, a hearer, striving to honor Jesus,
shouts a word of praise about Jesus’ mother.
This woman spoke a great truth: how blessed Mary truly is to have borne
Jesus in her womb and nursed him at her breasts. Jesus, however, wanted to teach this woman
and all who were there an important lesson.
Yes, Mary is blessed for having been chosen and made worthy to carry the
Son of God in her womb. The fullness of
her blessedness, however, comes from the fact that she listened closely to the
word of God and observed it. This is
blessedness that all of us can receive since each of us has been given the
power to “hear the word of God and observe it.”
Therefore,
like Mary, and guided by her, we, too, must listen closely to the word of God
and make ourselves obedient to it so as to preserve our baptismal grace until
our time in this life comes to an end.
This means that we have to read sacred scripture daily—not all of it,
but a little portion of it—and allow it to speak into our lives. Also, we have to allow the Church to teach
us, because the Church preserves and authentically interprets the scriptures
and the teaching of the apostles for every generation. These are the two “lungs” through which the
word of God is made known to us.
Therefore, we must listen closely to them and make ourselves obedient to
them. Finally, we must become more and
more aware of the presence and the working of the Holy Spirit in our
lives. He is the power of the divine
life living within us and he will give us power to overcome every obstacle that
we encounter as we strive to be obedient to God’s will.
This
power is renewed in us whenever we receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Let us not forget that Mary herself received
the Body and Blood of her Son Jesus—the Bread of Life—while she was still
present on earth; and that, having received it, she was preserved for eternal
life. Therefore, let us open our hearts
to this grace once again today as we give thanks that, through Mary, God has
shown the fullness of his graciousness toward us. And let us ask Mary to guide us through the
remainder of our lives, so that we might be prepared to join her in giving
glory to God for all eternity in heaven.
Given in Spanish at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN – August 14th,
2021
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