Scripture for the Feast of the Assumption, Aug. 15, 2006

Scripture: Revelation 11:19a-12:1-6a; Psalm 45; I Cor.15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56:

This past Sunday I watched a German television program that featured an interview with Pope Benedict XVI with four reporters, including one from Vatican Radio who actually had the most piercing of questions. (DWTV). What struck me most in my meditation this morning was the statement that summed up all of the responses of the Pope:" Those with faith are never alone." That led me to ponder over the Feast of Our Lady for today, that of her Assumption into Heaven. Another thought that Benedict shared with us was the need for all people to discover the human face of God in Jesus, the Son of God.

I link the Assumption with other mysteries of our Catholic faith but especially with the Communion of Saints. We are all a part of this communion of peoples throughout the ages past, present, and future. This mystery like Mary's Assumption is what theologians term an eschatological mystery since it deals with the final purpose of all human life and its ultimate reunion with the Creator who breathes life into each of us. Their destiny is ours and Mary is united already with her Son who is the "first fruit of the resurrection" while Mary follows this event of her Son through God's lifting her to the Trinity of persons with all of the others who are there---even before there was such a gift as the Scriptures. Perhaps, the closest biblical insight into this is from Ephesians :"God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." (Eph.1:4-6). If we are meant in this verse, and we are! how much more the holy mother of Jesus Christ our Lord is the personal living example of what God meant. From her first moment she enjoyed this gift of grace and was redeemed through the knowledge of God that Jesus would redeem us all including his mother through his sufferings, death, and Resurrection. In her conception of Jesus, too, it was Mary's union with God through her faith that she was able to conceive her Son. She continued to live in this faith of her ancestors and thus was never alone in her journey toward God. It is she too who gave the human face to Jesus so similar to her own countenance. And today on this her feast we acknowledge that Jesus is the one who is restoring all things to God--Mary included. Death is conquered by Jesus and the grace of Assumption is a sure sign that she who was totally human and not divine shares in this victory over death. There is a hint of her victory in Revelation today in the ending of chapter 11 and verses 1-6 in chapter 12. Mary always believed in her Son Jesus and through his resurrection is now united with him in her Assumption. She was with him throughout his life more than any of his disciples, now she is with him in the Kingdom of Heaven more than all of the others who are in the presence of God. For me, for you, this mystery is a grace of hope which goes beyond all human speculations about whether there is life after death. It assures me that through the gift of faith, I , too am destined to come through the final human moment of death to the divine eternity of living with Christ in God. What Mary has already done, we all are destined to undergo. As Benedict XVI says, "Those with faith are never alone." Amen.