Aug.15, 2011: Feast of the Assumption of Mary, Lectionary number 162

Scripture: Lectionary 162. Revelation 11:19;12;1-6.10. Psalm
45:10.11.12.16. I Cor. 15:20-26. Luke 1:39-56:

Today we turn our thoughts and prayers to Mary the Mother of Jesus who is
assumed into heaven. She is united with her Son Jesus and is surrounded by
the choirs of angels and the holy ones who have gone before her into the
realm of eternal life. Through St. Paul's reflections on the Resurrection
in his famous chapter fifteen of I Corinthians we can imagine a window that
sheds light on the first reading from the great vision of John of Patmos
seen in chapter twelve of Revelation. Paul, has very little to say about
Mary, but the most important statement that he gives us is a profound
insight into her role within the salvific plan of God. It is worthwhile to
meditate on this revelation of Paul: "...when the designated time had come,
God sent forth his Son born of a woman, born under the law, to deliver from
the law those who were subjected to it, so that we might receive our status
as adopted sons (and daughters)." (Gal.4:4-5). In looking through this
window and this contextual reading we discover the ark of the covenant as
seen in the heavens (Rev.11:19) and then a brilliant symbolic vision of a
woman clothed with the sun and with twelve stars surrounding her head; she
also stands above the moon. The image shows us someone who unites both the
heavens and the earth and the person is a woman. The longtime standing
interpretation of this scene sees in the woman an image of the Church,but
there is also a secondary meaning seen in this by many of the commentators
and saints who have referred to this passage. Here the woman is Mary and
Mary is always related to the Church as its archetype. We need to keep
both of these symbolisms alive in our reflection on the Assumption of Mary.

St. Paul gives us the theological context for helping us to contemplate the
mystery of Mary's Assumption in the light of what he says about the
resurrection of Jesus so admirably in I Corinthians chapter fifteen. All
will eventually be united with Christ through his bodily resurrection and
those who have been the first fruits of it as well as those who have been
most faithful to him in their calling as disciples will experience life
after death in a personal way with the Lord our God. God is always a God
of the living and Mary is first among those to enjoy the Presence of God
body and soul. All, however, are called to this mystery of union with God
through Christ's redeeming passion, death, and resurrection. Mary who
stood by him in his last moments was closest to him among all other women
and men and remained faithful and sinless throughout her life because of
her continual mystery of saying Yes to him and to God.

To give us a further insight into who this chosen woman is, we have a
double selection from Luke who has remembered and written the most about
Mary. The Visitation scene is read and then Mary sings the greatest
canticle in the New Testament, her Magnificat. She though being praised
and blessed for all ages is true to herself and calls herself the handmaid
of the Lord who makes God's name great and even magnifies that holy name.
She is definitely destined for the kingdom because she approaches her
relationship to God in the openness and simplicity of a child. We have
learned that it is children who show us the way to the kingdom. She as a
humble woman realizes that the wonder of God has permeated her through and
through with the mystery of divine and human love combined within her womb.
She therefore reaches out to her cousin Elizabeth to both help her and to
share with her the wonder of God's love. Is there any wonder why this
woman would follow every living moment of her son from conception to his
death and to his new life in the Church as we see her waiting for the
coming of the Holy Spirit as we learn from Luke again in his second work
the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:12-14). Yes, as Elizabeth prophesied,"She
who trusted that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled" are seen in
the Incarnation and the Resurrection of her Son Jesus. She who brought the
fullness of human life to the Word become flesh within her, shares that
mystery with all of us as Paul had said of this woman.

Mary like her Son Jesus was free from any deliberate sin and even from the
primordial sinful orientation of all of us is now brought to God in the
fullness of her life both bodily and spiritually or soul and body. Her Son
Jesus would take her wth him as the first fruits of his victory over sin
and death. Both of these faithful servants of the Lord are with God for
they have completed the meaning of being made in the image and likeness of
God while showing us that we, too, are eventually capable of such a union
with God at the end of our own journey in life. Mary is both the
existential archetype of fidelity as we have seen in Luke's selections for
today; she is also the eschatological image of our own union with Christ
through the power of his resurrection. Rather than being jealous of this
woman's dignity and holiness and union with God, we should imitate it.
Amen.