August 15th, Mother Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Assumption of our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was assumed into heaven body and soul. In the entrance antiphon, we pray: “Let us rejoice in the Lord and celebrate this feast in honour of the Virgin Mary, at whose assumption the angels rejoice, giving praise to the Son of God. Amen.”
Until the middle of the sixth century, there were no feasts in the Church to celebrate and honour Mary. She was commemorated alongside the saints and martyrs. The Eastern Church, however, had plenty of Marian feasts - celebrating her Conception, her Birth, her Presentation in the Temple, and Annunciation. But their most important Marian feast was the Assumption. This feast and all the other Marian celebrations were adopted by the Roman Church and included in the western Catholic Church.
The belief in the Assumption had its origin in the popular faith of the people. Christians could not believe that Mary’s body underwent decay after being separated from her soul at death; they could not imagine that her body would disintegrate after the unique role she played in sacred history. The faithful came to believe that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven, thus guaranteeing that she was present with God, body and soul.
Although it was only proclaimed as dogma in 1950 by Pope Pius XII, the Assumption had been taught in the Catholic Church for centuries as a truth that emerged from the faith of the people. It also points to what we believe God will do for us. We believe that our whole person, body and soul, will be raised to a new existence in the peace of God.
The Assumption is therefore important to many Christians as the Virgin Mary’s heavenly birthday (the day that Mary was received into heaven). By this feast, the Church enables us to render due honour to Mary for accepting to be the mother of our Redeemer. She also reminds us that just as Mary’s motherhood is a grace for the whole world, her personal assumption into heaven inaugurated the assumption of all mankind in God. Like Mary, we bear within our bodies – which are the temples of the Holy Spirit – the seeds of eternity. Her acceptance into the glory of heaven is therefore seen as the confirmation of the promise made by Jesus to all enduring Christians that they too will be received, body and soul, into heaven for all eternity.
The feast of the Assumption, celebrated on August 15th in both Eastern and Western churches, is a public holiday in many countries, notably France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Cameroon. In many places, religious parades, and popular festivals are held to celebrate this day.
For this feast of the Assumption, the Church invites us to meditate on the following three texts. In the first reading from the Book of Apocalypse, the Sacred Seer introduces the figure of a beautifully adorned woman about to give birth. She is rescued with her son just in time from a dragon and given shelter in the desert. In the second reading, from First Corinthians, Saint Paul clearly spells out the messianic and redemptive work of Christ, the second Adam, who has come to undo the damage done to us by the first Adam. In the Gospel, from Luke, we hear Elizabeth, moved by the Holy Spirit, joining the chorus of future generations to declare Mary blessed. Mary, in turn, gives us her Magnificat, that hymn of singular beauty in which she glorifies God for making her the mother of our Redeemer.
In the course of this Eucharist, brothers and sisters, let us pray for the grace of obedience to God’s will much in line with our Blessed Virgin who said: “Be it done on to me according to your will”.
First Reading: Apocalypse 11:19; 12:1-6.10.
God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the Ark of the Lord’s covenant was seen in his temple. A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth. Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, an enormous red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns. His tail drew one-third of the stars of the sky and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God. I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come.
Comment
The Apocalypse or the Book of Revelation is the last book of Sacred Scripture and it is the only prophetical book in the New Testament. The Church makes frequent use of I, particularly in the Liturgy, to sing the praises of the risen Christ and the splendor of the heavenly Jerusalem, which symbolizes the Church in heaven. Saint John is thought to have written the Apocalypse from exile on the Island of Patmos in Greece round about the year 96 AD.
Although Saint John addressed this book to “the seven churches that are in Asia”, it is, in fact, addressed to the whole Church of Christ. The book seeks to alert Christians to the grave dangers which threaten faith while consoling and encouraging those who are suffering tribulation, particularly due to the fierce and intense persecution by the Roman Emperor Domitian. Persecution was coming from both Jews and pagans.
The Revelation constitutes a strong call to conversion; it urges people to commit themselves to good and put their trust in God. It is a book of consolation written at a time of exceptional stress, but it also provides encouragement to holiness and fidelity in all ages.
The passage we have just listened to opens with the revelation of the Ark of Covenant. The Ark of Covenant is a symbol of Israel’s election as God’s chosen people whose salvation he assures through his constant presence in their midst. According to Jewish tradition, reported in 2 Maccabees 2:4-8, Jeremiah placed the ark in a secret hiding place prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, and it would be seen again when the Messiah came. Saint John uses this image of the ark to assure us that God has not forgotten his covenant with us: he has sealed it in heaven where the ark is.
What strikes me in this passage more than the significance of the ark, however, is the presence of the mysterious woman about to give birth. Ever since the time of the Fathers of the Church, she has been seen in three different lights: as either representing the people of Israel, the Church, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.
She represents the people of Israel because it is from this people that the Messiah comes to the world. The prophet Isaiah compares Israel to a “woman with child, who writhes and cries out in her pangs, when she is near her time” (Is 26:17). She takes refuge in the desert and it is in the desert that, for forty years, God took personal care of his people, setting them free from their enemies.
She can also be seen as representing the Church, whose children strive to overcome evil and to bear witness to the Risen Christ. As the Fathers of Vatican II Council say: “The Mother of Jesus in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come.”
The woman giving birth also represents the Blessed Virgin Mary because it is she who truly and historically gave birth to the Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord. As we reflect on this reading, let us pray to God to protect us from the Evil One in much the same way as he protected the woman and her son.
Let us pray: “God our Father, you chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to become the Mother of your Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; grant that we who call to mind her great faith and love may in all things seek to do your will and always rejoice in your salvation. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20-27.
Brothers and Sisters: Now Christ is risen from the dead, and is the firstfruits of those who fell asleep. For since through a human came death, the resurrection of the dead also came through a human. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in their own order: Christ the firstfruits. Afterward, at his coming, those who are Christ’s. Then comes the end, when he will deliver the kingdom to his God and Father, when he will tear down all government and all authority and power. For it is necessary that he reign, until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. “For he subjected everything under his feet.”
Comment
In the passage we have just listened to, the Apostle Paul insists on the solidarity that exists between Christ and Christians. As members of one single body, of which Christ is the head, they form as it were one organism. Therefore, once the resurrection of Christ is affirmed, the resurrection of the just necessarily follows. The doctrine of the resurrection of the bodies of all at the end of time, when Jesus will come in glory to judge everyone, the living and the dead, rewarding all, both the elect and the lost, according to their works, has always been part of the faith of the Church. Adam’s disobedience brought death for all; Jesus, the new Adam, has made it possible for all to be saved.
This passage clearly outlines the entire messianic and redemptive work of Christ. Christ’s sovereignty over all creation comes about in history, but it will achieve its final, complete, form after the Last Judgement. The Parousia or the second coming of Christ in glory at the end of time, when he establishes the new heaven and the new earth, will mean definitive victory over the devil, over sin, suffering and death.
Paul is urging us to participate actively to bring about this new earth. How? By promoting human dignity, brotherly communion, and freedom. We ask our Mother Mary this day to help us to obtain the grace and the courage actively participate to bring about a society in which love, peace and harmony reign.
Let us pray: “Blessed are you, o Daughter of Israel. You stand above all women on earth. Blessed be the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, who guided your blow at the head of the chief of our enemies. Your deed of hope will never be forgotten by those who tell of the might of God. You are the glory of Jerusalem, the surpassing joy of Israel. May we who believe in you receive the help of your prayers. Amen.”
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia! Mary has been taken up to heaven; all the choirs of angels are rejoicing. Alleluia!”
Gospel: Luke 1:39-56.
Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a town of Judah, and entered into the house of Zachariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She called out with a loud voice, and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy! Blessed is she who believed, that there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!” Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked at the humble state of his handmaid. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy is for generations of generations for those who fear him. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down princes from their thrones. And has exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty. He has given help to Israel, his servant, remembering his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.” Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months, and then returned to her home.
Comment
All Christians are indebted to Saint Luke for his Gospel portrait of Mary, mother of Christ. It is a simple portrait that has appealed to generations of believers who have honoured Mary as the chosen woman of God. We can all echo Elizabeth’s blessing in today’s Gospel: “Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”.
On learning from the angel that her cousin Elizabeth is soon to give birth and is in need of support, Mary, in her charity, hastens to her aid. This story consists of four parts: Mary’s visit itself, the inspired speech of Elizabeth, the ‘Magnificat’, that is, the song of Mary in response to the events that have just transpired, and Mary’s return home after the visit of three months.
We can take each of these episodes separately to see what it tells us as Christians. Mary’s visit shows us a woman of charity, who has no regard of the difficulties involved in making the journey to her cousin. From this journey, we Christians should learn the importance of being a caring people. As someone has so rightly put it: “If we have this filial contact with Mary, we would never just be thinking about ourselves and our problems. Selfish personal problems would find no place in our mind.”
Elizabeth is moved by the Holy Spirit to call Mary “the mother of my Lord,” thereby showing that Mary is the Mother of God. Our Lady’s visit to her cousin provides the first opportunity for an encounter between John the Baptist and Christ. The presence of Christ sanctifies John the Baptist, who leaps with joy in his mother’s womb. Elizabeth’s greetings identify Mary as a woman of faith, of complete submission and total attachment to her Creator. Through her faith, Mary becomes the instrument chosen by God to bring our redemption to fruition.
Mary’s Magnificat canticle is a poem of singular beauty. In it, Mary glorifies God for making her the Mother of our Saviour, which is why future generations will call her blessed. Then she teaches us that God has always had preference for the humble, resisting the proud and the boastful. She voices the subversive hope of the poor and the little ones: “He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich he has sent away empty.” For many poor and marginalized people, Mary expresses their hope in the liberating power of God. She is the mother of all who are oppressed and overlooked and scorned. She hungers for a new justice on earth, one that reflects the justice of God who overthrows the mighty and exalt the lowly.
Finally, she proclaims that God, in keeping with his promise, has always taken special care of his chosen people, the people of Israel. We too thank Mary this day for having accepted in complete humility to serve as the instrument of our redemption. Let us also learn to be a caring and humble people, so that God may shower his favours on us, as he does on all those who are his and who do his will.
Let us pray: “Almighty and everlasting God, by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit you prepared the body and soul of Mary, glorious Virgin and Mother, to become the worthy habitation of your Son; grant that by her gracious intercession, in whose commemoration we rejoice, we may be delivered from present evils and from everlasting death. We make our prayer through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Comments