Blog Post - 8/15/2022 – The Solemnity of the Assumption

In the Catechism we read, “… when the course of her earthy life was completed, [she] was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven ….”  [CCC #974]   “The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.”  [CCC#966]

 

Those other Christians that’s you and me.

 

In a third-grade class at a Catholic school, a teacher asked, “Who can tell me what the Feast of the Assumption is all about?  [A little boy raised his hand and said] “It means that Mary was so holy that we just assume she went to Heaven.”  [Sick, & You Cared For Me, Fr. James J. Greenfield, OSFS, P. 279]

 

That little boy was close to the truth, Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, officially proclaimed that the Blessed Mother “… having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”  So, today we celebrate The Solemnity of the Assumption, and it reminds us that we have been called to participate in The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What does this Solemnity mean for us today and how should it impact our lives?

Mary is a Beacon of Hope.

She shares in Her Son’s Resurrection and our Hope is founded on His Resurrection.  Her Assumption body and soul into heaven gives hope to the lowly, that’s you and me.  Her prayer The Magnificat proclaims God’s blessings on her and on us.  Mary announces the Lord’s greatness and rejoices in it.  Mary prayed the Lord, “… has mercy on those who fear him in every generation.”

 

How can we love and pray to the Lord in fear?  Fear of the Lord is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; it means the deep desire not to offend the Lord.

It means to accept the Lord’s grace to guide our lives, our actions.  It means the Lord is our goal, and our path to that goal.  Mary’s Magnificat a song of praise and thanksgiving offers us a model for how to pray, “… she expresses joy, reflects on her life, praises God & recognizes God’s import on history.”  [America Magazine, August 2021, p.68]

The Prayer is about God, entirely about God and doing God’s will.  The Lord invites us to be nourished and strengthened by Him in the Eucharist, to feed on His Body and Blood, His Real Presence. 

Today may each one of us join Mary and “proclaim the Lord’s greatness and rejoice in God my Savior.”  Mary sought God’s presence her life, she sought to find it, live it, and proclaim it.  We are called to do the same and to realize God’s presence in others.

 

May God Be Praised!