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Sometimes my friends and family give me trouble for not being more emotive. Some parishioners have asked me to be more emotional and dramatic in my homilies. It’s not that I lack emotions or animation; I really do have them! But I tend to keep them contained and under control. I typically blame it on the considerable German heritage I come from but I realize being stoic is not always a strength. In talking to an older priest about this struggle, he told me how he had also tried to overcome it in his first assignment. His first pastor was Italian and emotions were no trouble at all. This priest, whom we will name Fr. Mario said, “try opening with some dramatic statement to get people's attention. “Like what?” asked the other priest. “Well, when you preach about the Blessed Virgin Mary, you could say, I am in love with a beautiful woman.' Then pause for effect and say, 'She is...my mother.”
The young priest thought it was worth a try so in his next homily he announced, "I am in love with a beautiful woman." The congregation fell silent. He had their attention and he paused to let the bold statement sink in. It felt pretty good. Then he went completely blank. He couldn't think of what came next so he repeated, "I am love with a beautiful woman... She is... She is... She is...Fr. Mario’s mother!”
This Sunday I do want to say, "I am in love with a beautiful woman." And hopefully I’m not alone! I am willing to talk about my feelings and even use that scary four letter word to describe how I feel about her. She is easy to love because of her kindness, her patience, and her goodness. She has always been there for me even when I have wandered from her loving gaze. She is gentle, strong and untouched by any of the viciousness that so often finds its way into our actions. She is resplendent in her beauty, and described in our first reading as a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. This woman who captivates the hearts of so many is no ordinary woman. She is the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Many people believe that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is something best suited to priests, nuns, and old ladies. But if we understand the incredible life she lived and the irreplaceable role she played in our salvation, then we realize that each and every one of us should love her, even if we don’t like to talk about our feelings! Today we remember her life in a very special way as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption, a holy day of obligation that often gets ignored when it falls during the week.
But what is the Assumption? And why in the world should this feast of Mary matter to us, especially when we are busy getting ready to start another school year and sending kids off to college? Well first of all, the Assumption is the event where we believe Mary was taken body and soul into heaven when her time here on earth came to an end. We believe she is now in heaven, body and soul, unlike the saints whose souls are in heaven but will have to wait until the end of the world to be reunited with their bodies. This belief of the Assumption was declared official Church teaching in 1950 by Pope Pius XII but it was held as true by tradition long before, since the earliest times of the Church.
So why is this feast of the Assumption so important that the Catholic Church around the world celebrates it, each and every year? Why should we care about the Assumption? The answer is beautifully presented to us today in the preface that the priest says right before the Holy, Holy, Holy. The prayer explains:
“Today the virgin Mother of God was assumed into heaven as the beginning and image of the Church coming to perfection, and a sign of sure hope and comfort to your pilgrim people; rightly you would not allow her to see the corruption of the tomb since from her own body she marvelously brought forth your incarnate Son, the Author of all life.”
That is the reason the feast of the Assumption is so important, or at least should be important to you and me, as followers of Christ. Mary is the sign, the living proof of what God intends to give us in heaven. Her goodness, her happiness, her living forever now with her Son and her Lord is what we were all created for. And if we stay true to Christ, if we keep his commandments and obey his will, just as Mary did, we too will be taken up to heaven on the last day to live and rejoice with him forever. What God did for Mary today, he desires to do for each and every one of us. Even though we have to fight with sin and experience death, Mary’s Assumption reminds us that our final destination is meant to be Everlasting life and love with the God who created us.
This is wonderful news for us and a source of hope when we are enduring the various trials and setbacks that are a part of life here on earth. We can look to Mary’s Assumption the next time we are sick, suffering, persecuted, or upset and remember that there is something better waiting for us in heaven. And we can take comfort knowing that Mary experienced so many of those same trials and tribulations as a fellow human being and with God’s grace she was victorious. And as she waits for us to join her in heaven, she prays for us and intercedes for us before God, making sure that we have all the graces that we need.
So, no matter who you are and whether or not you like talking about your feelings, I hope that you join me today in praising the Blessed Virgin Mary and thanking God for the hope and strength that she gives us. Let her feast of the Assumption give you hope in the various sorrows and difficulties of life, knowing that God wishes to share her blessings with us in the life to come.
