Today, we witness the glorious Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary; the “woman clothed with the sun”
has gone to take her place among the company of saints right next to her child
and her Lord.
Arrayed in dazzling splendor, this humble daughter of David
is crowned with glory, to live forever in the radiance of Almighty God.
She knew of the
plight of her people, that death had taken hold of mankind due to Adam’s choice
to turn away from God in the Garden of Eden.
Yet she also knew
that “just as in Adam all
die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,”
This truth she cherished in her heart;
this truth she held, loved, and cared for as a mother;
this truth she watched suffer, die, be buried, and rise
again.
In the end, her spirit rejoiced in this truth, because it
was her God, her child, and her Love.
And she let nothing cloud this crystal clear vision of what
she was called to from the very beginning.
Many in our culture today do not see the importance of Mary
in God’s plan of Salvation.
Some are even afraid that to honor her is to deify her,
making her an appendage of the Trinity.
What they fail to realize, is that Mary was just as frail,
just as weak, just as in need of redemption as we are.
The difference between her and us, was that she never said
“no” to God.
She heard the call of her Lord to be his handmaid, to be
done with according to His Word, not hers.
She believed in the saving power of God within her, and so
rightly proclaimed how blessed she was, because God had looked upon her with
favor.
The Church looks to her as an example of holiness, not
because she was superhuman, but exactly the opposite:
she exemplifies what is means to be fully human, that is,
intimately united with our God and Creator.
Her faith made her whole; her hope made her courageous; and
her love makes her, for us, the best friend in the Communion of Saints that we
have.
She is there for us, our Perpetual Help throughout the
storms of this life.
She sees in each of us her Son, and so holds back nothing
in her prayers for us.
Today, we as a Church thank her for proclaiming the
greatness of the Lord to us in her willingness to be the Mother of God, and so
our own mother.
We thank her, and we ask her today to pray for us, now and
until the hour we leave this world,
to be joined with our brothers and sisters who have gone
before us in the sign of faith and
who themselves rejoice in the merciful and loving embrace
of our Lord and our God, Jesus Christ.
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