The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary for the Solemnity of the Assumption emphasize the great triumph that follows our yes to the will of God as modeled by Mary.
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| Leading to Life |
The reading from the Book of Revelation uses the imagery of the woman and the dragon to illustrate the triumph over persecution and death.
* [12:1–6] The woman adorned with the sun, the moon, and the stars (images taken from Gn 37:9–10) symbolizes God’s people in the Old and the New Testament. The Israel of old gave birth to the Messiah (Rev 12:5) and then became the new Israel, the church, which suffers persecution by the dragon (Rev 12:6, 13–17); cf. Is 50:1; 66:7; Jer 50:12. This corresponds to a widespread myth throughout the ancient world that a goddess pregnant with a savior was pursued by a horrible monster; by miraculous intervention, she bore a son who then killed the monster.1
Psalm 45 declares the responsibility of the Queen to the people.
* [45:11] Forget your people and your father’s house: the bride should no longer consider herself a daughter of her father’s house, but the wife of the king—the queen.2
In the reading from 1 Corinthians, Paul explains Christ’s resurrection; its positive implications and consequences.
* [15:20–28] After a triumphant assertion of the reality of Christ’s resurrection (1 Cor 15:20a), Paul explains its positive implications and consequences. As a soteriological event of both human (1 Cor 15:20–23) and cosmic (1 Cor 15:24–28) dimensions, Jesus’ resurrection logically and necessarily involves ours as well.3
The Gospel of Luke tells of the events when Mary Visits Elizabeth and uses the The Canticle of Mary to praise God.
* [1:45] Blessed are you who believed: Luke portrays Mary as a believer whose faith stands in contrast to the disbelief of Zechariah (Lk 1:20). Mary’s role as believer in the infancy narrative should be seen in connection with the explicit mention of her presence among “those who believed” after the resurrection at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:14).4
Edward Morse comments that Mary’s response reflects a mature disposition. She does not falsely deny that something significant was happening and she did not dismiss baby John’s movement in Elizabeth’s womb as mere coincidence. Mary instead responds with faith and joyfulness, affirming the significance of God’s works and pointing attention not to herself, but to the greatness, goodness, and mercy of God.
On Creighton’s campus, a statue of Mary and Elisabeth can be found which reflects this meeting so well. These two women shared joy and the deepest of spiritual mysteries together, after being invited to participate in the Divine plan in ways that are singularly important. They could not know how all the details of this story would play out, but they responded with great trust and confidence that God was doing work that was intended to reach all people with his love.
Let us pause together to ponder the depth of this trust and confidence in Divine goodness. And let us seek the prayers of those who have passed through such a journey in faithfulness, so that we may resemble their humility, faith, and confidence in God. Amen.5
Don Schwager quotes “Christ the fruit of the faithful,” by Ambrose of Milan (339-397 A.D).
"You see that Mary did not doubt but believed and therefore obtained the fruit of faith. 'Blessed … are you who have believed.' But you also are blessed who have heard and believed. For a soul that has believed has both conceived and bears the Word of God and declares his works. Let the soul of Mary be in each of you, so that it magnifies the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each of you, so that it rejoices in God (Luke 1:46-47). She is the one mother of Christ according to the flesh, yet Christ is the Fruit of all according to faith. Every soul receives the Word of God, provided that, undefiiled and unstained by vices, it guards its purity with inviolate modesty. (excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 2.26)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 1:39-56 notes that just as sailors need a lighthouse, so we all need beacons to guide us on our journey to heaven. And what better beacon could we ask for than the Virgin Mary, who has been called “Star of the Sea” since St. Jerome coined the phrase in the fifth century?
All her life she has shown us how to say yes to God. Even as she came to the end of her life on earth and was assumed into heaven, she continued to shine. Pope Benedict XVI once said, “By contemplating Mary in heavenly glory, we understand that the earth is not the definitive homeland for us either, and that if we live with our gaze fixed on eternal goods, we will one day share in this same glory.”
It’s not always easy to keep our eyes fixed on heaven, especially when life is hard. The problems in front of us have a way of obscuring the glorious future that God has in store for us. But Pope Benedict reminds us that Mary’s assumption is a “luminous sign” that “shines out even more brightly when sad shadows of suffering and violence seem to loom on the horizon” (General Audience, August 16, 2006).7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Eknath Easwaran (1910–1999), an Indian born spiritual teacher and author, who writes that we are made, the scriptures of all religions assure us, in the image of God. Nothing can change that original goodness. Whatever mistakes we have made in the past, whatever problems we may have in the present, in every one of us this “uncreated spark in the soul” remains untouched, ever pure, ever perfect. Even if we try with all our might to douse or hide it, it is always ready to set our personality ablaze with light.
What did Meister Eckhart (1260–1328)] teach? Essentially, four principles that [Gottfried] Leibnitz would later call the Perennial Philosophy, because they have been taught from age to age in culture after culture:
First, there is a “light in the soul that is uncreated and uncreatable” [1]: unconditioned, universal, deathless; in religious language, a divine core of personality which cannot be separated from God. Eckhart is precise: this is not what the English language calls the “soul,” but some essence in the soul that lies at the very center of consciousness. As Saint Catherine of Genoa [1447–1510] put it, “My me is God: nor do I know my selfhood except in God.” [2] In Indian mysticism this divine core is called simply atman, “the Self.”Second, this divine essence can be It is not an abstraction, and it need not—Eckhart would say must not—remain hidden under the covering of our everyday personality. It can and should be discovered, so that its presence becomes a reality in daily life.Third, this discovery is life’s real and highest goal. Our supreme purpose in life is not to make a fortune, nor to pursue pleasure, nor to write our name on history, but to discover this spark of the divine that is in our hearts.Last, when we realize this goal, we discover simultaneously that the divinity within ourselves is one and the same in all—all individuals, all creatures, all of life. . . .A mystic is one who not only espouses these principles of the Perennial Philosophy but lives them, whose every action reflects the wisdom and selfless love that are the hallmark of one who has made this supreme discovery.8
The model of Mary shines to guide our “yes” to those actions inspired by the will of God.
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