ASSUMPTION OF MOTHER OF GOD REFLECTIONS
Reflect, today, upon your understanding of our Blessed Mother. Do you know her, understand her role in your life and continually seek her motherly care? She is your mother if you choose to live in the grace of her Son. Embrace that fact more deeply today and choose to make her an even more important part of your life. Jesus will be grateful you do! Lord, help me to love Your mother with the same love You have for her. As You were entrusted to her care, so I desire to be entrusted to her care. Mary, my Mother and Queen, pray for me as I have recourse to you. Jesus, I trust in You.
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What does God want of me? When her son was born, shepherds and angels rejoiced, but the power brokers of that time seethed and conspired to kill her baby. They wanted his life, his spirit. And so, parents today and down the ages, faced with so many soul-assassins, have identified with Mary. They know well enough there are people out there—the drug pushers, the media which glamorizes uncommitted sex, the hawkers with cash registers for hearts, the preachers of false values—who are after their children in order to kill their spirits, trample their souls.
Parents know what Mary knew and fear what she feared.
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These lowly ones who need to be lifted up are cousins under the skin, and they can identify with Mary. When Jesus is an adolescent, he becomes lost from her for a while in Jerusalem. Many can identify with Mary here. At some point, this wife and mother became a widow. When her son is old enough he leaves home to begin his mission, while his widowed mother stays behind. Suddenly every mother and father who see their children grow up and leave them behind—especially those in nursing homes—know what Mary is feeling in her heart.
Gospel Reflections
When she walks the streets now that she is alone, Mary has to give way to the rough Roman soldiers and leering men who pass by. She has to move quickly and live in the shadows. As a minority woman in an occupied territory, as a widow with no man around, she is always subject to sexual and physical exploitation and discrimination. Everyone who does the will of God is my mother and brother and sister. It sounded like a putdown, a message telling his mother to go home. But Mary read his comment for what it was, an inclusive statement about the kingdom of God.
Then her son is caught, betrayed by one whom Mary had over to the house for dinner many a time. Her son was brought to a mock trial, beaten and humiliated and hanged on a public cross. Mary arrives in time to see him hanging there, every inch of her mind and body straining to go to him, but she is forced by the soldiers to keep her distance. Finally, she cradles the dead and broken body of her only son in her arms, and sobs uncontrollably. This ageless woman, a pilgrim who savored the ups and downs of life, has been given to us as a legacy.
Yet although she was like us in so many ways, the church tends to romanticize Mary, on this occasion in particular. But we should understand that all this is metaphor, figures of speech, storytelling. What all this heavenly glamour means to say is that Mary—who is every woman, every man—is blessed now because she remained faithful to the will of God. In all of the unfairness of life, she clung to God.
In virginity, in motherhood, in widowhood, at home, as a wanderer in a foreign land, with live child, with dead child; through it all she clung to God. An so Mary becomes a woman for all ages; that is the secret of her enduring popularity and her appeal. Mary did not start out as great and travel a privileged path.
She was a handmaid of the Lord and traveled the lowly path throughout her life. But then, God who is mighty has done great things for her. God has lifted her up when down, fed her when hungry, and because she responded to his loving invitation, God saw to it that all generations would call her blessed. And that is what we are doing right now: We are not honoring someone far away and high above us. No, we are calling blessed someone who is near and right with us at every human step. The message of this feast, this celebration of Mary being assumed into heaven, is a sign of hope for us.
It is a preview of coming attractions for all who cling to God in perplexity and adversity. On this day the church tells us that what Mary is, so shall we be. And who is Mary? She is promise fulfilled, humanity completed, faithfulness rewarded. Simply put, she is us when we finally come to the end of this journey called life. In the richness of her human experience as well as in her heavenly glory, Mary is indeed a woman for all times and all seasons. The Word in and out of Season. Twenty-Third Publications, , pp.
Catholics often notice the eyes of their Protestant friends glaze over when explaining distinctive aspects of the faith, specifically, our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Even with careful explanation, three main objections arise: The Marian dogmas, one of which we celebrate today, are a case in point. While there is no account of the Assumption in the New Testament, there is much Scriptural support for her exalted role in salvation history.
Clearly, the child refers to Jesus; the implication, then, would be that the woman is his mother Mary. Yet, there is a compelling case that the woman symbolizes the Church, as the language reflects the dream of Joseph Gen. Jesus, in this light, would be the ruler of the New Israel. So then, who is the woman? Yet, Mary never stands in isolation, either from Jesus, or the rest of us, because the narrative both anticipates the divine Messiah, and witnesses to his victory over death.
Likewise, in the second reading, St. Among these, it follows that his mother, who was his first and greatest disciple, would occupy a pre-eminent place among redeemed humanity. Jesus responds to a woman in the crowd who cries out that his mother is blessed because she bore and suckled him. John Chrysostom asks whether Jesus here shows any disrespect to his mother. God shows mercy to the humble, raises up the lowly, and feeds the hungry, while he scatters the proud, casts down the mighty, and sends the rich away empty. Thus we appreciate the dignity of Mary who identifies, not with the mighty, but with the humble.
We turn, then, to the Dogma of the Assumption, a truth that only God can reveal. The lesson of the Assumption is that the Blessed Mother attains what all believers hope one day to share. Moreover, Newman claims that proper veneration of Mary in Catholic piety enhances our belief in the divinity of Christ, whereas the traditions that fail to honor Mary tend, paradoxically, to diminish Jesus as a merely excellent human being, but little more. There are two kinds of benefits that accrue to celebrating the dogma of the Assumption: Regarding the former, we consider that Pope Pius was writing for a world reeling from the aftermath of two world wars, with genocide and destruction on an unprecedented scale.
Materialistic ideological movements Communism, Marxism rejected the dignity of human beings. Catholicism, by contrast, does not treat human beings as means to an end. It emphasizes the value of, and care for, human life—both individually and collectively—by beholding persons in the light of eternity. The Assumption of Our Lady reminds us that human beings are of inestimable, eternal value. Likewise, there is nothing strange about the religious benefit of Marian devotion. Honoring others is an eminently human enterprise, and expresses our deepest hopes and values.
The only question is: In a culture of celebrity, individuals are famous for their good looks, wealth, power, or, in a perverse way, simply being famous. Literally fruitful, in that she gives birth in the flesh to the Savior of mankind; figuratively fruitful, in her example of contemplative discipleship Lk. By desiring God so completely, unobstructed by sin and selfishness, she attains what she desires: The Feast of the Assumption is an important day in the Catholic religion. It is the principal feast of the Blessed Virgin, the mother of Jesus Christ.
Carmelite Spirituality - The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
This feast commemorates two events — the departure of Mary from this life and the assumption of her body into heaven. It was Jesus Christ who ascended into heaven, by his own power. But Mary was assumed or taken up into heaven by God. Though there are claims by some cities about possessing her temporary tomb. In the early Christian centuries relics of saints and those who gave their lives for the faith were jealously guarded and highly prized.
Many cities claim the mortal remains of saints, both famous and little-known. When Jesus died on the cross, he gave his mother to his apostle John. That means that he wanted Mary to treat John as her son, and John to treat Mary as his mother and take care of her. She grew more holy every day. People came to visit her, she was kind and patient with everyone. Saint Luke who wrote the Gospel of Saint Luke painted a picture of her during this time. Finally when she was very old, it was time for Mary to die. She had enough time to say goodbye to all the apostles before she died. The grieving apostles took her body to a tomb near the one that Jesus was laid in.
They covered her with a white shroud and laid her to rest in the tomb. Jesus came to her and took her body and soul into heaven to be with Him.
Mary was the Immaculate Conception — the only person except Jesus who had been born without the stain of Original Sin, the disobedience of Adam and Eve. God and Jesus would not let the body of the Mother of God decay. This was her reward for her love of God and her years of faithful prayers and suffering. This wonderful summer feast is one of the oldest in Church history.
When Our Lady felt her time on earth coming to an end, she sent word to all the Apostles. When they received her message, of course they paid their respects to their new congregations and disciples and left so as to hurry to her side.
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After long sea voyages and treks over land, they arrived just in time to say goodbye and pray with her one last time. Only Thomas was late.
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He had been delayed by some way or another, and had been traveling day and night since to try and catch up. But he was too late. When he finally arrived, hot and travel stained, he was grief-stricken to learn that she had been laid to rest in a tomb. At first, the other Apostles were reluctant. After all, she had been dead for three days, and it was a hot country. Finally they yielded to his tears and rolled away the stone. To their amazement, the tomb was filled with flowers all giving off a sweet fragrance. They felt happier and healthier just smelling the beautiful scent that came wafting out of that tomb.
Where they had placed her body was only her shroud, filled with more flowers. Her body had been carried up to heaven by her Son and the angels, to join her soul. Now, it must be remembered that after the great Fall, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the Fruit of the Tree of Life and were cast out of the Garden, all the flowers lost their scent, or perhaps we lost the ability to smell them. The herbs lost their healing powers too, and were only good for flavoring our food.
On November 1, , Pope Pius Xii defined as a truth revealed by God that the Immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, was taken up to heaven body and soul when the course of her life on earth was finished. This is the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Who can conceive that God should so repay the debt, which He considered to owe to His Mother for the elements of His human Body, as to allow the flesh and blood from which it was taken to molder in the grave?
Or who can conceive that that virginal frame which never sinned, was to undergo the death of a sinner? But though she died as well as others, she died not as others die; for, through the merits of her son, by whom she was what she was, by the grace of Christ which in her had anticipated sin, which had filled her with light, which had purified her flesh from all defilement, she had been saved from disease and malady, and all that weakens and decays the bodily frame.
Jesus and Mary, then, both passed through the gate of death into Heaven.
Embracing the Mother of God – Solemnity of the Assumption
She patiently submitted to the will of God in all things beginning with the Annunciation and ending with remaining on earth so long after the Ascension of Christ. From her place in heaven, she still watches over us, as she watched over Jesus as he grew. As our mother, she is always our refuge, our comfort and our hope. Through the communion of Saints, of which she is the Queen, we share the joy and glory of her Assumption Source: Today the Church celebrates one of the most important feasts dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary: At the conclusion of Her earthly life, the Mother of Christ was raised in soul and body to Heaven, that is, in the glory of eternal life, in the full communion with God.
In fact, Elizabeth greets Her with these words: Faith is the heart of the whole history of Mary; She is the believer, the great believer; she knows — and says — that the violence of the mighty, the pride of the rich, the hubris of the arrogant weighs down in history. Still, Mary believes and proclaims that God does not abandon His humble and poor children, but helps them with mercy, with care, overthrowing the mighty from their thrones, scattering the proud from the plots in their hearts. This is the faith of Our Mother; this is the faith of Mary! The Canticle of Our Lady also lets us sense the full meaning of the story of Mary: All this is not only about Mary.
It is beautiful to think of this: That sign has a face, that sign has a name: As members of the Church, we are destined to share the glory of our Mother, so that, thanks to God, we too may believe in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and, through Baptism, we are inserted into this mystery of salvation. Today all together we pray, so that, while our path on this earth unfolds, She May turn to us Ger merciful eyes, that She clear for us the way, that She show us the destination, and that She shows us after this exile Jesus, the blessed fruit of Her womb: And together we say: Oh clement, oh loving, oh sweet Virgin Mary!
Mary was graced in a very powerful way so she could become pregnant with Jesus. Baptism frees us from the original, death-producing sin of Adam and Eve. He created her through an immaculate conception, i. Mary remained full of this special grace so that she could care for Jesus and guide him as he matured. Then she relied on it to care for the first Christians, a continuation of her ministry to Jesus. And she continues this caring support even now in her ministry to us.
Therefore, we can ask her to share with us the grace that helped her to resist sin. The first one is the Resurrection of Jesus. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be given life. The second Glorious Mystery is the Ascension of Jesus. Now have salvation and power come … and the authority of Christ the Anointed One. The more we let Jesus have authority in our lives, the more grace we receive. From this, much grace flows. If we seek purity, it is the Virgin Mary whose intercession will, through the love of her Son, win for us the graces of which we are in such urgent need.
She is indeed a "channel of grace" as St. Pius XII tells us that when the fullness of time came, God put the wondrous plan of his "providence into effect in such a way that all the privileges and prerogatives he had granted to her in his sovereign generosity were to shine forth in her in a kind of perfect harmony" MD, 3. The Virgin Mother's privileges are truly sublime wonders. Luke records in his gospel, the angel Gabriel first addressed Mary with these words: The Lord is with you.
Thomas Aquinas taught that the fullness of grace which Mary received implied confirmation in grace and therefore sinlessness S. III 27, 5 ad 2. Through her unique relationship of union and love with her Son as his Mother, the Virgin Mary shines with a light of purity of far greater brilliance than the stars in the heavens. We truly have a Mother whose love is unwaveringly pure, and who unceasingly cares for her children in their every time of need. The Son whom she brought forth is he whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, that is, the faithful in whose generation and formation she co-operates with a mother's love" CCC No.
The sixth beatitude proclaims, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" see Mt 5: The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that "'Pure in heart' refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God's holiness, chiefly in three areas: The baptized must "struggle against concupiscence of the flesh and disordered desires" CCC No.
When we meditate upon the meaning of "pure in heart," we can find no better example of these Christian virtues than our Virgin Mother who was assumed body and soul into heaven. The Mother of God lived charity in its fullness, from her nourishing care of the Christ child in Bethlehem, to the wound of love she experienced deep within her heart which, pierced by that terrible sword of sorrow as she stood at the base of the cross, held firm in trust.
As for love of truth and orthodoxy of faith, the Virgin Mary, as the Mother of God, is a most perfect example of these virtues, for her Son is Truth, and she loves him and all that he is with maternal devotion. Bonaventure's Fourth sermon on Annunciation , he described Mary as a "tabernacle" in which the Lord rested. He encourages the faithful to turn toward the Blessed Mother for help: Therefore this tabernacle is rightly to be honored, and to this tabernacle flight should be made, in which the Lord rested so familiarly, so that the Blessed Virgin herself could say truly and literally, "Who made me rested in my tabernacle" IX, Bartels is a Catholic writer who knows his Catholic faith is one of the greatest gifts a man could ever have.
He is managing editor of catholicpathways. That priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness in their pastoral work, may find help and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord and in their friendship with their brother priests. Reading 1, Jeremiah Rufus and Zosimus were citizens of Antioch or The California Network Inspiring streaming service.
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