Assumption Day

Assumption Day 2014 (Luke 1:46-55 Holy is His Name.

Our Heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son into the world at a particular moment of time to a particular people and place.

In Jesus, God unites our humanity with His divinity. In Jesus, God unites the eternal realm with the experience of time.

Mary is an essential part of that historic and physical particularity. St. Peter writes: we did not follow cleverly devised myths. During the apostolic age many people rejected Jesus but no one said he was a myth. The witness of thousands of people who met Jesus, hundreds who saw him in his resurrected body, and many more who experienced his real presence by grace through faith all established his reality.

Mary herself reminded the church as well as others of that generation that Jesus was a real person. Part of Mary’s role in the church after Jesus ascended into heaven was to remind people of his physical reality. Part of Mary’s role was to offer wisdom and insight to the beloved apostle John so he could write portions of the New Testament and explain to people who Jesus was and how he is both man and God.

Mary’s current role in the church is three fold.

First: Mary is an example of faith as well as a model of faith. Where so many other people of her day insisted on defining God according to their own economic needs or political beliefs- Mary simply accepted the reality of God. Mary did not attempt to tell God what he could and could not do, who he should or should not bless. Mary entered into the real presence of God through worship in the synagogue and Temple, by memorizing scripture (her Magnificat is a reworking of Hannah’s Song from the book of I Samuel) and by pouring herself out in service to her son, her family and neighbors. This is the pattern of the three fold love that underlies the Law.

As a child, Jesus observed this pattern in his mother’s way of living. God the Father chose Mary to be the mother of His Son because Mary lived the pattern of love God designed into the universe. That pattern is worship, service, and transformation.

It was the pattern Jesus learned from infancy. It was the reason Jesus chose his mother to complete the education and spiritual formation of the apostle John. It is Mary’s role in the church today to serve as a model of living by grace through faith in love.

If you want to know how to follow Jesus more closely and most effectively, ponder the life of Mary.

Mary also prays for us. She is the preeminent intercessor in the Church Triumphant. We see this aspect of Mary’s ministry at the first miracle Jesus performed at the wedding feast at Cana. Mary brought the need to Jesus and simple told the servants: do whatever he instructs you. She does the same for us. Her maternal concern for us has expanded and deepened in Heaven. She prays for us whether we ask for her prayers or not as a mother cares for her children whether they are grateful or not.

From our reredos over the altar we see the image of Jesus crowning his mother Queen of Heaven. This amazing event is recorded for us by the apostle John in the book of Revelation. Jesus reminds John and John reminds us that as Jesus is the rightful King of Israel so Mary is the Queen Mother.

Jesus is also king over all the Earth. Our heavenly Father created the universe and this planet by the power of the Holy Spirit as a gift for the Son. Earth belongs to Jesus. He is the sole and rightful king. He has crowned his mother Queen of Israel, Queen of Earth and Queen of Heaven.

As Queen Mother, Mary continues to fulfill her purpose as a channel of grace by pouring forth grace into our lives. Mary does not generate this grace. God alone is the source of grace. As a person who said yes to God, Mary offered herself to God to be a vessel of grace and a living channel of grace.

As with all souls, Mary continues to grow in grace and deepen in love. Mary reminds us that Heaven is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. That relationship is active, dynamic, creative, spontaneous and transforming.

Mary always seeks to fulfill our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation through the threefold pattern of love: worship, service and personal transformation. As the Holy Queen Mother of the Church, Mary always prays for people to meet Jesus at the altar of real presence on the day of real presence. Mary always prays for us to adopt a way of living guided by the question: how may I help? Mary always channels the reflected grace of God into our souls to inspire us to grow and enable us to transform our minds, hearts and wills.

From the very beginning of the Church on the day pf Pentecost Mary was there. Quiet. Patient. Encouraging, Nourishing. Mary helped John grow up and mature in the faith. When you read the gospel of John and his three epistles you are hearing the wisdom of Mary guiding John and guiding us.

Mary’s title: Mother of God is a translation of a Greek word, theokos, that means “bearer of God”. This title reminds us that the incarnation took place at the moment of conception. At the moment of his conception, Jesus is fully human and fully God, one unique person with two natures: human and divine.

We honor Mary as the holy Queen Mother who reminds us of the particularity of the incarnation and the universality of Divine Love.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and for the salvation and sanctification of souls.