Hail Mary, full of grace (Luke 1:28)

August 15, 2017

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary -

Mass during the Day

Lectionary: 622

RV 11:19A; 12:1-6A, 10AB

PS 45:10, 11, 12, 16

1 COR 15:20-27

LK 1:39-56

My grandfather used to stop by our house every day as he came home from his long shift at work.  During that visit, he would pull out a candy bar or cake that he had left over from his lunch.  I learned many years later that he didn’t actually have left over food, but would stop and charge the candy at the company store so that he would have some treat to give us.  I don’t remember it very well, mostly through the stories that I’ve been told.  I do remember though the excitement of knowing he was coming.   Not just because I would receive a treat, but because he had promised.  I knew he would be there and that it would be fun.  It always was.

That’s excitement, that palpitation is how we should feel on this Feast day.  The Church has made it a Holy Day of Obligation for a good reason!  The very nature of this solemnity declares one of God’s promises to each of us, that of eternal life.   In the life of Mary, we see a person who has given herself completely to God’s plan.   A woman who said yes to every detail and gave her very body to Him to form in it the body of Jesus Christ.  We find her at the conception, the birth (logically), the presentation.   The one who nursed the child as he grew.   The one who comforted him as he learned to walk, with all it’s bumps, scrapes, and bruises.  A catechist who taught the faith, fed and clothed him.  Walking along the way in silent witness to the crucifixion and stood at the foot of the cross when most others had run the other way.  In the upper room at Pentecost and likely a fixture in the lives of the disciples, especially John.

Why is this feast so important?  Because it outlines for us the kind of life we too should live.  If Mary was not assumed?  What hope have we?   The Scriptures themselves reveal to us that she is to be called blessed for all eternity (see Luke 1:48.)  From this section of Luke, we get two of our very prominent prayers: the Hail Mary, and the Magnificat.  One is a prayer that reminds us of the greeting of Elizabeth, the other a prayer that reminds us of the response of Mary to her situation.  This feast reminds us to look at all of her life and especially the end of it.  

Did Mary die? That’s something that you’ll find people arguing over.   To me, it doesn’t matter.  Did she fall asleep?  The Dormition?  All of those details are much less important to me than what we see happened after “she completed the course of her life.”  Even the book of Revelation when speaking of Mary, giving us a glimpse of her as the Ark of the New Covenant, speaks of her being swept up into Heaven after a long period of time.  Rightly so.   If the woman who bore Christ into the world in a physical way did not receive the reward at the end of the race, what hope have we?  We who imperfectly try to do the same on a spiritual level and fail so miserably.  That is why to me the argument over exactly how it happened is much less exciting than the discussion over the fact it did happen!  

That is what I think this feast is about in fact.  A feast that should eradicate the fear of death from every faithful believer.  One that should remind us to be more like Mary, one who lived out the life of a disciple in the most perfect way possible.  To be like Mary at the Annunciation, giving a perfect yes to God to help bring Christ into the world.   Again, as Mary did, carrying Christ inside of us after receiving Him and bringing Him to the world.  Giving birth to Christ in our actions, thoughts, and words.   Then following Jesus ardently in the other, helping him up when he falls, cleaning his cuts and bruises, and feeding him when he is hungry.  Journeying with him at the end of his life as he carries his cross, and being there to comfort him at his death, no matter how hard it is to watch, even if it seemed a sword where piercing our chest.

I think then today is a perfect opportunity to meditate on that simple prayer that comes directly from the Gospel of Luke and ask ourselves, what does it mean to me.  Have I made Mary a part of my life?  Have I, the disciple standing at the foot of the cross, invited her into my home as instructed by Jesus himself?  Have I failed to journey with the sick, the widow, the orphan, the refugee, the dying?  Do I look for Jesus in them and accompany them as they carry their own cross?  Do I look with excitement, like a child waiting for his grandfather to visit with candy, for the end of my own life?  For the Mass?  For Jesus in the Eucharist? In the Confessional? May I pray the following words with that in mind as I ask Mary to pray for me to be strengthened to live a life of true discipleship and to “do whatever He tells me.”

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.   Amen.