My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

 

Assumption 2021

 

In celebrating the Feast of Mary’s Assumption into heaven, we are aware of the gift given to Mary at the beginning and at the end of her life – in her Immaculate Conception she was freed from original sin, and in her Assumption she was immediately taken up onto heaven body and soul.

 We look to Mary as the model and example of our discipleship.  We celebrate the gifted relationship with her son Jesus.

 For Mary heavenly glory is not so much a place but an intensified relationship. She was taken up to be where Christ is. In her the Lord fulfills his promise to the Church ‘where I am you may be also.’ (Jn.14.3).

Whereas we are still pilgrims on the way.  Mary is no longer on the way home to God. She is a pilgrim no longer.

This is her glory we celebrate in the Feast of the Assumption.

The key to the celebration of this feast is relationship.  Being without sin the relationship of obedient love was never broken. She also enjoyed the relationship of maternity. Jesus grew in her womb; they shared a common life. They were of ‘one flesh’  in virtue of her maternity. It is this flesh, the total bodily reality of the Incarnate Word which ascends to heavenly glory. At the end of her earthly life it is this body in which the redeemer of the world was welcomed and nurtured which is re-united with the glorified Christ.

As shown in today’s Gospel,  Mary came to know more fully the call of God in her life in the context of her relationship with her cousin Elizabeth.  In today’s Gospel, “Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.”  In this visitation, Mary did not come to tell Elizabeth what to do, but simply to share hospitality, availability, friendship, and their love for each other.

It is in the context of their sharing of their friendship that Mary proclaimed her beautiful song of praise:  “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.”

 

Mary’s Magnificat can be compared to the Beatitudes.  “He has shown the strength of his arm.  He has scattered the proud in their conceit.  He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”

What is significant about this visitation Gospel is how we discover the call of God and the presence of God in our lives.  For certain, God speaks to us in the silence and the solitude of prayer.  As the psalmist tells us:  “Be still and know that I am God.”

But the silence of prayer is not our only path to God; as for Mary in today’s visitation Gospel, it is also in the context of the friendship and loves of our lives that we come to know God’s call in our lives.

Value the spirituality of the friendships of our lives.  It is in the joy of relationships that are privileged ways of encountering the God of friendship and the God of love.  Yes, our spirituality is very, very relational – relationship with our loving God and our relationship with one another.

Who in your life has been Elizabeth for you confirming  the presence of God?  Who in your life has been like Mary encouraging you to give praise to God.

If you were to write your own Magnificat, what in your life would you mark as your blessings what you wish to give praise and thanks to our loving God?

Seeking the intercession of Mary, may we be a Church of friendship, a Church of love.  In the words of Jesus, “By this all shall know you are my disciples, your love for one another.”

Yes, we discover the presence and the call of God in our lives in the context of the friendship and love we have for one another.

The challenge for all of us, without exception, is to recognize the call of God, emanating from deep within our spirit.  We live in a noisy culture which seeks to compete with God’s call in our life.

Today’s Gospel truth calls us to look to Mary and follow her example in discovering the call of God in our lives.  Clearly, Mary is a person of prayer.  She pondered in her heart the workings of God in her life.  As shown in today’s Gospel, Mary also came to know the call of God in her life in the context of her relationship with her cousin Elizabeth. 

It is in this setting that we will recognize more clearly the call of God in life.  I have prayed over the events of this past week in the light of today’s beautiful Gospel. 

This past week, I had the privilege of celebrating Mass at Camp Stella Maris.  It is an inspiring vibrant liturgy.  Very personally inspiring for me, my grandnephew Jake and grandniece Lilly were campers and I gave them Communion at Mass.  Also, my grandniece Katie is a counseling intern at Camp Stella Maris.  I was overjoyed in seeing Katie as an intern counselor for the campers.

Being among these beautiful campers and leading them in prayer deepens the call of God in my life as a priest.

I also had the opportunity of visiting my sister and having a picnic dinner with Anne and her children and grandchildren.  This was a such a God moment for me.

I very much invite you to reflect on the call in your life in the context of your family and all the relationships of your life.

This is the grace of the Visitation Gospel.  In the context of her friendship and love with her cousin Elizabeth, Mary spoke the beautiful Magnificat prayer.

So too for us, in the context of our family life and in all the relationships of our life, may they be God moments for us where we too proclaim:  “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

As we celebrate the gifted relationship of Mary with her son, we celebrate both her Immaculate Conception at the beginning of her life and the Feast of the Assumption at the end of her life.  Mary is our intercessor and our guide.

The words of Jesus spoken at the Last Supper are meant for us as well: “ I am going to prepare a place for you that where I am you also may be.  I will come back again and take you to where I am.”

Mary the Mother of the Lord Jesus has pointed the way for the direction of our lives as one day we too will go home to God; we will go to the place the Lord has prepared for us so that in the words of Jesus:  That where I am you also may be.  I will back again and take you where I am.

 

May God give you in peace in your journey of faith.