August 15, 2018
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For the Solemnity of the Assumption, there are two homilies:
- The homily for the Vigil Mass
- The homily for the Mass of the day
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Mass of the Day)
“Mary –Woman of Revelation for our Journey”
Msgr. Thomas Gervasio
On this glorious solemnity of Our Lady’s assumption into heaven, the first reading from the Book of Revelation presents us with unusual and puzzling images.
We are confronted with a terrifying and violent dragon! For Saint John, the dragon represented the mighty power of the Roman Empire that persecuted the Church. Yet, since the Scriptures transcend historical periods, we can see that the dragon also represents the harmful influences that affect the Church today—materialism and secularism. It represents the mentality of our culture that would tell us that faith in God is absurd, that the commandments are a vestige of a past age, and that the only thing that counts is life here and now.
But the account includes another figure—a woman. She is, of course, is the figure of the woman we honor today, Mary, the Mother of God. She is clothed with the sun, which is to say, clothed with God, full of grace. Her crown of twelve stars point us to the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles, we might well say, the people of God, the Church.
The moon is also part of the picture. It is the symbol of mortality and death. But the moon is under her feet, as a reminder that Mary, assumed body and soul into heaven, leaves death behind. She points us to the victory over death that the birth of her Son would bring.
Mary is also a symbol of the Church which must bring Christ to birth anew in the world. This is the Church’s mission in the world. She does this through the sacraments, her worship and her proclamation of the word.
These bring Christ to birth in each of us, so that we can repeat with Saint Paul, “It is not I who live but Christ who lives in me.” Allowing Christ to take hold of our lives is the challenge of the Christian life.
We fall and we rise, we continue on. There are moments when our faith is shaken—times of doubt and discouragement. It is an ongoing process. Cardinal Newman reminds us that “the work of holiness is the work of a lifetime.” It is the process of slowly dressing our mortal bodies with immortality. Father Henri Nouwen expresses this idea very well:
This is the challenge and the hope we carry within us on life’s journey…and we rejoice and are consoled that Our Lady is our loving and faithful companion!“The knowledge that Jesus came to dress our mortal bodies with immortality must help us...to nurture constantly the life of the Spirit of Jesus—which is eternal life—that is already in us. Baptism gave us this life, the Eucharist maintains it, and our many spiritual practices…can help us to deepen and solidify it. The sacramental life and life with the Word of God gradually make us ready to let go of our mortal bodies and receive the mantle of immortality. Thus, death is not the enemy who puts an end to everything but the friend who takes us by the hand and leads us into the kingdom of eternal love.”
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Vigil Mass)
“Moving from the Earthly to the Heavenly with Mary”
Msgr. Thomas Gervasio
It may surprise some to know that the Church had no established feast in honor of Our Lady for the first four hundred years of her history. In the first century, the only feast celebrated was the Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Yet, it wasn’t as if the Church ignored the Mother of Our Lord. The Church honored Mary whenever the Gospels proclaimed the various events in Mary’s life.
As the Church reflected on the Scriptures, she gradually came to a deeper understanding of Mary’s role in salvation history. The Council of Ephesus in 431 defined as doctrine that Mary is the Mother of God, the “Theotokos.” This definition stimulated devotion to Mary and liturgical celebrations in her honor. By 450, the Eastern Church celebrated not Mary’s death but her “Dormition,” her falling asleep.
In the West the celebration came to be called her “Assumption into Heaven.” In the 6th century the Emperor Justinian ordered that this feast be celebrated throughout the empire. This made the Assumption the oldest Marian celebration in the Church.
When he formally defined this article of faith in 1950, Venerable Pius XII described it simply: “Mary, the immaculate perpetually Virgin Mother of God, after the completion of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of heaven.”
The Church always understood that God would not allow Mary, whom He preserved from all stain of sin and who carried in her womb the eternal Son of the Father, to experience the corruption of the grave.
In this Mary anticipates the destiny and glory that is ours if we are but faithful to the Lord. Our soul will be reunited with our body, a body that will be transformed, made new and glorious.
Today the Church summons us to gather to honor Mary that she might teach us to pray, to love, and to long for heaven. Cardinal James Hickey wrote, “Perhaps one of the gravest problems facing the Church today is the tendency to allow the heavenly City to slip from our consciousness.” Mary reminds us that we have to move from being earthly to being heavenly. She reminds us not to lose sight of heaven.
Fr. Nouwen calls this the process of “nurturing the eternal life within us.” I’ll let him explain and have the last word:
“The knowledge that Jesus came to dress our mortal bodies with immortality must help us...to nurture constantly the life of the Spirit of Jesus—which is eternal life—that is already in us. Baptism gave us this life, the Eucharist maintains it, and our many spiritual practices…can help us to deepen and solidify it. The sacramental life and life with the Word of God gradually make us ready to let go of our mortal bodies and receive the mantle of immortality. Thus, death is not the enemy who puts an end to everything but the friend who takes us by the hand and leads us into the kingdom of eternal love.”