REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

Homily for 20th Sunday C

(Aug 15, 2010)

Fr James McTavish, FMVD

God assumed Mary all her life!

Some very famous battles have been fought in the desert. You only have to think of the battle of Al-Alamein in World War II, when Montgomery out manoeuvred Rommel in the desert of North Africa to gain a decisive victory for the Allies against the Germans. In the first reading of today there is another battle in the desert – ‘a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth’ against the ‘a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth’ (See Revelations 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab). The dragon stood before the woman to devour her child when she gave birth. The Word of God tells us “The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God”. God took care of her in the desert. Where is the safest place when we feel under attack? The desert of prayer and silence!

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption, recognizing that Mother Mary was taken up to heaven body and soul. In 1950, Pope Pius XII taught infallibly (in "Munificentissimus Deus"): "Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory." For this reason we see in the first reading the symbolism of the battle between Mary and the devil, and God assumes the lowliness of the woman and takes care of her in the desert. One way of understanding the feast of today is that God assumed Mary not only at the end of her life but all the way through it!

It is wonderful to feel that God is assuming all your situations and helping you to live them better. This week we have been very busy in the mission – including conducting a retreat to a group of seminarians, giving classes in Moral theology, and visiting some Sisters of Charity and having a formation about prayer with them. How reassuring to feel that God is the one empowering you, giving you strength and supporting you! This was the experience of Mary in her life. She sang the Magnificat and thanked God ‘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.’ I was praying and reflecting why Mary said this. Why did she call God a Saviour is she did not sin, what was she being saved from? Mary felt that God assumed her littleness! She lived from his power and in the annunciation had been promised that the power of the Most High would overshadow her. She lived from God’s power and not merely from her own. She said ‘He has shown the power of his arm, and scattered the proud in their conceit’ (See Luke 1, 39-56). Ask yourself, do you live from your own power or from God’s?

There is a story of an old man who lived in the mountainside and one day the local electricity company decided to visit him. The engineer came, carrying a backpack, after hiking for 6 hours over rugged hills. He arrived at the house to find the owner huddled round one solitary candle. He told the old man that they would fix up electricity and it was duly installed. Six months later the engineer came upon the electricity bill – only 50 pesos. He was surprised until again six months later, 50 pesos again. He went to investigate. He arrived at the house and the old man invited him in. Dusk was falling so the old man said “We need some light, wait a minute I just need to find the matches”. He turned on the electric light, found the matches, lit the candle and turned off the electric light. The engineer then understood why the bill was so little! The same can happen to us, having a great source of power in us and yet we live only from the little candle. This happens when we try to assume all the situations ourselves, along with all the worries. Perhaps looking at our lives people would not really believe that God exists, or if he does we don’t rely on him so much. That is why the Church is aware that at times people are atheist because of a poor testimony of so many Christians.

Mary in her littleness experienced God working so much and she had so much trust in him. That is why she declared ‘He has lifted up the lowly, he has come to the help of Israel his servant’. If we are not humble we cannot experience God’s mighty hand because God resists the proud and lifts up the lowly. In humble prayer, in the silence of the desert of listening to the Word of God, we can really experience God assuming our lives and all the situations.

The feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary also reminds us of our heavenly homeland. The responsorial Psalm today is “the queen takes her place at your right hand in gold of Ophir” (Psalm 45). It reminds us that Mary, being assumed into heaven, sits in heavenly glory. Not only does Mary help us on our way, but as our Mother she reminds us of our heavenly destiny. Reflecting on Mary's Assumption, Benedict XVI, said: "By contemplating Mary in heavenly glory, we understand that the earth is not the definitive homeland for us either, and that if we live with our gaze fixed on eternal goods we will one day share in this same glory and the earth will become more beautiful. Consequently, we must not lose our serenity and peace even amid the thousands of daily difficulties. The luminous sign of Our Lady taken up into Heaven shines out even more brightly when sad shadows of suffering and violence seem to loom on the horizon. We may be sure of it: from on high, Mary follows our footsteps with gentle concern, dispels the gloom in moments of darkness and distress, reassures us with her motherly hand. Supported by awareness of this, let us continue confidently on our path of Christian commitment wherever Providence may lead us. Let us forge ahead in our lives under Mary's guidance." (Aug 16, 2006)

Let us forge ahead in our lives undaunted by the challenges. Like Mary, heading into the hill country. How? In haste! The greek word for haste is spoude, which means bubbling or boiling. Mary was boiling with enthusiasm. Let us ask for her same enthusiasm, trusting more in God’s power than in our own and like Mary letting the Mighty God assume us especially in our littleness.