Assumption of Virgin Mary into Heaven (Fr. Simham)
There is an old story about a workman on a scaffolding high above the nave of a cathedral who looked down and saw a woman praying before a statue of Mother Mary. As a joke, the workman whispered, “Woman, this is Jesus.” The woman ignored him. The workman whispered again, more loudly: “Woman, this is Jesus.” Again, the woman ignored him. Finally, he said aloud, “Woman, don’t you hear me? This is Jesus.” At this point the woman looked up at the crucifix and said, “Be still now, Jesus, I’m talking to your mother.” Why do Catholics treasure Marian devotions and doctrines that their non-Catholic brothers and sisters do not? Why do we give so much importance to Mary? It is because, I think, the Catholic Church is trying to tell the full story, to proclaim the full gospel.Often our separated brethren think that this is what we do as Catholics. We say “Jesus be quiet, we are talking to your mother.” We give so much importance to Mary at the cost of Jesus which is wrong. And they say “Is not the gospel all about Jesus Christ; what he said and what he did for us?” I say ‘Yes!’ Then why all these celebrations of Mary? Immaculate conception, Annunciation, Mother of God, Assumption and so on? Why so many feasts? For me they are all the celebrations of what God did in the life of a humble maid from Nazareth. They are all celebrations of what God can do in the life of an individual who is faithful to him.
Take the example of the solemnity we celebrate today; the Assumption. It is not something that Mary did or achieved. But this is what God did to her for her faithfulness. After her earthly life was ended , she was taken up body and soul to heaven. Because she was privileged to share with Jesus the redeemer in everything here on earth, his suffering and mission in a special way it is natural that she is also privileged to share everything in heavenly glory body and soul in a special way. ‘As the most glorious Mother of Christ, our Saviour and our God and the giver of life and immortality, has been endowed with life by him, she has received an eternal incorruptibility of the body together with him who has raised her up to himself in a way known only to him.’(St. Modestus of Jerusalem) She is the ark of the covenant and this ark of the covenant that carried the redeemer can be let to perish. And the body she gave to the redeemer did not perish and as a reward for that God who is love did not let her body too to perish.
And St. Bonaventure said that ‘As God had preserved the most holy Virgin Mary from the violation of her virginal purity in conceiving and in child birth, He would never have permitted her body to have dissolved into dust and ashes.’
For Martin Luther too, Mary’s assumption was an understood fact, as his homily of 1522 indicates, in spite of the fact that Mary’s assumption is not expressly reported in the Sacred Scripture: ‘There can be no doubt that the virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know………….It is enough to know that she lives in Christ.’
Yet, all this is the Lord’s doing. It is God who did all this. And when we celebrate her feasts we celebrate God deeds in the life an individual. And she as Wordsworth said “is the solitary boast of our tainted humanity.” In her and through her God showed all what he do to us who are faithful to him. She always remains the pride and joy of humanity.
Finally, He also showed through her assumption what he can do to our mortal bodies. And what we and our bodies are destined for. When Pope Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of Assumption in 1950 he said “in this magnificent way all may see clearly to what a lofty goal our bodies and souls are destined.” Yes, the celebration of Assumption of Mary body and soul should remind us of the sacredness and eternal destiny of the human body. Culture of life which is religion projects body to be the temple of the holy Spirit and therefore destined for eternity. Let the celebration of remind us about the dignity of our own bodies. Amen
Fr. Showreelu Simham