Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady
Independence Day of India
Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab || 1 Cor 15:20-27 || Lk 1:39-56
A. INTRODUCTION:
"Why did you go to church today," someone might ask us. "This isn't Sunday, its only Wednesday."
"It's a holy day of obligation. The feast of the Assumption," we answer.
"Oh," the person says, and might add, "What's that?"
Many Catholics might not even remember it. But you and I do. We have come to Mass to celebrate it. We are here because of our love for our Mother Mary. We are also here to pray for our country on the 65th anniversary of Independence Day.
B. HOMILY:
1. A Story (1): "Why do they minimize your beauty?"
A charming story is told of the nineteenth century Bernadette of Lourdes fame. Contemporary artists were anxious for her to describe the woman she had seen in the grotto. So, one after the other, they showed her the most famous pictures of Mary. The young Bernadette was shown the beautiful Madonnas done by Murillo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, El Greco, etc. To each she shook her head in disappointment. To their surprise, she said, "The lady looks like none of these paintings." To herself she said, "My mother, why do they minimize your beauty?"
2. Why do we honor Mary?
Mary's unique beauty is based not on physical endowments alone but on her total freedom from sin. It wasn't what she didn't do which made her sinless and, therefore, beautiful but what she did. It was the marvellous harmony of her nature which made her totally sensitive, caring and other-oriented. Her first concern, on being told she was to be the mother of God, was for her older cousin, Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist. Thirty years later, at the marriage of friends in Cana her sensitive and tactful concern for the newly-weds provoked Christ's first miracle. The woman beside the cross on Calvary is an unforgettable model of love and fidelity.
3. Story (2): Carl Jung on the Assumption:
It was in 1950, Carl Jung, the famed Swiss Lutheran psychiatrist, and an influential thinker, the founder of analytical psychology, remarked that the papal announcement of the Assumption of Mary, in 1950, was "the most important religious event since the Reformation." "It means that along with the glorified masculine body of Jesus in heaven there is also a glorified feminine body of his mother Mary. The feminine, like the masculine, demands an equally personal representation."
4. A New Salvation Story
Just as the full story of our Fall cannot be told without Eve, so also the full story of our Redemption cannot be told without Mary. There are many revealing parallels between the old Adam and Eve on the one hand and the new Adam and Eve, Jesus and Mary, on the other. Here are some of them.
1. In the old order, the woman (Eve) came from the body of the man (Adam), but in the new order the man (Jesus) comes from the body of the woman (Mary).
2. In the old order, the woman (Eve) first disobeyed God and led the man (Adam) to do the same, in the new order the woman (Mary) first said "Yes" to God (Luke 1:38) and raised her son Jesus to do likewise.
3. In the old order Adam and Eve shared immediately in the resulting consequences and punishments of the Fall. In the new order, similarly, both Jesus and Mary share immediately in the resulting consequences and blessings of the Redemption, the fullness of life with God; Jesus through the Ascension and Mary through the Assumption.
5. Assumption: Equality of man and woman before God
The Assumption is the ultimate proof of the equality of man and woman before God. It also shows the sacredness and eternal destiny of the human body, including the woman's body which is desecrated by pornography and the sex trade.
6. Body, Soul or both:
Today's feast also shows us that God values our bodies. They are not only important to him, they are sacred! There are two extremes of thought in regard to our bodies.
1. One considers the body as our number one treasure. Ads and commercials usually feature people with exceptional looks. To be successful, accepted, and loved, they tell us, depends upon how we look. We are to watch our weight, keep in shape, and smell just right. As for the importance of our soul and our spiritual life? Forget it! They consider such things nonexistent and absurd.
2. The other extreme of thought about the body is to look upon it as merely a machine for us to operate in this world. Its value is only its usefulness. To enhance it with cosmetics and perfume, to dress it up and make it look attractive, to diet, exercise, and look at it in the mirror - all that is not only a waste of time, but sinful. The soul and its spiritual condition are all that is important for us.
But God is telling us on this feast of the Assumption that to Him, both are important - our body and our soul. They are both to be valued, and they are to be given the attention and honor due them.
7. Conclusion (Joke)
God is walking around Heaven one day, and notices a number of people on the heavenly streets who shouldn't be there. He finds St. Peter at the gate and says to him, "Peter, you've been careless in your duties. You're letting in the wrong sort of people."
"Don't blame me, Lord," replies Peter. "I turn them away just like you have instructed. Then they go around to the back door and Jesus' mother lets them in."
LET US PRAY:
God of Freedom,
There is no greater feeling of liberation than to experience this freedom from sin and death that you have provided for us through Jesus Christ. Today our hearts and our souls are free to praise you.
On this Independence Day we are reminded of all those who have sacrificed for our freedom. May we not take our freedom, both physical and spiritual, for granted. May we always remember that our freedom was purchased with a very high price. Our freedom cost others their very lives.
Lord, today, bless those who have served and continue to give their lives for our freedom. With favor and bounty meet their needs and watch over their families.
Help us to live our lives in a way that glorifies you. Give us the strength to be a blessing in someone else's life today, and grant us the opportunity to lead others into the freedom that can be found in knowing Christ.
We make this prayer through the intercession of Mother Mary, in the name Jesus Our Lord.
and
Happy Independence Day
to one and all!
Vally Mendonca, S.J.
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