May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.
Today is a great feast of the Church: because today is a feast day of our Mother Mary. Whenever the Church celebrates a mystery in the life of Our Lady, we celebrate first what God has done for her. However and perhaps more importantly, we celebrate what this mystery means for the Church and for each of us, as members of the Body of Christ. Today, with the celebration of the Assumption, we celebrate the great thing that the Almighty has done for Mary. And as members of the Body of Christ, we celebrate that what Christ has done for Mary, he will do for us. But also, brothers and sisters we celebrate that what Mary has done for Jesus, she is doing for us.
Mary is the first to receive the full promise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When her earthy life was completed, Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven. Our Lord Jesus brought his mother to be with him in heaven. Our Lord Jesus will do this for us as well, only the timing is different. When we die and our soul is separated from our body that will not be the end of our story. We pray that our soul will be admitted to the presence of God. However, our soul in heaven is not the full promise of the resurrection. Our destiny is to live eternal life as we have lived life on earth, with our body and soul in unity. Mary is the first to receive this gift. She is given this gift in anticipation of that day when Christ will raise our mortal bodies and make them like his own in glory. What Christ has done for Mary, he will do for you and for me.
However, our Mother Mary has not abandoned us. We do not abandon our dear ones just because our location changes. Just as Mary nurtured, loved and supported the Lord Jesus, she nurtures loves and supports each of us on our journey of faith. Mary, the Seat of Wisdom, who taught the eternal Word of the God to speak and pray in human language, guides us in our prayers to her son and to the Father. In our prayer, we are surrounded by a mother’s love and supported by a mother’s prayers.
Mary, the refuge of sinners, who searched three days for the child Jesus in Jerusalem, always searches for us when we have wandered from the road that leads to heaven. It is a mother’s gentle voice that urges us to the sacrament of reconciliation. A mother’s love surrounds us and a mother’s prayers support us.
Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, who taught the Child Jesus to walk, accompanies him as he walks the way of the Cross and keeps silent vigil with him at Calvary. And there a Mother’s love surrounded him and a mother’s prayers supported him. And along our way of the cross and at our own Calvary our mother’s love will surround us and our blessed Mother’s prayers will support us.
We need never hesitate, beloved brothers and sisters, to turn to Mary in all of our needs and difficulties. Our Lady does one thing: she brings us closer to Jesus. Whatever petition we entrust to her intercession, she makes into her own prayer to her Son. Every act of love and veneration we show to Mary, she passes on as an act of love and adoration to Jesus. So it is that this mother’s love surrounds us and our mother’s prayers support us.
And so when the voice of the Good Shepherd calls us by name to the Father’s house when our work is accomplished, a Mother’s embrace awaits us. And Mary will present us to her Son, the Redeemer Jesus Christ, and our lives will be received in the presence of the Father. And on that day we will hear the words that Mary hears today. We will hear the words that the Church prefigured in her hears today. We will hear, for ourselves, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.”
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
