Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Along with the other Marian feasts, the Feast of the Assumption was one of the celebrations I wrestled with quite a bit when I was considering converting to Catholicism. One of the things that helped was a novel called Our Lady of the Lost and Found by Diane Schomperlein, which is a fictional story about an author who has Mary come to stay with her for a week. Schomperlein skillfully weaves true stories the Church has told about Mary, from the very beginning to the present, in with a story about Mary vacationing with the author. Among the many points the author makes about Mary is that, unlike with other early saints and martyrs, there is no church or altar Christians have built to honor her place of death. There are plenty of churches that honor Mary, of course. But unlike St. Peter's Basilica, which lays claims to the site of St. Peter's bones, or the Basilica of Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, where St. Paul is buried, Mary has no such dedication.
It is a mystery - both of our faith, and in history. Historians note the oddity of the fact that no sacred burial place exists for Mary, while the Church proclaims that Mary was assumed into heaven.
Today's epistle reading (1 Corinthians 15:20-27) highlights why the Assumption of Mary is a doctrine of the Church: because Mary, as the first of the followers of Christ, gives witness to who we are and what we will become. Paul contrasts Adam, through whom death came, with Christ, through whom we are given life in his letter; Mary's assumption gives us both confirmation and hope that we who belong to Christ will also be raised.
The Gospel reading (Luke 1:39-56) also proclaims the important of today's solemnity, for here, Mary herself joyfully tells the Gospel. God will overturn the complacency of the world, which presumes that riches and power are better. Instead, God will lift up the lowly and the hungry - and Mary's assumption once again becomes witness to the ways God extols those whom the world tends to forget. God takes this poor woman from a poor province under Roman rule and gives her a standing beyond any that the world can give. The Church has recognized Mary's particular importance from the very beginning, as well - as a contrast to the world's versions of wealth and power.
The special place God has given to Mary is emphasized in today's first reading (Revelation 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab) where we Christians can readily infer that the woman in this scripture who gives birth to a child that is caught up to God, is in fact Mary, and Jesus is the child. This woman flees to the desert. The desert is an important place for Christians, for it represents wilderness and chaos, but also and especially, a place where people can most deeply meet God. The earliest monks in Christian tradition travelled to the desert for this reason.
Mary most deeply meets God in all aspects of her life. She is the God-bearer, she proclaims the gospel, she goes wherever God leads her. Today, let us pray for the grace to meet God deeply too.
- Jana M. Bennett