Blessed are Your Who Believed that Everything the Lord Promised will be Fulfilled"
Today's Mass Readings
Today is the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. The assumption is gift of God to Mary for her faith, her belief, her fidelity. The angel had told her at the annunciation that nothing is impossible with God. Mary believed in the God of the impossible. And so when the impossible happened, i.e., when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, Mary had to be part of it. Mary who was associated with Jesus from the womb to the tomb, is allowed by God to take part even in his resurrection and ascension, for she believed all that the Lord promised her would be fulfilled. The promise made to her was fulfilled in the most extraordinary of ways, but blessed is she for she believed. What is this feast going to mean for all of us? Just like Mary we are no super humans. We like her are, ordinary people. Among us may be people, searching for jobs, as she searched for a room. And then the tension of bringing children up... the anxiety when they come home late... the pain of building up dreams for them and see it crumble. And then, there’s the pressure at work... people to grab my place, opposition and resentment with colleagues, the back biting. Sometimes all this looks so meaningless. Life itself seems to have no purpose. Broken marriages strained relationships, sickness and death. All these are our share of burdens as much as they were Mary’s. And yet blessed are those who believe all that the Lord promised will be fulfilled.
What awaited Mary, awaits all of us. God has promised us nothing less than his Kingdom, his love, his presence, heaven itself. His promise may be fulfilled in the most bizarre ways, but nevertheless they are. All we have to do is... believe. This feast then is a feast of all of us. Its a feast of all those who people who believe all that Lord promised us will be fulfilled. It is the feast of all those people who like Mary believe in the God of the impossible. It is the feast of all those who put their faith in him... totally.