ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing.
You reign now in splendor with Jesus our King.
I have spent time this summer pondering who Mary was and is.
She was completely human, but with a significant difference from the rest of human beings. She was without sin. “I am the Immaculate Conception,” she tells Bernadette Soubirous at an apparition in Lourdes.
Did Mary have a forcefield protecting her from the devil’s sinful inclinations?
Was she the human embodiment of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: “love is patient, love is kind… (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)?”
People must have felt an attraction to her purity and goodness.
But, even though she was sinless, she still suffered, as many mothers do.
Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria.
Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria.
Some other holy people were said to have ascended into heaven. See 2 Kings 2:11 for the story about Elijah, for example. Even Jesus is said to have ascended into heaven forty days after his resurrection. Why is Mary assumed into heaven?
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church it explains that Mary’s assumption allowed her whole self to be reunited body and soul with her beloved Son in glory. This is our belief and why we celebrate today’s feast. Let us pray:
Mary, mother of Jesus,
show us the way to live with grace and goodness.
May we follow your example to be faithful to your Son’s vision of the kingdom.
Open our hearts to all we meet everyday while practicing patience, acceptance and kindness.
We look forward to one being with you and Jesus in heaven’s glory.
Amen.
Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria.
Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria.
Pat Carter, CSJ is a disciple, a teacher and an advocate for the poor. She has been a Sister of St. Joseph for more than half of her life and loves to use words to inspire faith and laughter. She is a cantor at her parish of St. Jerome’s in Sault Ste. Marie.
