Homily: Solemnity of the Assumption (Vigil)

Readings:  1 Ch 15:3-4; 15-16;16:1-2; Psalm 132; 1 Cor 15:54-57; Lk 1:27-28
___________________________

In 1854 Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a belief the faithful had held for centuries. And almost 100 years later, in 1950, his successor Pope Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of her Assumption; and by doing so once again confirmed that which the faithful had long believed.

These two events span the limits of Mary's life on earth. The Immaculate Conception celebrates God's bringing her into being without sin. And the Assumption celebrates Mary's singular participation in her Son's Resurrection by which she was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory at the end of her life.

The two events, although separated by a lifetime, are actually very closely related. In truth we can't have one without the other. And so once her Immaculate Conception was proclaimed to be part of the deposit of faith, it was inevitable that her Assumption would follow suit.

Mary's Assumption is the destiny of all in Christ and gives us a glimpse into what we too can expect when our own resurrection occurs on the last day. As St. Paul reminds us in tonight's second reading:

Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting? [1 Cor 15:54-55]

...all through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Assumption of Mary

And so, through the power of Christ's resurrected glory, we will experience complete and perfect union with God in a glorified state, just as Mary experiences it now as a result of her Assumption.

Why did God do this for Mary? Why did He assume her, body and soul, into His heavenly presence? We can't say for sure, because the Assumption's a mystery; we'll never fully understand it. But we can understand it partially, and say with some assurance that Mary's Assumption occurred because, as the Mother of Jesus Christ, she's also the Mother of God.

This, too, was taught by the Church from its earliest years. Mary had been called Theotokos - the God-bearer -- since at least the third century, and was officially proclaimed the Mother of God by the Council of Ephesus in the year 431. That Council proclaimed that her body, her immaculate body, a body conceived without sin, held the Incarnate Body of God Himself. This was also a proclamation about Jesus, confirming both His divine and human nature.

Mary, Ark of the Covenant

This understanding of Mary as "God-bearer" is foreshadowed in today's Old Testament reading. The Ark of the Covenant was the mark of God's intimate presence among His people. In the same way, the Church calls Mary the "Ark of the New Covenant" for it was she who carried the Messiah, she who was God's sacred vessel.

Just as King David leapt and danced in front of the Ark as it was carried into Jerusalem, so too does the unborn John the Baptist leap and dance in his mother's womb when he first encounters Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant. Because Christ has this absolutely unique relationship with the body of Mary, His Mother, at the end of her life she is glorified, both body and soul.

Mary is Mother many times over: Mother of God, Mother of us all, and Mother of the Church, the symbol of what we all should be. Today, therefore, we celebrate Mary, Theotokos, Mother of God, and Our heavenly Mother. But she's more than that, more than our Mother. She's also our sister, a fellow disciple of Jesus Christ.

But as the perfect disciple, she shows us how to live the Christian life, a model of faith and hope. Mary is among "the first-fruits" that Paul speaks of, the first-fruits of "all those who belong to Jesus" [1 Cor 15:23] and who share in his triumph.

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus isn't downplaying His Mother's role - just the opposite. For Mary is doubly-blessed, not only as the Mother of Jesus, but also as the perfect disciple who hears the word of God and observes it. Jesus is simply telling that woman who confronts Him in the street that she, too, can be one of His family. It's better, He tells her, to belong to His spiritual family than to His earthly family.

The Visitation: Mary and Elizabeth

Mary is blessed on both counts. She is His true mother, the God-bearer, the Ark of the New Covenant. But she's also the one who hears and keeps the word of the Lord...and does so in perfect humility.

Yes, Mary is the first and the best disciple of Jesus, something that Elizabeth proclaimed when Mary visited her: "Blessed are you among women..." [Lk 1:42] and John "leaped in her womb" [Lk 1:44]. In all humility Mary responded, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior" [Lk 1:46]. All three, Mary, Elizabeth and John, are filled with the Holy Spirit; filled too with joyful anticipation of God fulfilling His promise of a Savior.

How fitting a reminder to us today that Jesus Christ was greeted first by a baby in the womb, an unborn infant who pointed to the Incarnation as the Holy Spirit revealed the presence of the King to be born.

This is the power of the Holy Spirit; He is God's gift, enabling us to experience the indwelling presence of God and the power of his kingdom. Through the Holy Spirit God reigns within us.

From all this we learn that God visits us in the ordinariness of our lives, and remains with us in all we do. He is the presence that holds us up. As St. Paul reminded the philosophers of Athens, and as the liturgy instructs us: "in Him we live and move and have our being" [Acts 17:28].

It's through these encounters with God, these encounters that occur in the midst of our day-to-day lives, that we are saved by God's tender mercies. As our model of faith and hope, Mary shows us all this and more.

She accepted her mission with uncompromising faith and obedience.

She acted with unwavering trust because she believed God would fulfill the word he had spoken.

Mary fulfills the dreams and hopes of all as she proclaims: God exalts the lowly and he fills the hungry.

Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is ever ready to renew our faith in God's promises and make us strong in love for God and our neighbor.

Today, as we experience God's indwelling presence in the Eucharist, let's remember that Mary was the very first to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. As Gabriel said to her: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you" [Lk 1:35]. And like Mary, it is through the power of the Spirit that we receive within us the Eucharistic Presence of her Son, for the Glory of the Father.

And today, especially today, let us ask our Mother Mary to intercede for us with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Ask her to pray for our world, a world that has forgotten God, and world that has replaced peace with violence, replaced love with hate, replaced hope with despair. Ask her to intercede, to plead for a global healing that will bring all to Jesus Christ.

Praised be Jesus Christ...now and forever.

Homily: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Readings: Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Psalm 45; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56
_____________________

Many years ago, back in my Navy days, I was sitting alone in a restaurant in Keelung, Taiwan. It was Christmas Eve, but you wouldn’t have known it – no Christmas decorations, no crèche, no last-minute shoppers, not even the secular symbols of reindeer or snowmen. It was just another bleak December evening in this country of few Christians.

Keelung Night Market

The restaurant was fairly crowded and so a young Chinese couple asked if they could join me at my table. Of course I agreed. They wanted to practice their English and so we talked as I picked at my rice and pork.In those days Navy chaplains gave out pocket-sized copies of the New Testament and Psalms. One was sticking out of my shirt pocket and the young woman asked if it were a dictionary. I think she wanted a copy. "No," I replied, “It’s a copy of the New Testament, a book of Christian Scripture.”

Well…that generated a blank look. So I asked if they were Buddhists. They said their parents were but that they weren’t believers. Then the woman said, “Can you explain it, tell us about it?”

Have you ever tried to explain Christianity to someone who knows absolutely nothing about it, nothing of Jesus Christ and His saving work? Where to begin to tell these two well-intentioned people about our faith? I suppose I could have started with Abraham and Moses and David, but that would take hours.

For some reason, maybe because it was Christmas, I instead went back to Nazareth, to the greatest event in human history, to that day when Mary gave her consent to God to become His Mother.

After brief stops in Nazareth and Bethlehem, I went on, struggling to tell them something of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, something of the Gospel and the gift of faith. I told them of the Holy Spirit, and about the universal, Catholic Church founded by Jesus, and its mission to make disciples of all nations, even Taiwan.

But throughout it all, I found myself coming back to Mary, the Mother of God, this unique woman who always points to Jesus and by doing so has inspired and brought faith to so many; for she is humanity’s greatest advocate. Throughout her life, again and again, she pondered in her heart the mysteries of the Incarnation; and as St. John reminds us, in total faith and remarkable strength of character, “She stood by the Cross of Jesus” [Jn 19:25].

Yes, her life of faith, fullness of grace, and perfect discipleship is bracketed by two miraculous events, two of God’s gifts to Mary and to all of humanity.

Her life on earth began with the Immaculate Conception, when she was brought into being with a perfect, sinless soul – for the vessel that will carry and nourish our divine Savior must be perfect.

And that earthly life ended with the Assumption, when her body too was brought into perfection, into God’s heavenly presence. After all, how can this body, this body that gave flesh and blood to God Incarnate…how can this body suffer corruption?

Telling all this to my young Taiwanese couple while struggling to eat with chopsticks is no easy task. And so to reward me they bought me a beer. I repaid them by giving them my New Testament. As I left them I hoped that my weak attempt at evangelization might have yielded some fruit. But that’s the Holy Spirit’s job.

Later, walking back to the ship through a soaking rain, I remembered that I had used a holy card as a bookmark in that little New Testament. On one side was that beautiful painting of the Assumption by Titian, a painting that hangs today in the Frari Basilica in Venice. On the other were the words of the Magnificat, Mary’s prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

Titian's Assumption behind the Frari's Main Altar (Venice)

Yes, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – today’s solemnity.

Although the Assumption wasn’t officially declared a dogma of faith until 1950 by Pope Pius XII, it was a common and accepted belief within the entire Church for centuries. Indeed, we find homilies on the Assumption, or the “Dormition” as it is often called in the Eastern Church, dating to the fifth century.

The Assumption celebrates Mary’s singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection by which she was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory when the course of her life was finished. Why did God do this for her? With partial understanding, we can say that Christ has a unique relationship with the body and soul of Mary, for her body held the Incarnate Body of God Himself.  And so, when her life on earth ended, God glorified Mary, both body and soul.

We see implications of this in our first reading, from the Book of Revelation, where Mary is seen as the "woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" [Rev 12:1] – as one who is above all of creation. She’s also depicted as a mother, which she is, many times over: Mother of God, Mother of the Church, Mother of us all.

But as a disciple of Jesus Christ, she’s also our Sister. And as the perfect disciple, she’s our model, our model of how to live the Christian life, our model of faith and hope. She is among "the first-fruits" [1 Cor 15:20] that Paul refers to, the first-fruits of "all who are called to belong to Jesus" [Rom 1:6] and who share in His triumph. 

We see her in her role as disciple most clearly in today’s Gospel passage from Luke. What a remarkable scene! The young Mary, now Mother of the Incarnate God, is told by Gabriel of her aged cousin’s pregnancy; and in a humble act of love, she leaves in haste and makes the difficult journey from Galilee to Judea to visit Elizabeth.

Yes, Mary is a true disciple, a fact that Elizabeth points out when she greets her: “Most blessed are you among women...”  An inspired Elizabeth, recognizing who has come to visit her, continued, “…and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” [Lk 1:42-43] But the Spirit’s not through, for John leaped in Elizabeth’s womb at Mary’s greeting.

Mary acknowledged the divine grace that filled the whole scene: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior” [Lk 1:46-47]. All three, Mary, Elizabeth and John, greeted one another filled with the Holy Spirit, and filled too with thanksgiving and joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of God's promise to give a Savior to all of creation.

How fitting a reminder to us today that Jesus Christ was greeted first by a baby in the womb, an unborn infant who pointed to His coming as the Holy Spirit revealed the presence of the King to be born. This is the power of the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, the gift that enables us to know and experience the indwelling presence of God and the power of his kingdom. The Holy Spirit is the way in which God reigns within each of us. And so Mary, filled with the Spirit and full of grace, joyfully receives the gift of God’s presence.

From this you and I learn that God visits us in the everyday experiences of our lives, encounters steeped in God’s love. We also come to realize that God remains with us in all our human activities, for He is the presence that holds us up. As St. Paul reminds us, “In Him we live and move and have our being” [Acts 17:28].

And it is through these divine encounters, these everyday meetings with God and His people, that we are saved by God’s tender mercies. As our model of faith and hope, Mary shows us all this and more. She accepted her mission with uncompromising faith and obedience. She acted with unwavering trust because she believed that God would fulfill the Word He had spoken.

Her great hymn of praise proclaims the favor of the Lord: He has "lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things” [Lk 1:52-53]. And He does so through us. The Holy Spirit is ever ready to renew faith and hope in God's promises and to make us strong in love for God and our neighbor. Yes, Mary is our model in this too, especially in this age of violence and hatred, an age that celebrates the culture of death.

Let us, like Mary, be the vessels that carry God’s love, God's life into the world. For her Son came that we “might have life and have it more abundantly” [Jn 10:10].

Let’s thank Mary, our Mother, for her fiat, for her acceptance of God’s presence within her, so that today, through the Holy Spirit, we too might receive within us the Body and Blood of her Son, all for the Glory of the Father.

Immaculate Conception: History of the Doctrine

A lot of people -- and not just Protestants, but many Catholics as well -- seem not to understand the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception and its history. Because it was pronounced and defined only in the 19th century by Pope Pius IX (1854), many believe it had no previous history and simply sprang to life from the mind of this pope. In truth it had a long history dating back to the earliest days of the Church.

The following video, by Dr. Mark Miravalle, Professor of Theology and Mariology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, provides some excellent insight into the development of this doctrine of the Catholic Church.

Our family, by the way, has an especially close connection to the Immaculate Conception which is celbrated tomorrow, December 8. My lovely wife, Diane, and our younger son, Brendan, share this wonderful day as their birthday.

Mary Immaculate, pray for us.

Homily: Immaculate Conception

Readings:  Gn 3:9-15, 20; Ps 98; Eph 1:3-6,11-12; Lk 1:26-38
______________________

The Advent liturgy is dominated by three captivating persons, three persons who prepare in different ways for the coming of the Savior. The first is the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah represents Israel’s yearning for her messianic king. He does this by preaching God’s message of redemption, preparing God’s people for His coming, urging them, even in exile, to be a people of hope.

The second Advent figure is John the Baptist, the Messiah’s messenger and herald. But John seems a bit puzzled. John recognizes Jesus for who He is, but doesn’t quite know what to make of Him. Will He be a King, a social reformer? John doesn’t seem quite sure. But John does know one thing: with Jesus’ arrival, his own mission is complete.

The third dominant person of Advent is Mary, the young woman from Nazareth. It’s especially fitting that right now, in the midst of Advent, we should celebrate Mary’s Feast, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. For God prepared Mary for the Savior’s coming from the very moment of her conception. He made her sinless in every way – no original sin, no actual sin.

“Mary, full of grace” the angel exclaims, and that’s exactly what he meant. Mary is literally full of God’s grace, so full there is no room for any sin within her. And how could it be otherwise? For God incarnate must enter the world via a spotless vessel, born of woman but a woman without sin.

In the Magnificat, Mary’s beautiful hymn of praise, she gives thanks for this remarkable honor: “…He has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.”

Here Mary teaches us how to celebrate Advent. Mary is the perfect Advent figure because the mother of Jesus is history’s most remarkable model of a world’s waiting for its Redeemer. She reveals, more than anyone else, how the Christian should wait for Christ, and she shows us how to wait for Him in all His comings.

First, she waits for Christ’s first coming. Like every other pious Jew, she hoped against hope, wondering, questioning: “Are you he who is to come, or should we look for another?” But Mary did more than that. She waited for the Christ as no one else ever waited, for the One she waited for was within her. What did the angel tell her? “You shall conceive and bear a son…the Son of the Most High.” Mary agrees: “Let it be done to me according to your word.”

And with this, Jesus is not simply in her thoughts and hopes, in her prayers and yearnings. He is in her flesh. His flesh is her flesh. Hers is His. She waits only to see His face and offer Him to the world. Oh, yes, it was a very special sort of waiting: her Savior within her; her Savior growing from her; her Savior born into the poverty of the stable through her.

Mary also shows us how to wait for Christ’s second coming, for she was the first of Jesus’ disciples, the very model discipleship. She wasn’t one of the Twelve, but she lived discipleship to the fullest. Jesus told us clearly what it means to be a disciple: “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother…the ones who listen to the word of God and act on it.” And this is Mary: she who hears God’s word and does it. We see it throughout Luke’s gospel.

What does she do after the annunciation? Visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who was with child. Elizabeth was old and needed the help of her young relative. Mary’s first act as Jesus’ mother is to carry him, not for herself, but for someone in need. No wonder that when Mary greeted Elizabeth, John the Baptist leaped for joy in Elizabeth’s womb.

Mary, the perfect disciple, follows Jesus. She is blessed, not only because she bore God’s Son, but also because she is the prime example of those who listen to the word of God and keep it. She follows Jesus all the way to the cross and beyond. She remains faithful even after her Son’s death, listening to the Lord, praying with the eleven, waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Mary also shows us how to wait for another of Christ’s comings – his constant coming each day. Christ comes to us today, not in glory, but in helplessness. Just as He came to Mary as a powerless infant, Jesus comes to us in the hungry and thirsty, in the stranger, in the lonely, in the sick and dying, in the confused and troubled, in the addicted and the imprisoned.

Once again, in the Magnificat she sings that God “has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty…for he has remembered his promise of mercy.”

The trouble is, God feeds the hungry not with miraculous manna from heaven, but through us. The hungers of the human race cry out to us: hunger for bread, hunger for justice, hunger for love, hunger for truth, hunger for God. Their cry is not just a human cry; it is God’s word to us. 

I can’t tell you what God is calling you as an individual to do, for God works differently through each of us. I can tell you only that He is not telling you to do nothing. He speaks to each of us constantly, but we are Jesus’ disciples, in imitation of Mary, only if we listen to his word and act on it.

This is what Advent is all about – not just waiting for Christ, but recognizing His coming and doing something about it. This kind of discipleship is not without cost. “A sword shall pierce your heart,” Mary was told. And so shall it pierce the heart of every true disciple. But like Mary we can take comfort in God’s presence within us. As Jesus told us, if we love Him and keep His word, His Father will love us and they will come and make their home with us.

Christ within us. Christ all around us. Christ leading us. We need only murmur with Mary, “Whatever you say, Lord,” and then do it.