How does this happen to me? Feast of the Assumption

And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 1:43

Piety

Mother of God, help us to imitate your divine affirmation – your Yes.

In giving birth, you kept your virginity. Despite your death, you never departed from your Mission and Motherhood of us all but rejoined the Source of all life to watch over us. Stay on guard for us today and always, interceding on our behalf every time we hail your holy name, Mamma Mary, full of grace, where the Lord first dwelled in humanity, in you.

Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us who are sinners, now and at the hour of our death that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Deliver us from evil and grant us peace today. Amen.

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/081506.shtml

The mighty God has done great things for us! He sent his Son, the Christ, to set the world and all creation ablaze with change to such an extent that His presence in the womb caused the infant in Elizabeth to leap with joy.

But to do that, he needed a disciple, worthy of carrying the King of Kings. So he turned to the handmaid of the lord, a lowly servant, Mary, a perfect creation, a model of obedience, who said, “Yes!” to life, to salvation and to redemption. Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.

With Jesus, everything changes. When Christ walked among us and now dwells within us, water changes to wine, the sick are healed, the blind see and the dead (Lazarus) come back to life. However, before Christ – in and through the Eucharist – could dwell within us, He had to dwell within Mary’s womb.

Mary, through her complete adherence to the Father’s will, cooperated fully with Jesus and how he changed the world. With Jesus, she formed the ultimate Group Reunion of infinite love and support. As such, she is the model of the Ideal talk to which we imperfectly aspire. She advises us to this day to "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5)

The Canticle of Mary in today’s Good News from St. Luke declares that message of change publicly.

The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation.He has shown the strength of his arm, and 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.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever. (Luke 1:49-55)

Mary is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world. She shines forth on earth until the end of time as a sign of hope and comfort to pilgrims on their daily journey of piety, study and action.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.[1] Therefore, as practical Catholics, we believe that Mary is wholly united with her son in birth and in life, in nurturing the Church and in her Assumption. “When the course of her earthly life was finished, she was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.”[2]

The Assumption that we celebrate in today’s Mass “is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.” Just as she conceived the living God, she will deliver our souls from death by her intercession with God.

Action

How does Mary come to us today? How does her faith, hope and obedience become real in our lives?

I imagine Mary has shed a few tears recently on our behalf as she remains involved with our redemption despite our far too frequent turn to the false promise of redemptive violence. http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2006c/081106/081106za.htm

As Queen of Peace, we celebrate her Assumption on a day when a fragile cease fire has begun to take hold in the Holy Land where she walked. I imagine that she is frustrated, like retired Cardinal McCarrick, visiting Lebanon earlier this month, at the slow progress of humanitarian aid to those in the midst of the war zone between Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel. “The world must do something.” http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/nt081106.htm

As a refugee in Egypt with Joseph and their infant son, she teaches us to welcome the stranger in our midst. I imagine she is hurt by the talk which would build fences between her children because her love and the love of her Son have no boundaries.

Invite Mary into your life today with a decade of the Sorrowful Mysteries. She shares in Christ’s anguish in the garden, the pain and suffering at being flogged at the pillar, the humility of the crown of thorns, the burden of the cross and the death by crucifixion. She met Him along the way and stood at the foot of the cross to behold us as her children. She will share your pains and comfort you like a mother.

[1] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02006b.htm
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 966