Why the Assumption Matters
Homily on the Solemnity of the Assumption – Luke 1 39-56 – 15 August 2024
In 1950, Pope Pius the XII proclaimed what the Church always believed, that “the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all guilt of original sin, on the completion of her earthly sojourn, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the universe.” (LG 59)
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a dogma of the Catholic Church meaning that it is “God’s absolute self-communication in the form of human truth” (Rahner) which defines us as Catholics. But why is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary so important? To answer that question we must look, as we do with all things, to Jesus.
Author John Maxwell, once wrote that “a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” His quote, though pithy, is nothing new. Jesus tells us in the Gospels, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) Jesus not only knows the way but is the way. Jesus also tells us no less than seventeen times in the Gospels to “Follow Me.” Jesus goes the way, and most importantly, shows us the way. St Peter affirms this when he writes that “Christ … [left us] an example that you should follow in his footsteps. (1 Peter 2:21)
With the assumption of Mary, Jesus who knows the way, shows us the way. He shows us what it means to truly love God and neighbor. He shows us our heavenly destiny. Never one to leave us stranded with an impossible task, Jesus also goes the way to give us the grace of His Mother, the Queen of the universe, to truly love as He loves. Jesus knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
First, Jesus shows us that we love God primarily by honoring that love with obedience to God’s command to honor our Fathers and Mothers, our families. In assuming the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus carries she, who carried Him in her womb, to stand with Him in heaven. He honors her above all.
How do you show your love for God? Jesus tells us,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37–39)
Jesus shows us the way. He acts with gracious love even when He does not have to. It is who He is. Following our Lord means that we too are obedient to the call to love, to “will the good of the other, without regard to what we get out of it.” Love is a decision. Obedience to Love is to love even we you don’t want to … or have to.
Second, in assuming the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lord shows us the depth of His love for every one of us. You heard in the first reading that; “The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God.” God does not want to see Mary, or anyone else suffer. Love always prepares room for others.
Shouldn’t we act with the same merciful love when we see another suffer? Perhaps they suffer from sickness, hunger, homelessness, or loneliness, a stranger in a strange land. We cannot stand silently to the side. The Lord will ask you at the final judgement; did you see me hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to my needs? “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” (Matthew 25:44–45) In the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Jesus gives us an example of merciful love. Shouldn’t we follow it?
Third, in assuming the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus shows us our destiny. Listen to the Psalm, “So shall the king desire your beauty; for he is your lord. They are borne in with gladness and joy; they enter the palace of the king.” (Psalm 45:12,16) God sees each soul ever created, from the moment of conception until natural death, as uniquely beautiful. In the Psalm today it does not say that “she” will be borne in with gladness and joy as she enters the palace of God’s Kingdom, but THEY will be borne in. Mary is one of the first in a long line of succession.
That God rescues us from death and gives us eternal life with Him in heaven is our hope. It is what brings joy to our heart amidst the worst suffering. Given this is our destiny, shouldn’t we want that joy for every human being? That is why we tell others about our Lord. Love leaves no one left behind. The Assumption is a call to evangelize. Jesus shows the way and goes the way.
Finally, in assuming Mary Jesus provides us a powerful heavenly advocate. It is Mary who notices that the wine in running out at the wedding at Canaan and intercedes for the couple with Jesus. It is of Mary that St Simeon declares, “(and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:35) Mary, the Queen of heaven, stands at Lord’s right hand, arrayed in gold advocating for each and every one of us.
Shouldn’t we constantly go to Mary in prayer asking for her intersession? She is simply waiting for us to ask. The king is waiting. As King Solomon replied to his mother, Bathsheba, so Jesus, King of all creation, promises His mother, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.” (1 Kings 2:20)
Today the Church rejoices and praises God because the mother of the Lord has entered triumphantly into heavenly glory. We join with Mary in declaring, “He who is mighty has done great things for me.” (Lk 1:49) Jesus knows the way, goes the way, and shows us the way of true love. For our part, love is obedient to God and merciful with our neighbor. We must set aside the language of recrimination and exclusion, that which divides, and speak the language of unity, which is by definition, love.
In the Assumption Jesus shows us of our own heavenly destiny and the need to call all to heaven. Finally, in Mary, the mother of the Church, we have access to the Queen of heaven. There is no greater intercessor! Mary sees and intercedes for us before we even ask. In the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus shows us the way to God, the way to heaven, the way to eternal life.
Mother Mary, “Turn, thine eyes of mercy towards us, and, after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!”
'19 Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother; so she sat at his right hand. 20 Then she said, “I desire one small petition of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”
21 So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”
22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my older brother—for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” 23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! 24 Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a house for me, as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!”25 So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died'
This example shows the opposite of what you intended for it to show. Solomon makes a promise to his mother and then discovers that he cannot keep it. She asks, foolishly, for what should never have been asked. And far from showing him honoring his mother, it shows him refusing her request. Perhaps he refused her with good reason, but this passage definitely doesn't inspire confidence in maternal intercession!
As our High Priest Intercessor, Jesus is our greatest intercessor. His intercession brings us His presence within us during our exile on this earth. If we don’t have it now, we won’t have it after our exile.