The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; is one of three Marian feasts that are holy days of obligation requiring the faithful to attend Mass, unless, in the inexplicable thought of the U.S. bishops in 1991, it falls on a Saturday or Monday when I guess, it is a holy day of inconvenience,
on the same principle that one should not eat oysters except in months that end with ‘r.’ The other two Marian Feasts on which the faithful are obliged to attend Mass are The Immaculate Conception on December 8 and The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on New Year’s Day. Same silly exception.
This particular feast raises questions for many of the faithful and even more questions for the less-than-faithful and the terminally sophisticated skeptic.
The first question asks why we celebrate the Feast of Mary's Assumption.
Though decreed as dogma by Pius XII only in 1950, the feast has been observed
in both the Western and Eastern Churches since the 6th Century. Despite the early beginning of this observance, there is no scriptural basis--solid or otherwise--for Mary's Assumption, or what the Eastern Church calls The Dormition of Mary. A few passages of scripture are sometimes cited as indicative of the Assumption. But the explanations of how they suggest the Assumption involve intricate mental and scriptural gymnastics.
A second question considers the how. As tantalizing as it might be to explore
the biology and physics of the Assumption, the question is irrelevant. The significant question asks what this feast means and what the dogma of the Assumption teaches us.
The Feast of the Assumption points the way for all followers of Jesus who imitate Mary’s fidelity and her obedience to God’s will. . . it points the way for all who can repeat Mary’s yes at the Annunciation:
"Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum"
“May it be done unto me according to your word.”
Each of the readings is important to the feast.
The Book of Revelation is filled with fantastical, strange, and bizarre images
some of which will never be fully understood. I recently instructed and baptized
a professional colleague who converted to Catholicism. When he finished reading the Book of Revelation he sent a one-line email: “That is quite a book.”
The interpretations and identity of the woman in this passage are subject to heated debate. They range from those who say that these images indicate
Israel, the Church, Eve, Mary the Mother of God, all of the above, some of the above, or none of the above. Scripture scholar Adele Collins suggests that it is more important to see the woman’s destiny than it is to identify her. It is a good point.
Many artists have painted and sculpted the images in Revelation—at times with decidedly mixed results. One can clearly see the influence of this passage, in depictions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the only other feast on which we hear this reading.
Paul’s words both comfort and instruct us. We heard at the beginning of the reading “Just as in Adam all die so too in Christ shall all be brought to life.” And then at the end of the readings, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for he subjected everything under his feet.”
Death’s destruction was contingent on Mary and her reply to the angel. Mary’s obedience stands in sharp contrast to Eve’s disobedience. Eve’s infidelity to God’s will is trumped by Mary’s fidelity. Mary is both the antithesis of Eve and the new Eve, mother of us all.
Magnificat anima meo Dominum
Et exsultavit spiritus meus
in Deo salutaris meo.
"My soul proclaims
the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices
in God my savior."
There are lilies that must never be gilded. The Magnificat is one of them.
Mary’s prayer does not need grammatical dissection. or revisions that reflect contemporary mores.
The Magnificat calls for quietly holding the words in the depths of our souls,
particularly at the end of vespers, the hour that prepares us for the silence of the night, that time of darkness that is most fertile for prayer and contemplation. As we pray with Mary, as we magnify the Lord, and rejoice in God our savior,
we will once again recall that God has remembered—and will always remember—His promise of mercy.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
Sicut erat in principio,
et nunc, et semper,
et in sæcula sæculorum.
Amen.
_________________________
The photo is a statue of the BVM anchored in rock overlooking Cohasset Harbor in Cohasset, MA taken at the blue hour in mid-July a few years back.
+ Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
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