On the 15th August, the Church celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Feast of the Assumption sets before us the final act of Mary, the young Jewish girl from Nazareth, who gave Jesus to the world, and was spared death. A messenger from the Lord announced that she was to be the bearer of the Son of God to the world, and her response was: “Let it be according to your word.” We are inclined to forget that Mary had little idea of what faced her when she responded to God’s call. It was with faith and trust, but with little knowledge, that she kept going, seeking to discover the hand of God in what was happening around her. Mary’s natural obedience to God and reverence for his word showed her worthy to be the bearer of “the word made flesh.” As a woman with a human heart and human personality, she experienced all aspects of everyday life – its joys and its pains. We know of Mary’s journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was expecting a baby, and we know of her presence at the Cross. From Jesus’s birth to his death, Mary is present. In Mary we see the fullness of response we are asked to make to God in our lives. She recognized the greatness of God working through her: “The Almighty has done great things for me…” Her Assumption into heaven should inspire us to see the worth of making every effort to live life as fully as we can in obedience to God’s word, for Mary is a living symbol of what God calls us to be. As we journey on our own pilgrimage, Mary’s ministry of “presence” has much to teach us, as she points us forward to where we hope to be.
Almighty God, who looked upon the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary and chose her to be the mother of your only Son: grant that we who are redeemed by his blood may share with her in the glory of your eternal Kingdom: through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
With my love and prayers,
Chris Hardwick