Homily for the Feast of the Assumption August 15, 2021

 Homily for the Feast of the Assumption     August 15, 2021

 

          Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.   I will be giving you a sermon rather than a homily.  For those who care about such liturgical trivia, a homily is a faith reflection on the readings from Scripture, whereas a sermon is a presentation on a dogma or teaching or a particular saint or some such thing.

          What is the Assumption of Mary all about, and why should we care?  Let us look at the official definition of the Assumption of Mary as promulgated by Pope Pius XII on Nov 1, 1950, which is in the life-time of a few of you here.  I was here, but "in utero" as they say.

          Pope Pius argued thus: “All these arguments and consideration of the Holy Fathers and of the theologians are based on the Holy Scriptures as their ultimate foundation, which indeed place before us as though before our eyes the loving Mother of God as most closely joined with her divine Son, and as ever sharing His lot.  Therefore, it seems almost impossible to think of her who conceived Christ, bore Him, nourished Him with her milk, held Him in her arms, and pressed Him to her breast, as separated from Him after this earthly life in the body, even though not in soul.  Since our Redeemer is the Son of Mary, surely, as the most perfect observer of divine law, He could not refuse to honor, in addition to His Eternal Father, His most beloved Mother also.  And, since He could adorn her with so great a gift as to keep her unharmed by the corruption of the tomb, it must be believed that He actually did this.”

          Let’s take this apart a bit to examine it more closely.  Notice how the Pope argues.  Since Jesus and Mary were so close on earth, and since Jesus is a good Son, and since as God He could do this for His Mother, then certainly, clearly, absolutely, Jesus must have done this for Mary. 

          Pope Pius here is not arguing from his head, but rather from his heart.  Jesus loved His Mother, and He could do this favor for her, so obviously He must have done it. This is the logic of emotions, of relationship, and of love.  It is not strictly logical, but rather truly human.  What loving, devoted, good son would not do this for his mother if he could?  And since Jesus loved His mother perfectly, and since as God He could do this, obviously He must have done it.    

          Our Catholic faith depends not only on the logic of the head, but also the realities of the heart.  Therefore, in celebrating the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we recognize and validate the force of emotion and love in the divine plan.  That is Good News, for Jesus not only loves His Mother, but all of us as well.  Jesus loves you, and Jesus loves me.  And so Jesus reacts to us not solely on an intellectual basis, not only on some scientific or mathematical calculation of merit, but also strongly on the emotional bonds between us.  And Pope Pius XII shows us that in the declaration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

          As I said at the beginning, this Doctrine was proclaimed on Nov. 1, 1950, which is rather recent in Church history.  This is a doctrine with a long history, but only recently declared.  So, the question arises as to why, at that point in history, was this doctrine proclaimed? 

          The English author, Graham Greene – who wrote the novel “The Sorrow and the Pity”, wrote an article in the British Catholic publication “The Tablet” that appeared on February 3, 1951, just a few months after the proclamation of the doctrine of the Assumption.  Graham Greene asks why, at this time, should the doctrine of the Assumption be proclaimed?  There was no heresy or effort to deny the doctrine so that it needed to be defended. 

THREE                THREE                THREE                August 15, 2021

           But Graham Greene, as an artist in touch with the mood and feeling and zeitgeist of his day, makes an interesting and valuable observation.  He wrote: “Catholics today cannot remain quite untouched by the general heresy of our time, the unimportance of the individual.  Today the human body is regarded as expendable material, something to be eliminated wholesale by the atom bomb, a kind of anonymous carrion.  After the First World War crosses marked the places where the dead lay, Allied and enemy:  Lights burned continually in the capitals of Europe over the graves of the unknown warriors.  But no crosses today mark the common graves into which the dead of London and Berlin were shoveled, and Hiroshima’s memorial is the outline of a body photographed by the heat flash on asphalt.  The definition of the Assumption proclaims again the doctrine of our Resurrection, the eternal destiny of each human body, and again it is the history of Mary with maintains the doctrine in its clarity.  The Resurrection of Christ can be regarded as the Resurrection of a God, but the Resurrection of Mary foreshadows the Resurrection of each one of us.”

          Graham Greene makes a good point.  As we celebrate today the Assumption of Mary, we are not only happy for her, but we see in her what we hope for as the final destiny of every one of us: the fullness of life in the fullness of our being, body and soul. And that is something to celebrate.  God bless!