The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”
Those words, spoken by St. Elizabeth to Mary, summarize what is so important about celebrating the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary’s faith, to me, is remarkable. She could never have known where doing the Lord’s will would take her. An unplanned pregnancy, watching opposition toward her son grow, seeing him die on the cross. How could she have said yes to all of that? But she didn’t have to say yes to that, she had to say yes to God, to God in whose promises she trusted with all her heart.
This humble girl, with great faith, was raised on this day to the heights of heaven that we can yet hope for. Just like Mary, a lot of us have to live lives that are imperfect in some ways. There are those among us who have unplanned pregnancies. There are those among us whose children go in directions that put them in danger. There are those among us who have to watch a child die. But because Mary suffered these sorrows too, and yet was exalted, we can hope for the day when that which she was given and which we have been promised will surely be ours.
What the Assumption means for us is that as Mary has gone to exaltation before us, so we can hope for exaltation on that Great Day. We too are called to believe that what is spoken to us by the Lord will be fulfilled.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Today's readings:Zechariah 2:14-17, Luke 1:46-55, Matthew 12:46-50
Today's feast [more] The Carmelite Order
In the twelfth century, some hermits lived on Mount Carmel in what is now northern Israel. This was located near the fountain of Elijah. By the thirteenth century, some called these hermits the “Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.” This rings especially true with our Gospel reading today, in which Jesus tells us that whoever does the will of the Father is “brother, and sister, and mother” to him.
This feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the traditional date in the year 1251 in which Our Lady gave the scapular to Saint Simon Stock, a leader of the Carmelites at the time. He promoted the devotion to the scapular and so the Carmelites have been particularly connected with the Blessed Virgin ever since, and in fact, they played a prominent role in encouraging devotion to our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.
In addition to Our Lady, the Carmelites are particularly connected to the prophet Elijah, who on Mount Carmel was able to embarrass the prophets of the so-called god Baal, later putting them to death, all four hundred or so of them! This particularly enraged the queen Jezebel, whose determination to kill Elijah in retaliation was thwarted by the Lord, vindicating Elijah’s actions and confirming that Baal was no god at all.
And so, as the Carmelites give witness, we are all called to be brother and sister and mother to Jesus by devoting ourselves to following God’s will, and imploring the intercession of the Blessed Virgin for all of our endeavors and plans. The Almighty has truly done great things for all of us, and holy is his Name.
Sphere: Related ContentMay Crowning
Today's Readings: Acts 1:12-14, John 19:25-27
[Mass for the school children.]
There is a prayer, the “Hail Mary” that we say all the time. How many of you know it, boys and girls? Since we are crowning Mary today, I thought it might be a good thing to talk about that wonderful prayer and what it means, because just like every familiar prayer, we can sometimes forget what it means when we say it so often.
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee…”
Mary never thought she was great all by herself. She always knew that it was because the Lord had chosen her and that the Lord had given her his grace, his help, that she could live a holy life and be the mother of Jesus.
“blessed art thou among women…”
Because Mary was holy, she is able to help all women to lead a holy life. When they follow her as mothers or even as women of faith, they have a wonderful role model. She was the first of all the apostles, the queen of the apostles, and that was because of her faith. She is an example for all women, and really all people of faith.
“and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
Mary was the first earthly temple that Jesus was to be in. Because of God’s grace and her faith, she was the perfect home for Jesus to be born in. And she said yes to that, even though she wasn’t sure how it would happen or what it would mean. She was faithful to God by saying “yes.”
“Holy Mary, Mother of God…”
It almost seems weird for us to say that Mary could ever be the mother of God. But Jesus was just as much a human as he was God. Every human has a mother, and so Mary is the human mother of Jesus who is God and man.
“pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
This is what makes us celebrate Mary today. She is not just the mother of Jesus. She is also the mother of John, the “favorite disciple” in our Gospel reading today. And she is also the mother of you and me, Jesus’ “favorite disciples” today. Just like every other good mother, Mary prays for all of her children, including you and me, all the time – now and at the hour of our death.
Sometimes we forget how important familiar prayers are. They say a lot, though, about what we believe. The “Hail Mary” says everything about why we crown Mary as Queen of the Apostles, Queen of the Church, and Queen of Heaven and Earth today. She was faithful, she said yes to God’s will, she prays for us all the time. Mary is the mother of all of us, and as we come close to Mother’s Day, it is so appropriate that we give Mary the gift of our love and devotion today.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Annunciation of the Lord
Fear keeps us from doing all sorts of things the Lord wants for us. If we would truly let go of our fear and cling to our God, just imagine what he could do in us and through us. Ahaz was King of Israel, a mighty commander, but yet was so afraid of God and what God might do that he refused to ask for a sign. He would prefer to cut himself off from God rather than give himself over to the amazing power of God's presence in his life. Because of that perhaps, he never lived to see the greatness of God's glory.
But that did not disrupt the promise. In the fullness of time, God's messenger came to a young woman named Mary and proposed to accomplish in her life the sign that Ahaz was too afraid to ask for. She too was initially afraid, pondering what sort of greeting this was. She was also confused, not knowing how what the angel proclaimed could possibly take place in her life.
The difference, though, was that she heeded the initial words of the angel that have resounded through Salvation history ever since: "Be not afraid." And, thanks be to God, Mary abandoned her fear and instead sang her fiat, her great "yes" to God's plan for her, and for all of us. "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." These words are reminiscent of what the Psalmist sings today: "Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will."
And we know what happened from there. Mary certainly wasn't confident that any of that could be accomplished through her own efforts, but she absolutely knew that God could do whatever he undertook. Nothing would be impossible for God, and she trusted in that, and because of that, we have the great hope of our salvation. We owe so much to Mary's cooperation with God's plan for our salvation.
And so the promise comes to us. We have the great sign that Ahaz was afraid of but Mary rejoiced in. We too are told that God can accomplish much in our own lives, if we would abandon our fears and cling to the hope of God's presence in our lives. Can we too be the handmaids of the Lord? Are we bold enough to say, "Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will?" All we have to remember is the first thing the angel said to Mary: "Be not afraid."
Sphere: Related ContentMary, the Mother of God
Today, on the Octave day of Christmas, we have an opportunity on this Christmas Day to pause and celebrate Mary, the mother of God. This solemnity is a special one for us as Catholics because people for a long time argued over whether Mary, a human being, could possibly be the mother of Jesus, who is God. Eventually, the Holy Spirit led the Church to realize that downplaying Mary’s role in all of this really downplays Jesus’ divinity, which is totally wrong. To say that Mary is not the Mother of God is, in some way, to say that Jesus is not God, and that’s not what we believe. So, for centuries the Church has taught that “Mary is the Mother of God the Word according to his human nature.”
I had to memorize that line in my second year of seminary, and I’ll never forget it. Basically, there are two parts. Mary is the Mother of God the Word: Mary, chosen from all eternity to be a virgin inviolate and a fit Mother for God, is blessed by conceiving the only Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Calling Jesus “God the Word” in this definition takes us to the opening verses of the Gospel of John which tells us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” The Word is traditionally believed to be the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
The second part of the definition asserts that Mary is the Mother of Jesus according to his human nature. We know that Jesus was both human and divine, and both natures coexisted in Jesus Christ without any diminishment of either nature at the expense of the other. We also know that only God himself could beget God the Word, but it would have to take a human woman, a very special human woman, to be the mother of his human nature. Jesus is one in being with the Father, as we pray in the Creed, but he is also one in being with us through Mary, in his human nature.
St. Paul tells us today that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters.” Today we rejoice in Mary’s faith that God’s promises to the human race would be fulfilled through her. It is because of her faithfulness that God was born into our world in the person of Jesus Christ and became one of us, walking our walk, living our life, dying our death, and leading us to new life that lasts forever. If not for Mary’s fiat - her “yes” to God’s will for her - salvation history might have gone poorly. Thankfully, because of her great faith, we have adoption as sons and daughters of God.
Did Mary understand all of this when she said yes to God’s will when Gabriel came to announce the birth of Christ in her? Probably not. But she, as our Gospel tells us today, “kept all these things and reflected on them in her heart.” She was able to study the Gospel before it had ever been written, by reflecting on all the events surrounding the birth and life and death of her Son. And because of Mary, we can reflect on it all too, and rejoice that we are sons and daughters of God.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today, we celebrate not the Immaculate Conception of Jesus, but the Immaculate Conception of Mary, his mother, which celebrates the dogmatic belief that God loved the world so much that he sent his only Son to be our Savior, and gave to him a human mother who was chosen before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight. Of this wonderful church teaching, Pope Benedict says in his current encyclical, Spe Salvi:
With a hymn composed in the eighth or ninth century, thus for over a thousand years, the Church has greeted Mary, the Mother of God, as “Star of the Sea”: Ave maris stella. Human life is a journey. Towards what destination? How do we find the way? Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, often dark and stormy, a voyage in which we watch for the stars that indicate the route. The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history. But to reach him we also need lights close by-people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way. Who more than Mary could be a star of hope for us? With her “yes” she opened the door of our world to God himself; she became the living Ark of the Covenant, in whom God took flesh, became one of us, and pitched his tent among us (cf. Jn 1:14) (Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, 49).
Mary was chosen from the beginning to be the Star of Hope, the one who lived within this present moment to be a part of God’s plan to bring the world to salvation. And if anyone had the right to live outside the present moment, it would have had to be Mary. How many would react at age 14 with faith when confronted by the prospect of unplanned pregnancy under circumstances that were, at best, murky? If she got caught up in thinking how she would explain this to her parents, loved ones, friends, neighbors, and certainly her fiancé, we would have to understand that reaction, wouldn’t we? If she got stuck in thinking about how this would negatively impact her life and the plans that she had, we would surely know her pain.
But she didn’t. She was brought body and soul into God’s plan for the world and in a moment, expressed her faith - her fiat - and never looked back. She didn’t think about what was coming her way, or what tomorrow would look like, or who would take care of her if Joseph left her, or what the people at synagogue would think. She got caught up instead in the present moment, and with simple faith said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”
That fiat - that living in the present moment - made Mary the Star of Hope for all of us. God used that fiat moment of faith to burst into a world darkened by sin and overtake the gloom with the bright light of his love. Just like a light shining in darkness, Mary became a light in the darkness of a world bogged down in death, leading us to the Light of Grace, the Light of the World, the Salvation of us all.
Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin because the Star of Hope had to be bright enough so that she could let the Light of the World shine through. God selected Mary from the beginning and gave her a taste in salvific grace so that we could all see the light of what is to come for all of us one day.
One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Mary, Did You Know?” If you don’t know it, go out and find a recording of it today. The lyrics are so incredibly touching, and they express a lot what we believe about Mary. Here’s a sample:
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy
has come to make you new;
the child that you delivered
will soon deliver you?
But I have one quarrel with the theology. That last line: “the child that you delivered will soon deliver you” is wrong based on the theology of today’s feast. The feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates that Mary has already been delivered by the death and resurrection of Christ - before those things ever happened - and makes possible that all of us will soon be delivered. That’s okay, I’ll still listen to the song anyway!
And I’ll still listen to the song because it reminds me that Mary’s simple act of faith, her living in the present moment, was a burst of joy to a world that had been starved of it. I was at a workshop on Wednesday in which the presenter said, “Without Mary’s act of faith, salvation history might have gone poorly.” But thanks be to God, we won’t ever have to know a history like that, and we can look to Mary, the Star of Hope, to lead us to the great Light of the World.
Loving Mother of God, Star of Hope, Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us.
Sphere: Related ContentMary, Did You Know?
Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today's readings | Today's feast
The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been celebrated since at least the sixth century. This is not a historical feast, of course, and the date was chosen to correspond to the beginning of the Church year in the Eastern Church. The date of her birth also helped to determine the date of the Immaculate Conception - on December 8, nine months prior to today.
We don't have any historical account of the birth of Mary for several reasons. First, births were not recorded at that time very well, in fact we don't have an accurate date for the birth of Jesus. And second, no one would have known at the time of Mary's birth her significance in God's plan for salvation. But that significance does come to light prominently in the tradition that has grown up around her birth. It is said that Mary's parents, Joachim and Anne, are infertile, and they pray for a child. They receive the promise of a daughter who would be central to the salvation of the world.
Every single birth is a sign of hope in our world, and therefore a cause for great celebration. Even though the world may be in a bad place, and dark from sin, birth brings joy because it is a sign of God's wanting the world to continue to bring salvation to all people. Mary's birth stands out prominently among us because of the grace she received from God who chose her to be mother of His Son.
The Byzantine Church Daily Worship proclaims well the joy that we have on this feast of Mary's birth: "Today the barren Anna claps her hands for joy, the earth radiates with light, kings sing their happiness, priests enjoy every blessing, the entire universe rejoices, for she who is queen and the Father's immaculate bride buds forth from the stem of Jesse."
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today's readings | Today's feast
This feast is one of the reasons I love the Blessed Virgin. Having given her fiat - her "yes" - to God, she now shows concern for her elder relative who is also with child. She goes to visit her in a great act of hospitality, which is one of the virtues Paul admonished the Romans to follow in our first reading today. Perhaps because of her faith and her great concern for Elizabeth, Elizabeth's own child begins to rejoice in the womb, recognizing his Lord and the great woman who would bring him to human life.
While we don't have an exact account of what happened at that visit, we do have the Church's recollection of its spirit, as told through Luke the Evangelist. The whole feeling of this Gospel story is one of great joy. Both Elizabeth and Mary represent the Church in the telling of the story. Because just as Elizabeth was moved by the faith and generosity of Mary, so the Church continues to be edified by her example of faith and charity. And just as Mary rejoiced in what God was doing in her life, so the Church continues to rejoice at the mighty acts of God in every person, time and place.
The Gospel reading ends with the great song called the Magnificat which is Mary's song of praise to God for the wonders he has done throughout all time, but also in her own life. We too should make that our own song as we continue to be overjoyed by the great acts of God, shepherding us all through our own lives, and intervening in our world and society to bring grace to a world darkened by sin. We, too, can pray with Mary, "From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name."
Sphere: Related ContentSolemnity of the Annunciation
Today's Readings | Today's Feast
"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Today, we celebrate one of the most critical feasts in all of Christian history. In fact, it might be the critical feast. Without the Annunciation, there could never have been a Christmas. Without the Annunciation, there never could have been a Good Friday or an Easter. The faithfulness of Mary, even as a very young girl, is such an inspirational event. Nobody had ever given birth to God before, so she obviously had no frame of reference, yet, she is very firm in her fiat - her decision to exercise her faith: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."
We too are called to that same kind of faith, because surely the glory of God is aching to be born in all of us. We are called to bring Christ's presence to every corner of our world, every place where we are. The prospects of that can be scary, because we too don't know what the implications of God's work in us will be. We may be called upon to feed the hungry, or clothe the naked, or visit the sick, or shelter the homeless, or any of the other corporal works of mercy. But do we have those resources? Maybe not, but we are called to be Christ in those situations anyway. We might respond as Mary did at first: "How can this be?" But ultimately, we must respond that we are the Lord's handmaids an accept the call with great faith.
Mary is our patron whenever we feel overwhelmed by the task. May we rely on her intercession to guide us through the dark pathways of the unknown. May we look to her for an example of faith. May we follow her great example and let the Lord be born in us too, so that our Incarnate Lord can be made manifest in our world yet again. May we, like Mary, cry out in faith, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."
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