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The Assumption

Here we are at the 15^th of August  as we celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven. Our Gospel Reading for this feast  shows us that Mary’s faith found expression in prayer as she went to visit Elisabeth Our faith also finds its expression in prayer as we listen to the great evening hymn of praise and thanksgiving the Magnificat.  The Magnificat has occupied an important place in the Liturgy of the Church since the fourth century. The. canticle is taken from the Gospel of Luke (1:46-55) where the events of the Visitation of Mary to her kinswoman Elizabeth are recorded.

 Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist at the time, greeted Mary with the phrase “Blessed art thou amongst women,, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” Mary responded with this canticle. Every time  we pray the Magnificat we encounter a wonderful model of Christian spirituality in Mary our mother, who according to the Second Vatican Council is “a model of the Church in faith, charity, and perfect union with Christ” (Gaudium et Spes, 63). Mary’s faith expressed in the Magnificat reached out to others in love and it reached out to God in prayer. If our faith finds expression in love, it will also find expression in prayer. In her prayer, Mary comes before the Lord as his lowly servant, ready to receive from God all the great things that God wants to give. Mary teaches us that when we pray we always come before God with open hearts ready to receive all God has to offer us and there is so much on offer. Mary’s prayer also shows another side of her faith. It shows us that her faith is one  that hungers for God’s justice to become a reality on earth.

She speaks to us about a God who pulls down the mighty from their thrones and lifts up the lowly, she tells us about a God who works to fill the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty.  The Assumption celebrates Mary as one who not only shows us the glorious destiny that awaits us at the end of our life’s journey but also how we are to travel on that journey as disciples of the Lord. Mary Our Mother was  born to be the first and perfect disciple, unstained by Original Sin. We who want to be disciples of the Lord, look to her as our guide in this life, learning from her example especially that of faith in God and what he wanted her to do be the mother of his Son as well as the mother to all who share the catholic faith. The Assumption is God’s crowning of His work as Mary ends her earthly life and enters eternity.  The feast days of the Church are not just the commemoration of historical events; they do not look only to the past. They look to the present and to the future and give us an insight into our own The Assumption looks to eternity and gives us hope that we, too, will follow Our Lady to heaven when our life is ended.  So let us renew ourselves with Mary as we celebrate the  Assumption  as we pray the words of the Magnificat giving glory to God for all he has done for us.relationship with God.