ASSUMPTION OF THE B.V. MARY : Thursday 15th August 2024

The Assumption reveals Mary’s devout life. Luke’s gospel depicts Mary’s experience of a human encounter with the divine –  troubled when she hears the voice of the angel (Luke 1:29) as she does not understand why the angel would visit her.  Interestingly, unlike Eve who went into hiding when God asked them “where are you?” in Eden, Mary did not run or go into hiding. She continued to listen and engage with the angel. There is the progression of assuming the humility of being the handmaid of the Lord. After receiving the life changing news of bearing the Word into her innermost being, Mary does not sit back and prepare for the birth of her son, but instead, she arises and goes with haste into the hill country to see her cousin Elisabeth who is also pregnant. Mary, who is delighted to be carrying God within her, is also delighted in her cousin’s pregnancy. Such delight is a prefiguration of the Assumption, a sublime acceptance of mortality into immortality.

The Assumption of Mary illustrates not only who Mary is, but also who God is. Saint John Damascene (in 8th AD) assures us, “It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption, even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles.”

Lord, grant us the grace to appreciate Your work in us till our death.