The Assumption of Mary is a sign of hope
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August, 2003
Fr Neville Connell
Assistant Priest, St Peter's, Eastern Hill
The Rev'd Tim Costello recently spoke at my Legacy Club luncheon, and opened his remarks by reflecting on the 'three ages of Man' we might say. The older generation, my generation, asks the question, "is there life after death?". The middle generation, post-WWII, asks, "Is there life tomorrow?" The present, young generation, asks the question,"Is there life tonight?"
This latter understanding of their destiny does not look very far into the future. Fortunately, it is not entirely like that in reality. Some of our young people do save and plan for the future.
But what sort of future? What is the future around which young and not so young people plan and build their hopes today? One which they can control, I notice, or at least want to control. A member of my family once said to me that he wanted to control his destiny. I pointed out that he could not do that; further, as people try to do that, others get hurt in the process. How would it be if we all tried to control our destinies? Chaos would reign.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which we celebrate tonight, is a Feast about destiny, focussing on God's promise to his people. In today's Gospel Reading, (Luke 1:39-56), Mary says, "He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy according to the promise he made to our ancestors – of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever."
St Paul stresses that we who are the people of Jesus are those descendants. The Assumption is an expression of the Church's faith in life after death, in the life of Heaven, as the purpose, the fulfilment of human life on earth.
In our Second Reading, (1 Corinthians 15:20-26), St Paul says, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep". This is fundamental to the fulfilment of our destiny.
Jesus was born of Mary, whom we honour today. When he was raised to New Life, when he returned to the Father, Jesus took our human nature into the life of Heaven. Jesus, the first-fruits, received his heavenly body, the transformation of his earthly body, for the life of Heaven.
In this way Mary was take up, assumed into the life of Heaven, body and soul, to receive her body for the life of Heaven. Mary was fully human. Her Assumption is a sign of hope, a promise to all who follow Jesus.
Thus strengthened, enlivened by this hope which makes sense of our earthly lives, we heed the message of Mary's Magnificat in our Gospel Reading.
Our destinty is not the glorification or magnification of ourselves. Our destiny is to love our neighbours, to recognize, to exalt the lowly, to fill the hungry with good things.
To share our hope, to share God's promise that even though we must die to this earth one day, yet Jesus has broken, destroyed the barrier of death, on the Cross, so that with Our Lady, we may fulfil our destiny in the life of Heaven with God.
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