Pastor’s Corner for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Year A, by Fr. Bruce Botha SJ
The Church celebrates Mary, taken body and soul into heaven. The prayers of the church make the point that the Assumption is an affirmation of our hope that all of us will one day be united with God. Jesus ascended to heaven, glorified body, and soul. His first disciple, his mother, was also taken up into heaven in the same way. The Church teaches that where the head has gone, the body will follow. Mary is the proof that the promise of Christ and the hope of the Church will one day be fulfilled in each of us.
Good Marian devotion always teaches us something deeper about our faith and always points us towards her son, Jesus. This solemnity of Mary teaches us something about the nature of life beyond death, something about our own eternal destiny.
The gospel reading of this solemnity tell us of the visit by Mary to her pregnant cousin, Elizabeth. After Elizabeth proclaims that Mary will be blessed forever because of she believed the promise that God made to her, Mary proclaims her Magnificat:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is might has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
Mary proclaims loudly and boldly that if she is blessed it is only because God has done great things for her. She uses her own “blessedness” to turn the focus on God. In true Marian fashion her life always points towards God’s power, God’s goodness. I think this is the truth behind Mary’s proclamation that her soul “magnifies the Lord.” A magnifying glass makes it easier for us to see the small things that we may not notice, the fine details of an object. Mary magnifies the action of the Lord, making visible his power, his love, his action. And so she is blessed.
Mary then gives us a path towards being blessed too, by allowing our lives to also magnify the Lord. When that happens, we will make visible God’s love, mercy, gentleness and compassion to the world. And we will be blessed.
Fr. Bruce Botha SJ