Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Cycle C
August 15, 2013 6:30
and 8:30
Saint
Margaret Parish, Bel Air
The Old Guide
There
is a story about a man and his young son who went on a camping trip to the
mountains.
They
hired an experienced old guide, a Native American, who led them into areas that
they would never have found on their own.
He was always pointing out beautiful little sights that most hikers
would have missed.
The
young son was fascinated by the guide’s ability to see so much in the
surroundings. One day he said to this Native
American, “I’ll bet that you can see God
out there.”
The old
guide smiled and replied, “Son, as life
goes on it’s getting hard for me to see anything but God out there.”
Mary Saw God
That
wise, old guide helps us to appreciate why we are honoring Mary today.
Mary
saw God everywhere in her life. For
example, she saw God at work in her bringing this special child into the world.
Mary
did not really understand this, but she still saw the greatness and mystery of
God at work. In today’s first reading
from Revelation, the inspired writer has a vision of a woman and a child being
saved from a dragon.
The
passage is understood as referring to Mary and Jesus. The vision sees God as stronger and as winning
out over the forces of evil and death.
The
vision tells us that what we sometimes see as great and strong – symbolized in
the dragon – may not be so in God’s eyes.
In the gospel, Mary shows that she sees things in the same way as this
vision.
Mary
sees God’s ways as sometimes the reverse of our ways. She sees God as lifting up the lowly and filling
the hungry and being especially present to the humble.
In
other words, Mary sees God and the forces of life and goodness as winning out
over the forces of death and evil.
Conclusion
So,
like the old guide in the forest, Mary sees God everywhere.
She
sees not as we humans are sometimes inclined to see, but as God sees. This is what makes her a holy person, the
holiest of all human beings.
It is
because of this that we believe that Mary came to the fullness of life with
God, to resurrection right at the final moment of her life on earth. This is what the Assumption of Mary is all
about.
It is
why we honor her today.
