13th Sunday after Pentecost 19.8.18 Assumption of
Our Lady
During the week we celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of
Our Lady. This is a major event in our understanding of our faith.
The Assumption demonstrates the close link between obedience
and blessing.
Our Lady obeyed God always and to the fullest degree. As a
result she helped the human race recover Eden, not the natural beauty of Eden
before the Fall, but even better - this time through human responsiveness, the
original sinless state is restored.
Where sin is absent,
life abounds. All it needs for the human race to break through into a
better era is more obedience and compliance in our response.
Our Lady’s response is so perfect that it opens doors
previously jammed shut.
She is one person who has given the perfect response to God
at all times. Over all her life this has led to a profusion of blessings, most
of all the Incarnation of Christ.
Her being assumed body and soul into Heaven is her own
homecoming to her ‘true home’ (Ph 3,20)
It paves the way for the rest of us to follow. Heaven is our
true home also.
How we should long for it; work and strive for it; and how
we should have the confidence that it is the fulfilment of all our hopes.
With the benefit of faith we pursue a precise goal (the
attaining of Heaven) as opposed to random drifting, which is the only
alternative.
However, even if we have faith, we can still be so caught up
in earthly matters as to forget the glorious destiny that is promised us.
Mary stands before us, to keep us on track.
She beckons us to come to her. She is the end, and the means to the end. It is our destiny and hope to dwell with her
forever; she is the means to make this happen, the Mediatrix of all graces.
She encourages us to be more like herself, living our lives
in more complete union with the will of God.
In this world there is so much sadness and anguish, so much of
which is unnecessary, given that it is only sin which has brought all this
trouble upon us; and sin is the most unnecessary thing ever invented!
We are caught up in the turbulent after-effects of sin, even
if we did not sin ourselves.
We regret our own sin and that of the world. We would do anything
to remove it, and so rediscover Eden.
If we could just attach ourselves to Our Lady we will be
introduced into this new world, this place where there is no hurt or harm on all God's holy mountain. (Is 11,9)
It may seem distant at the moment but the more people join
in the wider the entrance becomes, and the more relief there is from all the suffering.
For this we strive, and we help it to happen.
We will feel peace immediately as we establish order in our
lives; we will have mastery over our own passions and desires - a big
breakthrough.
We enter heaven in two stages: by living in a state of grace
in this earthly life; and then by actually entering heaven at the end of our
lives.
We have Heaven upon earth insofar as we do live in God's
will. This is Eden rediscovered.
At both stages we have the help of Mary, inspiring and
helping us to live this life well; and then being there in Heaven to welcome us
when the journey is done.
We cannot do this on our own (cf epistle); we need grace. Our
Lady is ‘full of grace’ and distributes it to those who ask her… Holy Mary,
Mother of God, pray for us sinners…
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