August 15, 2024

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Revelations 11:19; 12:1-6, 10; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56

There was a man who was always right: just ask him. He was constantly telling people how great and smart he was, and complaining about everyone else, including and especially his wife. One day he was walking the family dog and as usual was going on about how great he was and complaining about his wife and everyone and everything else. The dog was so annoyed by his bragging and complaining that it bit the man so hard on the leg that he needed to be admitted to the hospital.

After Mass that weekend, people gathered around to speak to the wife. The priest noticed that she would nod her head to all the men that spoke to her and shake her head to all the women. Afterwards he spoke to her: “Why did you nod your head to the men and shake your head to the women?”

She replied: “The men all asked if my husband would make a full recovery, so I nodded my head yes and thanked them politely. The women all asked if the dog was for sale.”

We've all known people who were full of themselves, that always know why they are right and everyone else is wrong. Unfortunately, that describes all of us here at certain times, since all people do it to a greater or lesser extent. Hopefully we are on the less often part of the spectrum. While we reserve the names of egotist and narcissist to the very worst of those who are self-centered, we must admit that we all like our self-esteem stroked occasionally. However, with the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, we have the celebration of the crowning achievement of a woman who was the very opposite of this. The Church offers up this Marion feast as an example of how life should be lived by those who profess to be Christians and the rewards for doing so.

The prime example is in the Gospel, which contains that prayer that we call the Magnificat. At the beginning, Elizabeth is the speaker, and she praises both God, as the author of their blessings, as well as Mary, as a believer. But in the second part of the Gospel, Mary is the speaker, and she refuses to accept praise for herself. Instead she gives total and complete credit to God. Oh sure, she states that all generations will call her blessed, but that is because of what God has done and not to anything that she has done. She has nothing but praise for what God has done for both her and for the people, especially those lowly like herself.

How do we live out the example in our own lives that Mary provides? By talking about it? No. In the gospels, Mary is in many scenes, but she says very little. Other than today's Gospel reading and her acceptance of God's will in the visitation, Mary only speaks two other times, once at finding Jesus in the temple and then again at the wedding in Cana. At all other times, it was her presence that made the difference: during Jesus' childhood, at his crucifixion, at Pentecost. It was not by words but by actions, her mostly silent witness of her life as the first Christian.

Those of us above a certain age had the great fortune to know about a true saint that lived on this earth with us. Saint Mother Teresa was a woman who reminded me very much of what our Blessed Mother must have been like. Now, I know, Mother Teresa said quite a bit, but mostly because people asked her to speak and it forwarded her cause of helping the poor. But then I'm sure that Mary too said quite a bit more than is recorded in the New Testament, both in teaching the young Jesus and then again to the apostles who no doubt also came to her for advice once her Son had ascended into heaven. But Mother Teresa is not remembered so much for what she said as what she did: providing love to those who seemed not to have anyone to love them. In fact, if she had not done the things that she did, people would probably not remember what she said, and it would not have had the impact that it did. It was the actions that made people sit up and listen to what she had to say.

Mary physically bore Jesus and gave him to the world in Bethlehem, and then supported him throughout his life and even after his death. Mother Teresa spiritually bore Jesus in the world, bringing his message to those who needed it most, and in the process witnessing his message to the rest of us. Now Saints Mary and Mother Teresa turn to us and ask us: how are we bringing Jesus into the world? Not by talking about it, but in witnessing to his teachings by the example of our lives.

Saint Mother Teresa is reported to have told someone who asked her how he could do something great for God. She told him: “Mow the lawn.” She essentially told him what Mary is telling all of us by her life: she was assumed into heaven at the end of her life in celebration that she quietly and humbly went about her life, her ordinary everyday life, caring for her family, supporting them when they needed it, and witnessing to a humble service to God in all that she did. Hopefully it won’t take a bite on our leg to make us ask ourselves: do our actions speak louder than our words? And, if they do speak louder, what do they say about us?

As we celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist, let this communion make us one with Christ in a similar way to how Mary was one with Christ. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother and Saint Mother Teresa, may we find ways to bear witness to the Lord in all that we quietly do throughout our lives, including when we are just doing simple things like mowing the lawn. Then we will be the humble, lowly servants just as Mary was, that woman that Christ points to as our perfect example.