Today in the church we celebrate the feast of the
Assumption of the Blessed Mary. It is a great feast for us, because we are
celebrating the feast of our Heavenly Mother Marry. So we are so much glad and jubilant.
When we think about the assumption of Mary, it is good to know the history
behind the feast of the assumption. This feast was first celebrated in the Syriac
church. They started to celebrate it in the 5th century. This feast
is known under different names: dormition (falling asleep), sunoyo and transitus. The Syriac word sunoyo
means transference, meaning Mary has been taken up to heaven. According to
their believe Mary was the dwelling place of the Most High and in her personal
commitment she received the word of God with faith and kept it. After her death
and burial she was taken up to heaven by the Heavenly Father.
They also believed that the Immaculate Virgin Mary kept
her purity throughout her earthy life. And she was free from all stain of original
sin. So when Mary had completed her
mission on earth, she was taken into the Heaven by the Angels. And she
was exalted by God the Father as Queen over all things. So in 1950, 1st November, Pope Pius XII
declared the Assumption of Mary
to Heaven as an article of faith. Even though Mary is in heaven, in the company
of her son Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, and in the communion of
Angels and the Heavenly Hosts, she is very much concerned with her sons and
daughters on earth.
But when we come to the Bible, there is no explicit
reference to this believe. But in the Bible we see that after the Ascension of the Lord, Mary was
with the apostles to strengthen them. It was when she was praying with them in
the room upstairs on the day of the Pentecost, that they were anointed by the
Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14). Thus the Holy Mother was a witness to the first
Pentecost experience (Acts 2:1-4).
So we can clearly
say, Mary was the cause of blessing to the whole people on earth. And this
blessing made her the Queen of Heaven. She was made the Queen of the heaven
because of her total dedication to the will of God. This dedication made her
blessed. In the Gospel of John, Mary has been presented as the ‘New Eve’ that she
fully cooperated with the salvific mission of Jesus. The first woman of the Old
Testament committed sin. So the first couple and the serpent were punished by
God. But God had given Adam and Eve the hope of salvation. In the words of God
to the serpent, this is evident, “I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will
strike his heel” (Gen 3:15). There is an indication of a ‘woman’ here who will
give birth to the one who will strike the serpent’s head. It is Lord Jesus who will
strike the head of the serpent. So the mother of Jesus is the promised ‘woman’.
By sinning, Eve, the first woman, gave birth to the children of sin. Since the
second Eve was free from the Original Sin and all other sins, she became the
mother of all who are in divine grace, cooperating with Jesus. So she became a
blessing like Abraham, who was a blessing to the nation. She became blessing to God the Father, the Son, the
Apostles and to the humanity as a whole.
First
of all she was a blessing to God the Father. Mary could very well cooperate
with the God the Father in His salvation plan. God the Father specially
prepared her for giving birth to His Son, Jesus. She fully dedicated to His
plan by accepting and surrendering to the message of the Angel. In the magnificat she extols God for having
chosen her to be the Savior’s mother. In magnificat
Mary praises God, for making her a part in the salvation plan of God. For,
she knew that the birth of Jesus is the final stage of Salvation History. In
other words Mary realizes her call to take part in the service of Love of God. Thus
she became a blessing to God the Father.
Secondly
she became a blessing to Jesus. How she became a blessing to Jesus? We know
that apostles came to the life of Jesus only at the age of thirty, at public
life. Mary was with Jesus from the moment of birth and to death. She was
present with him at Cana to start his mission and she stood with him at Calvary
under the cross to conclude his mission.
So we can say that Mary played a crucial role in the birth, growth and later
the salvific mission of Jesus. Mary, as she was standing before the cross
suffering inexplicable pain and insult, exhibited greater courage than any
martyr in history. So she became
a blessing to Jesus.
Thirdly,
she became a blessing to the Apostles. It was Mary who prepared the Apostles to
receive the Holy Spirit. She prepared them for their mission in the absence of
Jesus. When the Apostles received the Holy Spirit she was present there
enlightening them and firming them in their faith. Thus she became a blessing
to Apostles.
Fourthly,
she became a blessing to the Church. She is always with the church in the
formation and growth of the church. It is she brought Holy Spirit to the Church
on the day of Pentecost. She is still a blessing to the Christians who are
belonging to the Church. Her numerous apparitions are signs that she still
cares about the Christians. Lourdes, Maggorie, Fatima, Veilankanni, etc. She
will be a blessing to generations. People flock to her places of apparitions
for favors and blessings
Dear
friends Mary through her life gives us a great model and she is the message for
us today. She, through her life gave us a great message. That is become
blessing to the community through our life on earth. Yes, dear friends that is
the message Mother Mary gives us to be a blessing for our fellow brothers and
sisters.
Let
us think about ourselves sometime. Are we a blessing to our community in which
we live? Or are we a curse to our community and the society we live? When we
are present in the society are they enjoy our presence? Do we have real trust
and dedication to our call? But sometimes our presence in the community makes
others unhappy, because our certain deeds. We don’t really care for them,
because we are selfish. We act in our own way. We don’t wait for the God’s will
to be done in our life. So we will not be able to participate in the saving act
of God.
So
dear friends, as we celebrate the solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady, let
us commit ourselves to the service of Love, as our Mother did. Let us also try
to become blessings to our friends, neighbors, co-worker etc. As she played a
significant role in the plan of Salvation let us also totally dedicate
ourselves for the will of our Lord. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a
singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the
resurrection of other Christians: In giving birth you kept your virginity; in
your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to
the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will
deliver our souls from death. Amen
By
Boby Joseph MST
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