While the month of May is especially devoted to our Holy Mother Mary and the Rosary receives significant attention during the month of October, August honors the Blessed Virgin with two important feast days, the Assumption on Aug. 15 and the Queenship of Mary on Aug. 22.
I particularly would like to focus upon the Solemnity of the Assumption, beginning with a humorous story that sets the stage for the meaning of this feast.
The story is told about a traveling evangelist driving into a small town. He sees a boy sitting on the steps of the front porch of his home. The preacher needs to know some information about the layout of the town, so he pulls his car to the curb, and calls out to the lad. “Young man, can you give me the directions to the fairgrounds?”
The boy politely responds, “Sure, mister. Take Main Street, go about a mile out of town, take a left on Oak Street, go a few blocks, and then take a right on Fair Park Drive and you will be right there.”
The preacher smiles in gratitude, “Thanks a lot for the directions. I appreciate your help!”
Then, the boy suddenly stands up and approaches the car with a quizzical look on his face. “But, mister, why do you want to go out to the fairgrounds? There is no fair right now. The fair is next month.”
The traveling evangelist responds enthusiastically, “Well, my child, I am a preacher of the Word of God. I am going to lead a big revival at the fairgrounds. In fact, why don’t you and your family come and join me. Tonight, I am going to give a very, very important message — a sermon that all people need to hear. I am going to tell everyone how to get to Heaven.”
Despite the passion and enthusiasm of the preacher, the child shows little excitement, “I am sorry, Reverend, but I won’t be coming.”
The preacher is taken aback, his eyes are wide in surprise, and he inquires, “But, why not?”
The boy looks the preacher squarely in the eyes and boldly comments, “Well, if you can’t even find your way to the fairgrounds, then how are you going to tell everyone how to get to Heaven?”
According to the child in this story, that preacher may not have known the way to Heaven, but we are acknowledging and celebrating during the month of August someone who most certainly knew the way there, our Blessed Mother Mary.
On Aug. 15, we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Most Catholics are familiar with the basic meaning of this feast, since it normally is a Holy Day of Obligation on the Liturgical Calendar of the Church.
However, in the parishes of Catholic Churches in the United States, the obligation to attend Mass on the Feast of the Assumption is dropped whenever the solemnity falls on a Saturday or Monday. This is part of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ complementary norm to Canon 1246 §2 of the Code of Canon Law, which abrogates the Mass precept for certain solemnities when they occur on those days. Please note, however, that most parishes in our country offer at least one celebration of a Mass for the Assumption on Aug. 15. It is not the feast itself which is abrogated; it is the obligation that is dispensed due to its proximity to a Sunday.
The Teaching or Dogma of the Assumption was defined by Pope Pius XII in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus (The Most Bountiful God):
“… by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”
That Teaching was promulgated Nov. 1, 1950, but the origin of that belief goes back much further — to the early centuries of the Church, when Eucharists were already being celebrated.
In addition, there were some important saints who wrote about the meaning of the feast and its theological significance. One saint, a theologian named John Damascene, lived in the early Middle Ages. He reflected that: “It was necessary that she who had preserved her virginity inviolate in childbirth should also have her body kept free from all corruption after death. It was necessary that she who had carried the Creator as a child on her breast should dwell in the tabernacles of God. It was necessary that the bride espoused by the Father should make her home in the bridal chambers of heaven. It was necessary that she, who had gazed on her crucified Son and been pierced in the heart by the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in giving him birth, should contemplate him seated with the Father. It was necessary that the Mother of God should share the possessions of her Son, and be venerated by every creature as the Mother and handmaid of God.”
The sense one receives from this writing is that the heavenly destiny of Mary was occasioned by her unity with the Lord. The Blessed Virgin was totally and completely bonded with Jesus Christ, and thus it is truly fitting for her to be one with him in glory.
This proposes for us some thoughts about how we might approach that destiny as well. Of course, I don’t mean that any of us should be thinking about being assumed into Heaven in the manner Mary was honored. Yet, we definitely should give very important thought as to how we might make our way to share in the promise of the Resurrection someday.
Thankfully, in the Mass celebrated on the Feast of the Assumption, the selection of the Gospel in the Roman Missal that day proposes quite valuable advice with the story of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:39-56) in which St. John the Evangelist offers three vivid illustrations from the life of the Blessed Mother on ways to strengthen our bond with the Lord:
Mary provides an example of profound charity — loving kindness.
We are told that after she learns of her cousin Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Mary sets out immediately to provide help and assistance. This is no small act of service. Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah are said to live in Ein Karem, some 80 to 90 miles south of Nazareth. That is very rocky and hilly country, and thus a difficult — and even dangerous — journey for Mary. Yet we are told she set out “with haste” to “be there” for her cousin. We are also told that she stayed with her “about three months” before returning home. Mary truly demonstrated pure love, a love much like our Lord’s.
The unity of Mary with the Word of God.
When Mary arrives and encounters Elizabeth, we are told that her cousin addresses Mary by crying out in a loud voice, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” In other words, Elizabeth praises the faith and trust of Mary in the will of God. She demonstrates full assent to the Word of the Lord.
Mary’s embrace of the Lord’s special providence for the lowly and needy.
Despite the lofty compliments her cousin Elizabeth bestows upon Mary, the Blessed Mother in no way basks in any self-congratulatory feelings. Instead, Mary humbly sees in God’s actions not something to boost her personal pride — but rather, she places affirmation on what God is doing to lift up the lowly. Mary takes little credit for what has happened, and instead sees magnificence in God alone, as she acclaims the greatness of his deeds in turning toward the hungry and the needy rather than the mighty and the arrogant. Once again, Mary has bonded with the ways of the Lord.
We can find in these three elements of the story of the Visitation examples for us to imitate. The Blessed Mother is a role model for us as to how we can bond with the Lord’s charity, will and special providence for the needy. Relying on God’s grace, should we strive to follow her example, we will grow in our own unity with the Lord. We then won’t need any traveling evangelist preaching how to get to Heaven — because Mary already will have shown us the way!
