Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

Two signs appear in the heavens, a pregnant woman and the cosmic dragon. She is no ordinary woman. Rather she is depicted as an astral being, superior even to the moon. The twelve stars symbolize the signs of the zodiac, the seven-headed dragon a cosmic monster. Her child is described in royal terms. He is destined to shepherd all of the nations and to rule with a rod of iron, an image of harsh punishment. He is rescued from the threat of the dragon and caught up to the throne of God. His mother is also protected by God, but she flees into the wilderness. The reading from Paul brings together several of his most treasured themes. Christ is identified as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. His resurrection contains the promise of resurrection for all who are joined to him. Paul argues that through sin Adam brought death into the world. In a similar manner, joined in faith to Christ, we are all brought to life. Paul seems to suggest that there is an interval between the end of the world and the final end when Christ will hand the fruits of his victory over to God.

Mary greets Elizabeth with a customary salutation, but it causes the child in Elizabeth’s womb to leap with joy. It is as if Mary is the ark and the child within her is the glory of God. In response to this wondrous experience, Elizabeth exalts first Mary and then her child. Mary’s hymn of praise has strong parallels in the victory hymns of Miriam (Exodus 15:1–18), Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1–10), and Judith (Judith 16:1–17). While the first section of the prayer describes the great things that God did for Mary, the last verses list some of the past blessings enjoyed by Israel. Mary’s hymn of praise suggests that the marvels accomplished in her are a final example of God’s mercy. The salvation of God’s people has finally come.

Dec 11 2024

Closeness in Love

God is love. If we forget that, Christianity is emptied of meaning. It was love that brought the Word-made-flesh into the womb of the Virgin Mary in the Incarnation. It was love that revealed to John the Baptist that the Redeemer had come in today’s story of the Visitation. Today, it is love that cares for the body of her who took care of the body of Jesus.

God is love. That is the source of it all. There is no other. When you love someone, you want them near, close. The Greek word used for death in the New Testament is the opposite of that. It means separation. To be dead means to be cut off, isolated, and alone—apart.

In the Resurrection, God altered that isolation. God brought the human body of Jesus back to life, to be close. Stuff may still look the same on the surface, but God has transformed death in the depths of the earth.

I went to the garden to wrestle with that thought. As “the depths of the earth” simmered in my mind, I picked cherry tomatoes from plants that were ten feet high. Why so big? Last fall, I layered maple leaves and horse manure and then planted a cover crop; in spring, I turned that decaying richness under. Now, here in August, on the surface, you cannot tell. But that unseen transformation in the depths of the earth has brought forth vibrant new life.

Vibrant new life will be ours as well. All that decays? That will be transformed. We will be brought close, not be separated or isolated or lost. That is our hope: God brought Mary home, and will do the same for us. Body and soul, we will join with Jesus in heaven.

For God is love. That is the goal of it all. There is no other.

Consider/Discuss

In the Creed, we say,” I believe in the resurrection of the body.” For two millennia, theologians have wrestled with what a resurrected body looks like. We can try, but we really cannot imagine it, for it is beyond our limited time-and-space-experience. (Analogies don’t always work perfectly either.) But today’s feast of Mary’s assumption encourages us to believe that those whom God loves will ultimately be drawn close; we will become most fully ourselves, a unity of body and soul in heaven. That’s a hard thought. Spend some time thinking about it. (Maybe have a few cherry tomatoes while you’re pondering it.) What does that mean to you and the direction and goal of your life?

Like the soil in a garden, the richness of a prayer life is hidden from view. On the surface it may look the same whether we pray or not, but the fruit is different. When we are washed by God’s love, that experience transforms the junk of our life. When we have been cared about and brought close, that affects how we care for others. Have you had seasons when your prayer life was rich? What does that do for how you interact with others?

Living and Praying with the Word

Great God of the Universe, it all begins and ends with you. Your love surrounds us like a comforter on a cold night. You want us to be close to you. You do not want us to be separated. Thank you for sending your Son to transform death. That is not something that we can fully grasp. But we believe. We cannot imagine what eternal life with you will be like, but we look forward to it with joy. Mary our Mother, on this feast day, we celebrate your assumption into heaven. You are with your Son. Show us the way home. Keep us close.

Dec 11 2024

Scripture Study for

The reading from Revelation proclaims God’s final victory over the forces of evil and chaos that have threatened God’s creation since the days of the Garden of Eden. The woman who appears to John as a “great sign in the sky” represents Israel, not only the ethnic and historic Israel (symbolized by the twelve stars), but all of God’s people united in Christ. The image of the woman in labor represents both the actual birth of the Messiah and the pain and toil of giving birth to the reign of God in the end-times (Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8; Romans 8:22; 1 Thessalonians 5:3). The image is apt, as the victory is not without cost. The great dragon is Satan, the agent of chaos and evil who seeks to destroy the Messiah’s reign of God but will be defeated (12:7–9), while the people of God remain firmly under the protection of God.

A central theme in Paul’s letters is the resurrection not only of Christ but also, eventually, of all the dead. Yet it appears that some in Corinth did not believe in the resurrection of Christ or of the dead in general. After showing that such a belief makes the gospel nonsense (15:12–19), Paul asserts again that not only was Christ raised from the dead, but he is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Death came to the human race through the sin of Adam; now life comes because of the obedience of Christ, whose sacrifice in our behalf has defeated death. As history moves toward its climax, those who belong to Christ and then others will be raised from the dead. In that final hour, Christ’s sovereign rule over all creation will be complete and evident, as even the greatest enemy of humans, death itself, is subjected to him.

Mary’s Magnificat exults in the work that God has done, still does, and will do for God’s creation. Not only has God looked upon Mary, “his lowly servant,” but by bringing forth the Messiah, God has looked with favor upon “all generations.” We note that Mary uses the “prophetic perfect” here: God “has” shown the strength of God’s arm, scattered the proud, filled the hungry, etc. One has only to look around to see that in many cases the proud and the rich do still reign, while the lowly and hungry still suffer. So how is it that God “has” accomplished this reversal? The prophetic perfect speaks from the perspective of God’s will, which is never thwarted and so will certainly come to pass. They are as certain to happen as if they already had. Mary’s song expresses this trust in God’s word, enlivened by the child in her womb, the clearest sign that God’s will is being done.