20th Sunday – August 15, 2010
Assumption is a special gift from God to Mary for her extra –ordinary faith and fidelity!
One day two priests and an Atheist go on a fishing trip together. They are in the boat and one priest says," Oh! no! I left the paddles on the shore!" So he proceeds to get out of the boat and walk on the water to the shore to get them. Once he had got back into the boat, the second priest says," Oh! No! I left the bait on shore too!" And like the first one the priest exits the boat and walks on the water to get the bait. When he climbs back into the boat the atheist yells," Well if you guys can do it so can I!!!" and proceeds to climb out of the boat, but he falls into the water. At this point the first priest says to the second priest," Do you think we should have told him where the rocks are?" because they walked on the rocks in the water. Those priests are ordinary people but with extra ordinary activities!
The year I969 will always remain marked in the history of mankind the year of the greatest achievement. For on the 1969, mankind for the first time put his foot on the moon. When Neil Armstrong and his companion returned back to the earth after their expedition to the moon, a big reception was organized for them. As they reached the stage to receive the accolades, the people kept shouting, “We hail you, supermen!” When time came for them to speak, they said, “We are not supermen. If we were supermen, then our achievement would have no significance. But it is because we are ordinary men, that small step is a giant leap for mankind.”
As we celebrate today the feast of the Assumption, as we pray before pictures of Mary accompanied by the angels being taken up to heaven, the temptation for us is to title her a super-woman. The temptation is to deify her so much that she almost looks super human. But if she was another super woman, then the feast we celebrate today would have no meaning. It is precisely because she was an ordinary woman that her small ‘yes’ became the giant leap in salvation of mankind. Let’s take our eyes today of those pictures of Mary that portray her as an aristocratic woman. Let’s take our eyes today of those portrayals of Mary that give us the impression that angels were at her beck and call, that make her look like a delicate darling. She believed in what was promised to her. ‘Blessed is she who believed that all the Lord promised her would be fulfilled.’
This is the sentence in the Gospel passage that caught my attention as I sat reflecting. When Mary visited Elizabeth, Elizabeth made a beautiful statement: ‘Blessed is she who believed that all the Lord promised her would be fulfilled.’ And there lies the greatness of Mary. Mary’s greatness does not lie in her assumption, but her greatness lies in her believing that the promise the Lord made her would be fulfilled. I’m inclined to think that the only good thing that happened to her was the message from the angel, “Your will conceive and bear a Son...” From then on everything that happened was difficult to believe.
Think of Mary the teenager, confused as to how she would give birth to a child without physical relationship. Think of the heart of an engaged girl whose fiancé could leave her for the same reason. Think of the Mary who had to explain her strange pregnancy to her parents. Would they believe this unbelievable story? Can you imagine the emotional struggle of Mary?
And then think of the Mary, nine months pregnant sitting on a donkey. Think of her in labor pain desperately looking for some privacy and not getting it. And then of all places she gave birth to the supposedly Prince of peace, Son of the Most High, in a stable. And to her shock, people were after his blood. She had to flee to save her child. The angel didn’t tell her all this. This is not how it is supposed to be. What happened to the words of the angel?
And then there was the Mary searching for her beloved son in the crowd. And when she did find him, instead of her son expressing joy almost gave her a cold shoulder. ‘You should have known I was with my father’s business.’ Think of reports reaching Mary that her son was mad. That’s what his own relatives said. What must have crossed Mary’s mind? He was supposed to be responsible for the rise and fall of many. And she sees him fall in self esteem. She sees resentment and opposition grow against her son. She sees him opposing the leaders of the nation. They even called him possessed by Beelzebul. Where is all this going to lead him?
But I guess the most trying moments for Mary must have been the suffering and the death of Jesus. She must have followed the trial of Jesus very closely. Every moment of it she must have wished that her son be freed. Imagine a mother’s agony to see her son being condemned to death. She saw him being pushed around, spat upon, carrying the cross, falling and then getting up. She saw him being stripped naked in front of a mocking crowd. And then the nails, her son’s piercing cry. And yet she has no complaints.
There she stood under the cross. Her son looked at her and their eyes met. Not a word is spoken. And when Jesus hands her over to his beloved disciple, she knows he will indeed die. But even now its not too late. God could still save him, fulfill his promise. But No! Even Jesus feels God had abandoned him. ‘My God, why have you forsaken me?’ And he dies. Scripture does not say, Mary swooned at the foot of the cross. It does not say that Mary fainted. It says Mary stood at the foot of the cross. Even in the face of death, even in the most difficult situation, she “believed the promises made her by the Lord would be fulfilled."
The assumption is gift of God to Mary for her faith, her belief, her fidelity. The angel had told her at the annunciation that nothing is impossible with God. Mary believed in the God of the impossible. And so when the impossible happened, when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, Mary had to be part of it. Mary who was associated with Jesus from the womb to the tomb, is allowed by God to take part even in his resurrection and ascension, for she believed all that the Lord promised her would be fulfilled. The promise made to her was fulfilled in the most extraordinary of ways, but blessed is she for she believed.
What is this feast going to mean for all of us? Just like Mary we are no super humans. We like her are, ordinary people. Among us may be people, searching for jobs, as she searched for a room. And then the tension of bringing children up... the anxiety when they come home late... the pain of building up dreams for them and see it crumble. And then, there’s the pressure at work... people to grab my place, opposition and resentment with colleagues, the back biting. Sometimes all this looks so meaningless. Life itself seems to have no purpose. Broken marriages strained relationships, sickness and death. All these are our share of burdens as much as they were Mary’s.
What awaited Mary, awaits all of us. God has promised us nothing less than his Kingdom, his love, his presence, heaven itself. His promise may be fulfilled in the most bizarre ways, but nevertheless they are. All we have to do is... believe. This feast then is a feast of all of us. Its a feast of all those people who believe all that Lord promised us will be fulfilled. It is the feast of all those people who like Mary believe in the God of the impossible. It is the feast of all those who put their faith in him... totally.
