Solemnity of the Assumption

Introduction:

Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Assumption.  When the course of her earthly life has been completed, the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed into heaven body and soul, like her son, Jesus.  Although this doctrine was held by the Early Church, it was officially proclaimed in 1950 by Pope Piusl XII.  It came at a much need time given that the world has gone through two world wars, the Holocaust, and also the beginning of the Cold War.  The World had many reasons to lose hope.  But through Mary’s Assumption, the world was given something to hope for.

Homily:

Dear Brethren in Christ,  

1.       Inexhaustible Mystery of Mary’s Motherhood.  One of the things that we have to learn and accept is that we cannot fully exhaust the mystery of Mary’s Motherhood, and her purpose and role in the Salvation Plan.  If we think that we have exhausted everything about the Blessed Mother, then we are quite mistaken.  There is always so much more to learn about the Blessed Mother. 

2.      She never grows weary when she prays.  One particular mystic shared a vision of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph while they were in Bethlehem of Judea, as she was near birth.  I often wonder how the Blessed Mother prays.  Obviously, she wouldn’t be praying the Hail Mary prayer since that it is for us to seek her intercession.  She wouldn’t be praying the Our Father since Jesus was not yet born.  But it is told that she would kneel and open her arms with her hands facing heavenward when she prays.  St. Joseph would advise her to rest after the long journey, but she says: “I never grow weary when I pray.”  Mary finds strength and nourishment from prayer.  Even when we are tired or weary when we pray, we can always rely upon the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

3.      Mary versus Satan.  There is an eternal war that has been waged between the Blessed Mother and the Evil One.  It began in the Garden of Eden.  After the Fall of Adam and Eve, God cursed the Evil One and says (Genesis 3:15): “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed; she will crush thy head, and thou wilt put snares to her heel.”  The early Church Fathers would eloquently describe that the Blessed Mother actually has two children: the first one is Jesus, and the second one is the Church (those born again by Water and the Spirit).  In the Gospel of John, Jesus says: “Woman, behold your son.”  Jesus entrusts Mary to the church for our protection and care. 

Do you know that of all the Saints, the Blessed Mother is the one who Satan fears the most.  We can go as far to say that Satan fears Mary more than God.  St. Louis de Monfort explains in this way in the book True Devotion to Mary: “The anger, the hatred, and the power of God are, of course, infinitely greater than those of Mary.  But Satan finds her most fearsome.  Being such a proud spirit, he suffers awful shame at being defeated and punished by such a humble and little servant of God.  Her humility hurts and abases him much more than the divine power.  And then, too, God has given Mary such dominance over the fallen angel that when she sighs for a soul it affects the devil more than all the prayers of all the saints; and one single threat from her inflicts more agony on him than all the torments of hell (21). 

4.      Seven False Devotions to the Blessed Mother.  St. Louis de Montfort describes that although all of us love and honor Mary, but he warns us of the devil’s traps and snares.  He warns us that there are actually seven false devotions to the Blessed Mother.  It’s important to see these seven traps so that we may not fall into them.

a.       Critical false devotions.  These people are the scholarly, learned and educated types.  Instead of loving and honoring her more, they reject humble and simple ways of showing love for Mary.  When they hear about miracles attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the discredit those stories and call them mere exaggerations.  They are very shocked when someone kneels before a picture, icon or statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  For them, the Rosary are for the elderly women in the pews.

b.      Scrupulous False Devotions.  These types of people are worried and anxious that when we honor the Blessed Mother, we are taking honor away from Jesus.  These people prefer that people kneel before the Blessed Sacrament rather than kneeling before the Statue of Mary.  They fail to realize that giving honor to the Blessed Mother is also giving honor to Jesus.  They do not see the wisdom behind this salutation: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.”  Their scrupulosity makes Jesus and Mary as fierce competitors. 

c.       Exterior False Devotions.  These types of people are those love Mary, but only on the outside, because they have no interior spirit.  They are more concerned about the display.  They will go to Mass, join different processions, but they do not wish to reform their interior lives.  They do not wish to imitate Mary’s virtues of humility, obedience, prayer, faith, hope and charity.  They love being a spectacle of prayer.  They are just in it for the show. 

d.      Presumptuous False Devotions.  These types of people love and honor Mary, but they are presumptuous, meaning that they use God’s mercy and forgiveness as an excuse not to pray the Rosary or other forms of devotion to the Blessed Mother.  For them, why bother to pray the Rosary since God will forgive us all anyways.  Their presumption excuses them from their need to rely upon the Blessed Virgin’s powers.

e.       Inconstant False Devotions.  There are people that love and honor Mary, but it is inconsistent.  They operate from their mood and attitude.  When they are excited, they pray.  When they are bored, they quit.  It’s an emotional roller coaster ride.  Their focus is not upon the soul that is unaffected by emotions.  For them, their emotions and attitude are the guiding principles.

f.       Hypocritical False Devotions.  St. Louis doesn’t say much about this type but here are his words: “They try to hide the ugliness of the soul from the eyes of others by flying the banner of the Virgin Most Pure.”  It seems self-explanatory. 

g.      Interested False Devotions.  They are interested in Mary, but they are more interested in themselves.  They pray because they want something from her.  For example, they want to win a lawsuit, they want to escape from danger or some just punishment.  They want to be cured from some disease.  Their needs are more important, rather than seeking her will for their lives.  One description is told that Michael the Archangel, as powerful as he is, he loves to do errands for the Blessed Mother.  It gives the Archangel so much satisfaction to know that he has served this perfect creature of God. 

5.  Now that we know the seven traps that the Evil One lays down for us, it’s important to give ourselves completely and entirely to Mary’s will, and like Michael the Archangel, find great joy in serving her and devoting our lives to her.  Giving her honor does not take away from Jesus.  Rather it gives Jesus due glory since she was chosen among the nations to be the Theotokos. May, we honor your Assumption into heaven.  Thank you for being our Mother!