The Solemnity of the Assumption of the BVM 8-15-2014
Rv 11:19, 12:1-6,10 Ps 45 1
Cor 15:20-27 Lk
1:39-56
The Solemnity of the Assumption. Today we celebrate an event in the life of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Savior. This is the day that we remember her “falling
asleep” – or what is called in the Eastern Churches – her “dormition.” On that day her physical life in this world
ended. And in a glorious work of God
that foreshadows the resurrection, Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven. It is a great mystery for us and a marvelous
sign of hope.
Today we also ponder a declaration that the scriptures make
about this event. A declaration of
spiritual war. The book of Revelation
talks about this. The huge red dragon
with seven heads and ten horns, symbolizing Satan, the fallen angels, and their
followers. And scripture describes the
dragon as having “stood before the woman
about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth.”
And so we remember how Satan worked through King Herod, who
sought to put to death the newborn King of the Jews. He sent his soldiers to Bethlehem to find the
male infants and toddlers and put them to death. But Joseph, warned in a dream, took Mary and
Jesus and escaped to Egypt. They were kept
safe in God’s hiding place.
The huge red dragon has been making war on the Woman – Mary
– since the beginning. Indeed, in the
book of Genesis, this war was foretold.
So the red dragon – Satan himself – has worked through the kingdoms of
this world to persecute all of the children of Mary – all those who follow
Jesus.
Satan worked through evil leaders in Jerusalem to put Jesus
to death on the cross and to persecute his disciples. Satan worked through the evil emperors in
Rome to persecute the early Christians.
Down through the ages people have suffered in this ongoing spiritual
battle.
In the 20th century we remember the war of the
dragon on the children of Mary through the Nazi holocaust, the horrific
persecutions of Christians in the Communist Bloc Countries. And then the war on the most innocent unfolded
through the introduction of the holocaust of abortion.
Today the Red Dragon pursues the children of Mary in Iraq. We have watched this brutal and horrific
persecution unfold before our very eyes.
Heaven and earth weeps over this tragedy.
But heaven does not remain silent. A declaration of war is issued in the gospel
of Luke.
Mary sings of this in her great canticle from the gospel of
Luke. God shows the strength of his
arm. He scatters the proud. He casts down the mighty from their thrones
and lifts up the lowly. He comes to our
help for he remembers his promise of mercy.
Indeed, while the devil rages for a time, it is only so that
God, through his chosen instrument – Mary – will have the final victory over Satan
and his followers. Mary, the humble
virgin from Nazareth, is the one whose Immaculate Heart will triumph by
crushing the head of the dragon.
Each day we draw closer to the threshold of that final
battle. The great storm, the time of
times, is just over the horizon. And
each day, as this spiritual battle intensifies in our own time we are reminded
to be like Mary, the lowly and humble one.
Mary’s example calls each of us to have an unshakeable trust
in Jesus. She shows us how to be a
persistent sign of hope. To be a witness
to the joy that comes from the knowledge that the Lord already has the victory
over our ancient foe.
And so, as a people who wait in joyful hope, we declare God’s
victory with Mary:
My soul proclaims the greatness
of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
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