Homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption

Recalculating!  Recalculating!!  These are the favorite words of my GPS.  Every time I fail to follow directions I hear that word: recalculating!  You would think I should just follow the directions of that GPS but I indeed am directionally challenged.  If I do follow the directions of the GPS I arrive at the intended destination and avoid that embarrassing moment that all men dread: having to stop and ask for directions!

We all need directions in our lives.  Whether at school or work or just simply everyday life, we are called to follow directions.  If we do, we usually enjoy success.  It is also comforting to be able to have someone, or something like a GPS to depend on to help show us the way.

As people of faith, we have someone who will always point us in the right direction, to help us recalculate when we lose our way.  That someone is our Blessed Mother Mary who helps us arrive at our perfect destination: Jesus, the way, the truth, the life!

We have an unusual occurrence today in that the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary has fallen on a Saturday.  Normally a Holy Day of Obligation, this was not the case today because it occurs on a Saturday.  Still, the Assumption is celebrated as a Solemnity so it can be celebrated at Mass all day long.  And because this is occurring at the time of our normal Sunday vigil Mass, this Mass fulfills our Sunday obligation as well.  A little two for one deal from the Church!

The Assumption of Mary into Heaven is an infallibly declared teaching of the Church.  Although a consistent belief and teaching of the Church for centuries, it was not until 1950 that Pope Pius XII declared the following:

"We pronounce, declare and define it to be 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 to heavenly glory."

And the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 966, states: "when the course of her earthly life was finished, Mary was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be more fully conformed to her Son.  The Assumption of Mary is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians."

As Catholics, we are obligated to believe in the Assumption of Mary into Heaven!!

Whether we recall Mary's yes to the Angel Gabriel, her visitation to Elizabeth where she proclaimed the prayer we now call the Magnificat, the beautiful words at the wedding feast in Cana: "do whatever He tells you", to her faithful witness at the foot of the Cross, her presence at the 1st Pentecost and her Assumption into Heaven, everything is direction for us, everything is right path for us, everything points the way for us, everything leads us to her Son, Jesus Christ!

Our Gospel today does not tell us of the Assumption.  Truly, the Assumption does not appear in the Gospel as a story of fact.  Yet Holy Scripture indeed points us to the Assumption from Genesis to the Psalms and the Prophets, the Gospels and the Epistles and to the Book of Revelation.  In addition, as mentioned earlier, this has been the consistent teaching of the Church, part of the Sacred Tradition we depend upon as faithful Catholics.  Pope Pius XII, in declaring the Assumption infallibly, also gives us that third leg of the stool known as the teaching office of the Church, also known as the Magesterium.

The Gospel today gave us the prayer uttered by Mary known as the Magnificat(Luke 1:46-55), "my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!"  More than just directions for us from our Mother, this is a real roadmap to follow throughout our lives: proclaim God's greatness and offer Him worship and praise!  As Mary did, may we follow!

Tonight, before we lay down to sleep, and in the days ahead, can we reread and pray Mary's Magnificat?  Priests, deacons, religious pray this beautiful prayer every day in evening prayer.  May we too pray this beautiful pray in the days ahead.  When we pray, can we ask ourselves: am I on the right path, am I following the directions that will lead to Heaven, eternal joy with Mary and Her Son and the Father? 

We all need direction in our lives and we need to be on the right path.  My GPS will help me and may say to me recalculating.  Mary, our Blessed Mother, will help us too, and say to us: follow my Son, Jesus the Christ, and do whatever He tells you!

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death!  Amen!