Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 Lectionary: 622

For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the first fruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power.

Many Catholics in our distracted world might not know exactly what the Assumption of Mary is about. They give little thought to the promise of heaven, and much less to the pains of hell. But they don't mind celebrating the feast in mid-August. We are happy to honor the Mother of God who gave us her only begotten Son. 

Today we remember what the Lord gave to Mary, and the promise he gives to us through his gift to her. 

The more I see of human messiness, the more intractable it seems. I follow the local, national, and international news with some interest, and I hear continually of Good Ideas proposed, argued, countered, dismissed, restored, legislated, enacted, ignored, and disappointed. There is no panacea, cure-all, or magic bullet.

The Assumption reminds us of God's promise when all will be be brought to life, but each one in proper order. The Order of Love must create a thing of  beauty. 

Perhaps this is why artists create mosaics for our churches. No single tessera is especially attractive. Look at it closely and nothing happens. But thousands of tesserae carefully placed can astonish us with their brilliant, lively beauty. We return to them again and again, over many centuries, to contemplate the mysteries they represent. And then each tile is honored for the beauty of all of them. Should one fall out it will be preserved carefully and then restored to its rightful place. 

Several dreadful decisions of the United States Supreme Court come to mind as ugly, regrettable, disgusting moments in our nation's history. The Dred Scott decision led directly to the bloodiest war in our history. Recent SCOTUS decisions led to the killing of unborn infants, the slaughter of children in elementary and secondary schools, and a bizarre definition of marriage.

We might well ask, "Can these terrible mistakes contribute to a thing of beauty?" And then, for good measure, we'll ask, "Can three centuries of mechanized war and the sacrifice of millions of people produce anything worthwhile?" and "Is God good?" 

In response we hear Saint Paul's promise: 

For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order.

The Assumption of Mary restores our hope that God's supreme love will create an unimaginably beautiful mosaic of human history. At its center will be the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. By his life and death, he has restored purpose and meaning to our lives. 

And very close beside that center are the twin mysteries of Mary's Immaculate Conception and Assumption. It was necessary, Blessed John Duns Scotus said, that one human being should live in absolute freedom and utterly grateful obedience to the Holy Spirit. One life should reflect perfectly the salvation effected by the sacrifice of Jesus. That person cannot be God, but one who loves God. 

Without Mary's perfection, we might suppose that our lives are good enough since nobody's perfect. What is worse, we might suppose that the supreme perfection of God deserves less than our perfect surrender in love. We might believe that God overlooks and ignore the horrors that pollute our world. 

We would not accept such a god; made in God's image we could not tolerate it. 

The notion that God might be satisfied with good enough finds no support in the Bible. The story of Noah's flood warns us of God's demand for perfection. But it's also a story to show that we cannot be saved by God's violence or wrath. When the earth had been purged of all sin it remained hidden and viral within the heart of Noah. No soon had they left the ark than the family was divided by his drunkenness and the history of Original Sin continued unabated. 

The LORD took another tack. He inaugurated a History of  Salvation, beginning with Abraham and extending until the Day

...when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power.

On that day we will praise God for our redemption with complete gratitude. We will see that our shameful history and intractable guilt were reconciled in the perfect Sacrifice of the Son. 

If we cannot now imagine that incomprehensibly glorious destiny, we see its sign in the Assumption of Mary.