A man had just died.
Arriving at heaven’s gate, St. Peter interviewed him. “Have you ever loved a
woman?” “No,” the man replied, “Not a single one.” “Did you have special
friends?” “No,” he answered. “How about your parents, brothers and sisters?” “I
lost my parents as a child, and I have no brothers and sisters.” “Perhaps you
have a pet that you cared for? Have you any love for nature?” “No.” Peter shook
his head in disbelief and asked, “What took you so long to get here? You’ve
been dead for ages!”[1].
You
know, love makes life truly meaningful and worth living. To be more precise,
love brings about life in its fullness. This truth is what we celebrate on this
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. On 1950,
Pope Pius XII promulgated as a dogma revealed by God that: “Mary, the
immaculate perpetually Virgin Mother of God, after the completion of her
earthly life, was assumed, body and soul, into the glory of heaven.” So, the
dogma of the Assumption of Mary is based, according to the Fathers of the
Church, on four arguments: first,
Mary is the Immaculate Conception, she did not incur the general curse of sin
and so her body was “exempted from the general law of dissolution.” Second, she is the Mother of God, there is likeness to her Son, in body
and soul. Third, her perpetual
virginity: her body was preserved in virginal integrity. And fourth, she participated in the work of
Christ: she enjoys the full fruit of the Redemption, which consists in the
glorification of soul and body[2].
I
know I know, all this is too complex or too theological, so let me put it in a
very practical way: the Assumption of Mary can be easily explained by only one
word: love. Based on our experience,
love is overpowering. It is a force that moves us towards the object of love
and be united with it.
People
who love money are always running after money. Those who love cars are always
with their cars. And couples who are in love tend to be together all the time.
There is some irresistible force in love that pulls the person towards the
beloved. In the case of Mary, her love of God is so great that her whole being
is pulled closer to God. It practically lifted her up to heaven, body and soul.
Bishop
Fulton Sheen expressed it much better: “If the distant moon moves all the
surging tides of earth, then the love of Mary for Jesus and the love of Jesus
for Mary should result in such an ecstasy as to ‘lift her out of this world’”[3].
So, Mary’s Assumption can be easily understood by love. It is also love that is
the source and cause of her perfect beauty…
All
this leads us to a very practical lesson on how to be beautiful: be in love,
truly in love with God, like Mary! For instance, Mother Teresa was not a
beautiful woman physically. But as one looks at her for some time, her aura of
holiness can be sensed, and her face gradually shines in a certain way that
makes one believe she is indeed beautiful. Some people, no matter how old they
get, never lose their beauty – they merely move it from their faces into their
hearts[4].
That is the beauty of somebody who is in love, whose life is completely
immersed in the love of God…
So,
this celebration of Mary’s Assumption inspires us to hope. Pope Benedict XVI
said: “For over a thousand years, the Church has greeted Mary, the Mother of
God, as ‘Star of the Sea’: Ave maris
stella! Human life is a journey. Life is like a trip on the sea of history,
often dark and stormy, a trip in which we watch for the stars that indicate the
route. They are lights of hope. Who more than Mary could be a star of hope for
us?”[5].
This
evening [morning] let us turn to Mary with love and devotion, may She gives us
hope that, like her and through her maternal intervention, we will find the way
to heaven, our true and lasting home[6].
Amen ■
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