God Has Done Great Things for Mary and for Us!

Today we celebrate Mary's assumption into heaven!  God does not allow her body to return to dust or to rot in the grave! God's  purest mother "stands at [Jesus'] right hand, arrayed in gold!," we [pray in the responsorial psalm of today's liturgy!  In 1 Cor 15: 20, St. Paul reminds us that "Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."  Mary, too, is one of those firstrfruits who have fallen asleep.

Elizabeth, Mary's elderly cousin whom Mary visited immediately after being impregnated by the Holy Spirit with the Son of God taking on human nature in her womb, recognized Mary as " the mother of [her] Lord."  As Mary entered her house, Elizabeth, "filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice," saying "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb...[T]he moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

Mary also recognizes her blessedness and the great things the Lord was doing in  her life and, I believe, in the life of all of us.  She says to Elizabeth  in her Magnificat: 

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: 
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name."

Those great things culminate in Mary's Assumption into heaven, where God has prepared a great and a safe place for His Mother.  God has also prepared a safe place for you and me, saving us in the same way that Mary was saved from the one described in today's first reading from Revelation: A dragon "stood before the woman about to give girth, to devour her child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God."  That place was heaven for her when she completed her mission here on earth and will be for us, as well, when we, likewise, complete the work God has given us to do here on earth!

May you and I , like Mary, give birth to that which brings healing, love, joy and peace to that part of the world which we temporarily inhabit!  May we grow in confidence that the one who wants to snatch "the child" from us will and has been defeated by Jesus, our Savior and God-with-us.