August 15, 2007 at Saint Mark Church Norman, OK
Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10 + 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 + Luke 1: 39-56
For centuries Christian people have believed what we celebrate today. At some point in the seventh century, the western church, ours embraced this feast already celebrated by the eastern church. Mary’s transition from this world to the next was celebrated by Christians centuries before November 1, 1950, when Pope Pius XII put his pen to the Apostolic Constitution which articulates our faith on this matter. In it, he offered a survey of the history of the Church’s belief in Mary’s assumption down through the centuries and mentioned the way in which the Church’s awareness of faith developed this truth from the basic data of revelation about Mary.
What is curious and worth some thought today is why 1950? If our faith about this matter of Mary’s passage into glory had been around so long and was celebrated so widely, why did it take until 1950 for a Pope to say something about it and confirm our universal belief.
As I have thought through that matter, I am beginning to see something very important and worthwhile that has everything to do with this Feast and what is means to us. Think for a minute about the world of 1950, or about the years just before 1950 when the Pope would have been putting together this Apostolic Constitution. An entire continent had been fought over, bombed, ransacked, and destroyed. In the aftermath of that war, great crimes were made known, including the systematic murder of more than six million during the Holocaust. Relief and refugee agencies struggled to deal with the hordes of displaced people while a new terror took hold of the western world as the Iron Curtain of Communism divided the continent and the city of Berlin. The sweet taste of victory over the tyranny of fascism was quickly turning into the bitter gall of the Cold War. At that moment in history, a Pope turned our thoughts to the Blessed Mother as a gift of hope and a reminder of God’s fidelity to the faithful.
Seen against the backdrop of that history, this is a feast of Hope, a feast that invites us as two of the readings suggest today to look up. But looking up is tough to do when there is so much to get us down. This feast reminds us that when we are confronted with great trials and seemingly endless despair about the world as it is, we can still have hope. This Feast is not so much about Mary as it is about God a God who is with us to the final end, leading us to the eternal city in which he reigns and in which Mary dwells. This God would have no more death or mourning, no more crying out or pain, because death is swallowed up in victory, the victory of Jesus Christ who subjects everything — even death — to himself. This is what the Assumption is finally all about. It is about what hope there is for us; and what awaits those who listen to God’s call,and give flesh to His Word.