August 15 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today, we are celebrating the Feast of the "Assumption of Mary." The origin of the Catholic belief in the Assumption of Mary goes back to many centuries. It was defined as a Catholic Doctrine by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950. The proclamation of the Church states that, revealed by God, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her
earthly life was finished, she was taken up body and soul into Heavenly glory.
The assumption of Mary body and soul into heaven is the crowning gift of God to her, the last jewel in a long chain of gifts he had bestowed on her. God granted to Mary three privileges, which no other human being can ever claim. She was called the mother of God; she was not touched by sin; and she was taken up body and soul to heaven.
earthly life was finished, she was taken up body and soul into Heavenly glory.
The assumption of Mary body and soul into heaven is the crowning gift of God to her, the last jewel in a long chain of gifts he had bestowed on her. God granted to Mary three privileges, which no other human being can ever claim. She was called the mother of God; she was not touched by sin; and she was taken up body and soul to heaven.
Why has Mary been granted such honours. She has been granted these honours because she proved herself worthy. In today's Gospel we hear Mary declare, "Almighty has done great things for me." But before doing great things for her she had been tested, and she proved herself worthy.
The first trial came with the Annunciation. The Angel announced to a maiden that she would conceive and bear a son. It was a news that would shudder any maiden in the Jewish society of her time. According to Deuteronomomistic code, " A girl who is not a virgin at the time of marriage is to be stoned to death." (Deuteronomy 22:13–21). Mary was well aware of this law, but she did not dare to challenge the plan of God. So, she treasured everything in her heart and found an answer in her silence. When she had to flee with the child to escape the wrath of Herod, When Jesus was opposed by the crowd that tried to push him down the hill, when Jesus was arrested, when Jesus was on trial, When Jesus carried the cross to Calvary, When Jesus wreathed in pain on the Cross, When the lifeless body of Jesus lay on the lap of Mary, she found her answer in her silence.
There is an opportunity in every problem we go through. Every problem is a gift. It is only by embracing that problem and unwrapping it that we get to realize that gift. Mary understood this fact more than anyone else. Hence every crucial trial in her life had been transformed into an opportunity to submit to the plan of God in silence. "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem a turned it into an opportunity." wrote Joseph Sugarman.
Wilma Rudolph was born into a poor home in Tennessee. At age four, she had double pneumonia with scarlet fever, a deadly combination which left her paralyzed with polio. She had to wear a brace and the doctor said she would never put her foot on the earth. But her mother encouraged her; she told Wilma that with God-given ability, persistence and faith she could do anything she wanted. Wilma said, "I want to be the fastest woman on the track on this earth." At the age of nine, against the advice of the doctors, she removed the brace and took the first step the doctors had said she never would. At the age of 13, she entered her first race . Finally she found her place in the 1960 Olympic games. There she won Gold Medals in 100-meter race, 200-meter race and 400-meter relay. A paralytic woman became the fastest woman on this earth at the 1960 Olympics. Wilma Rudolph was able to achieve this because she turned her problem into an opportunity.
Today we celebrate the triumph of Mary who turned all her problems into opportunities to find the plan of God for her. In her silence she achieved self mastery, which is the essence of spiritual freedom.
[ For India ] Today we also celebrate the anniversary of our Independence from foreign domination. Our fore-fathers paid heavily to achieve freedom for our country. To be politically free is a great thing. But our freedom will mean little if we continue to be oppressed by a thousand other forms of slavery and injustice, that has become a daily occurrence. The present developments force us to believe that only task masters changed, but the conditions are the same; and the slavery still continues. In order to bring a drastic change we have to go back to the concept of freedom that is reflected in the Indian tradition. The traditional concept of freedom is the total emancipation of man. In the silence of the Himalayas the great Rishis of the past spent their life in search of the true freedom. Tagore has expressed the dream of centuries as follows:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
To achieve this freedom we need to be detached. Detachment will lead us to perfection.
A wise woman who was travelling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream and put it in her bag. The next day se met another traveller who was hungry. The wise woman opened her bag to share her food.
The hungry traveller saw the precious stone and asked the woman for it. She gave it to him without hesitation. The traveller left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.
But a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back to you. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."
Today, our mother is inviting us to accept that gift which enabled her to find favour in the sight of the Lord. The secret of finding the will of God in silence. Mother Teresa said, "silence of the heart, not only of the mouth – is necessary. Then you can hear God everywhere." Encounter God in the silent moments of our lives, and He will lead us to true freedom. It will spread from individuals to societies, and societies to the country. Thus we will be able to contribute towards the building up of the great India, which lays its values not on the perishable things, but on the eternal truths that liberate man from every bondage and lead to God.
Satish