Rev. 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; 1 Cor. 15:20-26; Lk. 1:39-56
lory of heaven. This doctrine was solemnly defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, in Munificentissimus Deus. The Church proclaimed that the Immaculate Virgin, preserved from original sin, was assumed into heavenly glory.
But today, rather than looking at the Assumption merely as something that happened to Mary at the end of her earthly life, let us look at the kind of life she lived that prepared her to become the woman whom God glorified. The secret of Mary's life can be found in one sentence from today's Gospel: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” That sentence is almost like the spiritual biography of Mary. She did not spend her life magnifying herself; she magnified God. She did not make herself the centre; she made God the centre. And perhaps that is the most important message Mary has for us today.
There is a beautiful example of this in the life of St. André Bessette, a simple religious brother from Canada. He had very little formal education, was physically frail, and for many years his main responsibility was simply to serve as a doorkeeper at the
college where he lived. If someone had looked at him from the outside, there seemed to be nothing particularly remarkableabout him. He was not a powerful preacher or a famous scholar. He did not occupy an important position. Yet people began to come to him because they found in him something that was greater than himself—a deep trust in God.A magnifying glass does not create anything new. It simply makes something already present appear greater to our eyes. Mary was like a magnifying glass for God. When people looked at Mary, they were meant to see God's goodness, God's mercy, God's faithfulness and God's power. She says, “The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” Notice her words carefully. She does not say, “Look how great I am.” She says, “Look how great God is.” Mary had every reason to be proud. She was chosen to be the mother of the Saviour. Generations would call her blessed. Yet her greatness made her more humble, not more arrogant. The closer she came to God, the smaller she became in her own eyes.
We see this attitude from the very beginning. At the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel announced that she would become the mother of Jesus, Mary could have asked, “Why me?” She could have thought about the honour, the reputation and the privilege. Instead, she answered, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” That is the first great lesson of Mary: she allowed God's will to become greater than her own plans. She did not understand everything, but she trusted. Faith does not always mean understanding everything; sometimes it means saying yes to God even when we do not know what tomorrow will bring.
And immediately after saying yes to God, Mary did something remarkable. She went in haste to visit Elizabeth. She had just received the greatest announcement in history, yet she did not remain absorbed in herself. She went to serve someone else. This is another way in which her soul magnified the Lord. When God enters a person's life, that person does not become more self-centred; he or she becomes more available to others. Mary carried Jesus within her and carried help to Elizabeth. The presence of Christ within her became service outside her.
Mary's Magnificat also tells us what happens when God becomes greater in our lives: our obsession with ourselves begins to disappear. “He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly.” Mary understood something our modern world often forgets: greatness is not the same as fame. The world tells us, “Make yourself important. Get more followers. Make people notice you. Build your image.” Mary tells us, “Let God be seen through you.”
We live in an age in which people can spend hours constructing an image of themselves. A photograph is taken again and again until the right one is found. A sentence is rewritten before it is posted. We want people to admire us, appreciate us and approve of us. There is nothing wrong with looking after ourselves, but Mary asks us a deeper question: “Are you trying to magnify yourself or God?” There is a great difference. The person who constantly needs recognition becomes a prisoner of other people's opinions. But the person who lives before God can say, “Whether people praise me or forget me, God knows me.”
A beautiful example can be found in the life of St. Josephine Bakhita, a woman whose early life was filled with suffering. As a child in Sudan, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery. She experienced cruelty, fear and humiliation, and for some time she could not even remember her own name. Eventually, she came into contact with the Canossian Sisters in Italy, where she encountered Christianity and discovered a God who loved her. She was baptized and later became a religious sister. What is remarkable is what happened to her heart. After everything she had suffered, she did not allow hatred to become the centre of her life. Instead, she allowed God's love to become greater than her painful past.
Mary's life also teaches us that magnifying God does not mean having an easy life. Her “yes” brought her into difficulty. She gave birth in poverty. She had to flee to Egypt. She watched her Son grow up knowing that a sword would pierce her own heart. At Cana she saw a family in embarrassment and quietly brought their need to Jesus. At Calvary she stood beneath the cross while others had abandoned him. She did not run away when disciples ran away. She remained.
There is a beautiful parallel in literature in Oscar Wilde's story The Happy Prince. The statue of the prince sees the suffering of poor people in the city and asks a swallow to take the jewels and gold covering him and give them to those in need. As the story progresses, the prince becomes outwardly poorer while becoming inwardly more beautiful. It is only a story, but it illustrates an important truth: real greatness is found not in keeping everything for ourselves but in giving ourselves for others. Mary is the supreme Christian example of this self-giving. She received an extraordinary grace from God, and instead of turning that grace into personal privilege, she allowed it to become blessing for others.
Mary's whole life was a journey from “Here am I, the servant of the Lord” to “My soul magnifies the Lord,” and finally to the glory of heaven. The Assumption is God's answer to a life completely surrendered to him. The simplest way to celebrate the Assumption today is to make Mary's prayer our own: “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
Satish