August 15, 2023: Assumption of Mary

Homily by Fr. Marc Lenneman. Full transcript: https://cathedralpod.ntsm.io/index.php?name=2023-08-15_2023-08-15.mp3

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Please remember, this is a transcript of a homily that was intended to be heard, not read. Thank you for your understanding.

What a gift to see you all here today, right? The great solemnity of the assumption of our Blessed Mother, thanks for coming. It's not so easy for some of you to probably break away from work or to gather the family up and say, "We're going to Mass." And they're like, "It's Tuesday." You're like, "Yeah, we're going to Mass, right?" So thank you for coming. And if you have to go back to work and they're like, "Where were you?" I went to Mass because it's the solemnity of the assumption. And then they'll look at you like, "What is that?" And what is that, right? So it's good, Mary assumed body and soul into heaven. And so it's a great day for her, but this is really basic and really clear. Everything about her is about him. And everything about him is for us.

So if you remember that, everything about Mary is about Jesus. And everything about Jesus is for us, for our sake and for our salvation. So Mary is assumed body and soul into heaven. Everything about her is about him because Jesus, when he rose from the dead, didn't rise just spiritually. He rose bodily. And when he ascended to heaven, the great solemnity of the ascension, he ascends body and soul, not just spirit, not just soul, but body and soul. That's how God treats us, our humanity, our bodies are important, they're crucial. Jesus saves us through his humanity. He loves to work in our humanity. And in the Blessed Mother, he had full sway to work completely freely.

So one of my favorite titles for Mary is that she is the first and the best disciple. She's the first and the best disciple. Disciple, the Greek word means follower. So she follows Jesus perfectly. She did it first, she did it best. And she did it perfectly because she didn't have any sin that clings to her soul that wounded her at the moment of her conception. She was preserved from original sin and she never contracted an actual sin by choosing something that is not God. So she followed him perfectly, the first and the best disciple. That means that she follows him all the way home. And our true home is in heaven, body and soul. We're not there yet, we're on pilgrimage. We follow Jesus as best as we can in this life, in imitation of her, we follow him so that we can get to our true home in heaven.

The solemnity of the assumption shows that God is faithful to his promises, that when he came among us, when he took on human flesh, he didn't leave that aside as he ascended to heaven. But rather, he takes our humanity with him into the divine Godhead. It's actually pretty incredible to think about the theological move there, but that our humanity is represented in the Trinity. That Jesus creates a home for us in heaven. He creates a home for us in the love that exists from father to son in the Holy Spirit from all eternity, that his humanity becomes the entry point for all humanity, Mary first and best. And then all of us who seek to follow her example and say yes to her son, that's what this solemnity is all about.

And so it speaks of radical hope, hope, and people need hope in this generation for sure. Saw just recently, suicides in the US are at the highest that they've ever been in our recorded history, as soon as you started keeping track. Last year was the highest it's ever been. Well, that speaks to a culture that is losing hope. We don't lose hope, because our hope isn't in ourselves. It's not in our own ability to figure things out. It's certainly not in our capacity to save ourselves. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. That's what Mary would speak to each one of us today. Hope in him. Put your faith in him. Follow him. Or to use her last words in scripture. Do whatever he tells you. Do whatever he tells you.

Well, what does the Lord tell us today? Make your home in heaven. You're on pilgrimage. We're all on pilgrimage. Our home is not here. Our home is with him in heaven. So he would tell us that. He'd also say, give your heart to me today, as you are, as you can today. That's what the Blessed Mother did. It was easier for her because she didn't have sin to muddle the desires of her heart. But she did it every day. She had to give herself every day, say yes every day. People probably think that her life was easy, but in fact, being sinless would have made her life harder, because she would have noticed, seen, and even felt all the disorder of sin in the same way that a really good musician hears and even sometimes feels viscerally like mistakes made in music. Mary would have felt all those things, and she knew what was coming. She knew that there would be resistance to her son. She knew that part of her following her son would lead her right to the cross, because that's where Jesus saves the world from. She knew that she had to be there. But she also knew that somehow, some way, the cross could not and would not be the end of the story. And so she persevered in her trust of God, in her trust of her son. She persevered in hope. And that's a great message for us today, to persevere in hope.

So the Lord would tell us, give your heart to me today, as you can, as you are. And then watch what grace can do, because grace, victory, life, that knows no defeat, love, that knows no limit, that has the final say. And that's what this solemnity is all about. Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us.