What was fulfilled in Mary through the Assumption becomes a pledge and a path for each of us
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We celebrate the feast of the Assumption this week, on Aug. 15, and “the place of God’s rest” is a major theme of the readings.
Jerusalem was meant to be the place of God’s rest in ancient Israel. God’s people were meant to be the place of His rest as well. Mary became the place of God’s rest in the Incarnation. And each of us is invited, spiritually, to follow the path of Mary and become a place of God’s rest in the world. As St. Elizabeth of the Trinity says: “Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling, and the place of your rest.”
But here’s the tension we live in: We don’t always provide a resting place for God!
We read from the prophet Ezekiel all week, and his basic message is the contrast between obedience and rebellion in ancient Israel. In effect, God says, through the prophet: “My city and my people have not made a resting place for me, therefore they will not experience rest.”
In saying that, we need not point fingers at anyone else. That’s the history of the Church through the ages as well. More importantly, it’s the story of each one of us. All of us have known times when we let God find a place in our lives and, in turn, we experienced His peace. All of us have likewise known times when we did not let God find a place in our hearts and, in turn, the restlessness that characterized our lives at those times.
Precisely in that context — reflecting on the struggles of ancient Israel, of the Church throughout history and of each one of us in our own lives — the feast of the Assumption offers us a word of hope.
At the Annunciation, Mary offered herself, body and soul, to be the resting place of God on earth. And, without knowing all the details, we can be sure she spent the rest of her life doing so over and over. Then, when the course of her life on earth was finished, it was fitting that she would be assumed, body and soul, into heaven. There’s a beautiful symmetry to it: She who had been the resting place of God on earth was brought into the eternal rest of God in heaven.
In doing so, Mary became the fundamental pattern for the Church and marked out the path for each one of us. As Pope Benedict XVI once said about the Assumption: “What happened to Mary is also valid, though in a different but real way, for every man and woman, because God asks each of us to welcome Him, to place at His disposal our hearts and our bodies … so that He can dwell in the world … And if we say ‘yes,’ like Mary, in the same measure of this our ‘yes,’ this mysterious interchange will also happen for us and in us: we will be assumed into the dignity of the One who has assumed our humanity.”
What was fulfilled in Mary becomes a pledge and a path for each of us. This week, as we celebrate the Assumption of Mary, let’s also follow her pattern: Let’s allow our lives to become a resting place of God on earth so that we might one day enter the resting place of God in heaven.
