Doers of the Word
August 15, 2021
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
A Mary Moment Revisited
She feared for her baby’s life. Today there are people out there wanting to kill children or waiting to sell them drugs. Parents know what Mary knew and fear what she feared.
She fled with her husband and became a refugee and joins the countless displaced persons who are homeless and waiting in the world’s doorways. The Magnificat becomes their prayer as they wait to be lifted up.
She became a widow. After burying her husband, cried the tears, and returned to an empty bed. Her son leave home at the age of 30. She is alone. A Mary Moment when every mother and father see their children grow up and leave them behind. How many Mary Moments are experienced in a Nursing Home!
She wants to see her son. His is busy preaching, teaching and healing. She waits. She understands. Then she discovers that he is caught. She looks for him. So many people around him shouting derogatory remarks. They cry “Crucify Him.”
Finally, she meets up with him. He is hanging on the cross. She cradles the broken body of her only son and sobs: the most dramatic Mary Moment of all when every parent who loses a child, friend or classmate.
We imagine her “Assumption” after all of this. We listen to Handel’s Messiah. We identify with her because she is the ageless Woman for all Times and All Seasons. She unties the knots and waits for us at the end of our journey.
Rachael Naomi Remen says it beautifully, “I’ve spent many years learning / how to fix life, only to discover / at the end of the day / that life is not broken. / There is a hidden seed of greater wholeness / in every one and everything, / We serve life best / when we water it / and befriend it. / When we listen before we act. / In befriending life / we do not make things happen / according to our own design. /We uncover something that is already happening / in us and around us and / create conditions that enable it. / Everything is moving toward its place of wholeness / always struggling against odds. / Everything has a deep dream of itself and its fulfillment.” (My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging. 2000)