Assumption of Mary. August 15, 2004. Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30. Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10, ab. 1 Corinthians 15:20-27. Luke 1: 39-56.

Millie had been through a very difficult year. Her marriage had ended very painfully, even though she had struggled to save it. She had been through the emotional and financial stress of starting a new life. Next came the expected news that she had multiple sclerosis, a progressively debilitating disease of the motor nervous system. All at once she felt totally defeated and very bitter.

One afternoon Millie was trying to pull herself together as she sat in the sun on the patio at the edge of her garden. She noticed that a small vine had poked its way through the crack between to slabs of cement in the sidewalk. She told herself that the little plant would not live long. It was planted on the sidewalk by mistake and its very existence was mistake. Much to the woman’s surprise the vine continued to grow, although it was a struggle for it to get water and nourishment through the crack in the sidewalk. The woman decided to protect the vine and she put something close to the vine on which it could climb if it really wanted to live. By mid summer the vine was reaching toward the sky, and it was covered with beautiful flowers. As the woman faced her new future and her newly discovered disease, the vine growing in the crack in the sidewalk became her hero. The other flowers in her garden were pampered and cared for. The vine growing out of the sidewalk showed her that it is possible to live and flourish even when the situation seems to be overwhelming and survival impossible.

Mary has often been pictured as a beautiful rose planed in God’s garden. The images we have of Mary are often of a soft and beautiful woman, young and fair in every aspect of her being. Mary is the beautiful woman, beautiful beyond every other member of the human race, except her divine Son whose beauty she shares. Mary’s beauty is not physical beauty. Mary’s beauty is in the faithfulness and strength of her soul. Mary is beautiful because she is full of grace.

Mary is the woman planted in the crack in the hardened cement of a sinful people. She was planed in the middle of the great rupture between God and the human race. While we have very tender feelings about the birth of Jesus in the Bethlehem stable, for Mary the situation was one of humiliation and poverty. Just think of it. Her son was being born in a barn and she could do nothing to provide something better for him. The Book of Revelation tells us even more about this woman who lived her life dealing with the hard realities of restoring the human race to friendship with God. While we might prefer to look at things from the point of view of the shepherds, the Book of Revelation gives us a cosmic point of view. It says, “The huge red dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God.”

Mary stood at the foot of the Cross when Jesus, her son, met the horrible dragon face to face. She experienced the hardness of her Son’s death and his burial. She was filled with joy at his resurrection and she lived in the power of that joy many years after Jesus ascended into heaven. As the early Church experienced the rage of the dragon in persecutions and martyrdom from without and dissention form within, Mary was there, the valiant woman challenging the infant Church to survival and growth, against all the raging of the dragon, by her own total surrender to the Holy Sprit.

Mary is the first and the best of all the disciples of Christ. She continues to show us the way to survive and flourish in a very threatening world. Mary’s Magnificat contains powerful words for the life of the Church and the secret of a holy life. Mary says “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” The first step to happiness is rejoicing in God. The secret to holiness is proclaiming God greatness. Mary goes on, “For God has looked on his servant in her lowliness, her poverty and her nothingness.” Mary knows that she has been planted in a very hard place and that she can do nothing about it herself. She is honest about her situation and her limitations. Mary doesn’t pretend to be adequate. Mary continues, “From this day all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me.” Mary also knows that she is a survivor, and much more than a survivor. All generations will call her blessed because of the powerful way that God has acted in her life. Mary is nothing and the most blessed woman in the history of the human race, both at the same time. Mary is the great teacher of the Church. She gives us the three steps to happiness and holiness. We are to rejoice in God. We are to be honest about our own poverty and nothingness. We are to recognize that God does great things in us and makes us blessed because God is good.

The statue of Mary in the front of Church is not loved by everyone. Some say that Mary looks too old. Some say that she isn’t beautiful. This statue is by a respected artist. It has a long history at Our Lady of Grace. It also has a message. Mary was a real woman, a hard working woman and even an old woman. Her beauty is in the faithfulness and grace of her soul. The beauty of her soul shows forth in the beauty of her body, but not with Hollywood beauty, but with the beauty of God’s saints and the beauty of the crucified Christ who even in glory bears the marks of the nails.

Mary teaches us to thrive where are planted and to trust God totally especially at the difficult times of life. Today we celebrate her Assumption into heaven body and soul. May Mary continue to mother us on the way that leads to eternal happiness in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. For this blessed Lady, filled with God’s grace, we give thanks and praise.