Bishop Gruss: 'We need Mary's assistance'. A message for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary in the life of the Church, we are also mindful that this too is the patronal feast of the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption.

I remember back when I was ordained a priest, the bishop concluded the series of questions to me and those ordained with me with these words, 'May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.'

In a way, this is what we are celebrating in this Solemnity of Mary’s assumption into heaven. The good work which the Lord began in the life of Mary at her Immaculate Conception, when she was preserved from original sin, has come to fulfillment in her Assumption, body and soul into heaven. Her earthly role as Mother of the Son of God has been completed. As she was united with Jesus in his life and death on earth, so now she shares the fullness of his resurrection in heaven.

Our destiny

The Assumption of Mary reflects our own destiny as God’s adoptive children and members of the body of Christ. Like our Blessed Mother, our destiny is to share fully in the Lord’s victory over sin and death, and to reign with him in his eternal Kingdom. Like Mary, the Lord’s good work in us will be brought to completion – as long as we cooperate with the grace offered to us.

We know that we cannot get there on our own initiative. Just as Mary DID NOT get there on her own initiative. She responded to the Lord’s invitation and was provided all the graces necessary. Her response, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to thy word” must be our response as well.

We must accept the invitation to surrender our lives completely to the will of the Father. Again, we cannot do it on our own initiative. It is always a response to grace. If we truly desire to do the will of God, God will always give us the grace to respond to whatever His will might be.

To receive God requires the humility of Mary

More than anything God wants us for himself. He wants all of us in every part of us, both our sinfulness and our holiness. He never stops seeking after us.  Fr. Jean Corbon, in The Wellspring of Worship, says, “The most fruitful activity of the human person is to be able to receive God.”  To receive God requires the humility of Mary; it means giving up power and control, a self-surrender, abandonment, like Mary.  Placing our lives totally, body and spirit into God’s hands.

We so easily look away; we seek our own desires; we are often afraid of God, his love, and what he might ask of us. In looking at Mary, we see God’s original plan for humanity. In Mary, we see the way God wants us to be. Mary shows us how to receive the marvelous gift of God’s love, and how to respond to God’s redemptive action in our lives.

God’s original plan for humanity

If Mary does indeed show us “God’s original plan for humanity,” so does her glorious Assumption. In the Assumption, preserved forever before the face of God, freed from the corruption of the grave, Mary not only fulfills her great destiny – but also offers us a beautiful glimpse of our own. This is what God wants for us. This is what He dreams for us. This is His desire and design for the world.  The Assumption offers us that promise – and that hope. And Mary reflects this hope.

In this reality, Mary has not gone beyond our sight, but is as close to us as we desire to share in a relationship with her.  Mary becomes our guide as we call upon her in prayer. She becomes our guide as we seek her assistance through the rosary.  She becomes our guide as we entrust ourselves to her embrace.  She is our example, our guide, our Intercessor – our Mother.

We need Mary’s assistance

Mary accompanies us in life; she is united with us in our struggles; she sustains Christians in their fight against the forces of evil.  In our world, in our culture today, more than ever, we need Mary’s assistance.  And she always comes to the aid of those who seek her.

So we beg the assistance and protection of Our Lady, not only for ourselves, but for Christians everywhere in the world.

In celebrating her Assumption, we come to her as “poor banished children of Eve” asking her to turn her merciful eyes upon us, and make us worthy to not only, contemplate the face of mercy, her Son Jesus, but to receive the fullness of that mercy – so that God who has begun the good work in us may bring it to fulfillment.

Mary of the Assumption, pray for us and with us.

More presentations/homilies by Bishop Gruss