"MY SOUL PROCLAIMS THE GREATNESS OF THE LORD."

“My Soul Proclaims the Greatness of the Lord…” Luke 1:46-47

IDENTIFY EACH STATEMENT AS TRUE OR FALSE WITH REFERENCE TO MARY’S ASSUMPTION:

a. The assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. [TRUE]

b. The assumption of Mary is a dogma of the Catholic Church which means that it has been declared as TRUE and FREE OF ERROR. [TRUE]

c. The assumption of Mary was defined as Dogma by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950. [TRUE]

d. In many countries the Feast is celebrated as a Holy Day of Obligation and so it is in the United States. [DEPENDS ON WHICH DAY IT FALLS]

Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated. (usccb.org)

e. The assumption of Mary is a result of her honor being freed from original sin right at the very moment of her conception. [TRUE]

On this Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let me highlight three attributes of God that Mary also shares as His Mother:

1. TRUTH – simply put, truth is defined in philosophy as the “conformity of the mind with reality.”The US Catholic Bishops’ Conference headed by Cardinal Francis George recently denounced the Aug. 4 decision of a federal judge to overturn a California voter-backed initiative that essentially banned same-sex marriage with the firm belief that “the misuse of law to change the nature of marriage undermines the common good.” The nature of marriage as it has always been is a union between one man and one woman and that is the TRUTH. This is not something that was made up by the Catholic Church. This truth is in fact, backed up by the main sources of the Catholic faith: Scriptures and Tradition, where the truth about the nature of marriage is taught whether explicitly or implicitly. Mary protected the sacred institution we call the family right from the very moment of her call to become the Mother of God. Her assumption did not make her a God but an instrument … a channel of TRUTH and so she’s called the SEAT OF WISDOM.

2. GOODNESS – We are aware of the universal call to holiness. A call that impels us to go back to our original state of goodness. A state of perfection … a state of glory. A state that day by day we strive achieving. I was stricken by the story of a homeless man in Manhattan who asked an ad executive for some spare change to buy himself some basic necessities worth $25. Instead of giving him some spare change, with full trust and confidence, the executive lent him her American Express Card to spend for his necessities. To the dismay of those who witnessed, the homeless man returned the trust by giving back the card. Some of us may be skeptical about the good deed, but what was striking was not only the gesture of lending the card with trust, but in recognizing the goodness which is actually inherent in the person. There is goodness in each one of us waiting to be unleashed. A goodness that could change this world.

Mary’s existence had been foretold right from the very beginning. She is the “woman” told in Genesis, who would crush the head of the serpent and from whose seed line the Savior will be born. Let her assumption be a reminder for us to assume goodness, to recognize the goodness from which we were created and to go back to that original state of glory that Mary enjoyed right from the moment of her conception.

3. BEAUTY - By beauty, I mean, ontological beauty. People tend to put their lives to waste because they forget the fact that each one is a MASTERPIECE, each one is BEAUTIFUL created in the very IMAGE and LIKENESS of God. When that important truth is forgotten, we misuse and abuse our own selves … our bodies that should have been Temples of God … manifestations of God’s very image.

Forget about what TV ads, celebrity stereotypes of beauty and look at your innate beauty. For all we know, the ones we look up as beautiful on television aren’t the ones who truly are beautiful within as we look at their lives (a number of famous people we know can attest to this). Look at the very beauty that Mary exuded as the Mother of our God, as “Theo-tokos,” meaning “God-bearer.” She was beautiful inside and out. The moment she bears the Son of God in grace and beauty was the very moment she made herself the most beautiful of all women.

f. TRUE OF FALSE: Truth, Goodness and Beauty are attributes of a perfect being who is God. Mary shares these attributes being chosen among all women and because of this, she too is PERFECT! [ABSOLUTELY TRUE]