At every Eucharist, we receive the Body of Christ.
Today, as we honor Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant, for a moment we pause to think of ourselves as the ark of the New Covenant. We honor Mary because she is the New Ark of the New Covenant. Mary carried within her the Savior of the world – Jesus, who was the New Covenant of God. The angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son, and that “the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Lk 1:35). In the Catholic tradition, Mary is called the New Ark of the New Covenant. The original Ark was made of wood and it contained the two tablets and pieces of manna. Today’s first reading begins with a reference to the “Ark of the Covenant” (Rev 11:19). Modern Day Implications of the Feast of the Assumption If we can model our lives on Mary, then Mary’s destiny is ours as well. God’s original vision for the human race to live in the garden of Eden is still open to humanity. But the assumption of Mary tells us that God has not given up on humanity. Humanity’s disobedience, rebellion, and capacity for evil and self-destruction tell us that human beings can use their God-given freedom and derail God’s plan and vision for humanity. When we see in Mary the image in which God created the human race, we also see how far humanity has diverged from that original image. In Mary, we see the obedience, the cooperation, the goodness, the holiness in which the first man and woman should have lived. When the first man and woman sinned, God promised that it would be through a woman that God will crush the head of the ancient serpent. In Mary, we see the image in which God created the human race. If we want to understand what God really intended when God made the first man and woman, then all we have to do is look at Mary. Thus, today we celebrate the feast of the Assumption. Whether it is the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception, or the feast of the Assumption, each of these feasts was established as the Church discerned that Mary’s life, her faith, and what God accomplished in, through, and for her, needed to be integral to the life of the Church. Third, like so many other Marian feasts, the Feast of the Assumption reflects a historical or doctrinal development. Only in retrospect does the Church apply this scripture passage to Mary. This passage is about the liberation and redemption of a persecuted Church. The woman rescued from the dragon is the Church. The first reading from Revelation that is used for this feast, for example, was not originally written about Mary. Second, this is a non-biblical feast in the sense that there is no biblical evidence to support the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven.
First of all, while the Assumption of Mary is an ancient tradition and has a long history in the Church, this dogma was defined relatively recently-by Pope Pius XII in November 1950, only a little over 70 years ago. Let us seek pardon for our sins, so that our lives may be pure and holy like that of Mary. If we model our lives on Mary, then we will share in her destiny. When we look at Mary, we see both the image in which God created human persons and human destiny. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. A reflection on the readings for Sunday, Augthe Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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