{"id":1717,"date":"2007-08-14T22:09:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-14T22:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/08\/homily-for-august-15-2007-solemnity-of-the-assumption.html"},"modified":"2007-08-14T22:09:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-14T22:09:00","slug":"homily-for-august-15-2007-solemnity-of-the-assumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/08\/homily-for-august-15-2007-solemnity-of-the-assumption.html","title":{"rendered":"Homily for August 15, 2007: Solemnity of the Assumption"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> The gospel today begins with a journey. <\/p>\n

\u201cMary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

This time of year, I think, a lot of us can appreciate the idea of taking a trip. Millions of us are headed to the beach or the mountains, National Parks or Disney World. But what Mary does here is hardly a vacation. She has just been told that she is to be the Mother of God. And rather than keeping this news to herself, or wondering how she will cope, she sets out on a journey, to visit her cousin, Elizabeth — and we have this momentous scene that follows, The Visitation. <\/p>\n

Not only does Mary take this journey to a town of Judah but, with this event, the great journey of her LIFE begins \u2013 an adventure that will not end until her final journey, to heaven, on the feast we celebrate today, the Assumption. <\/p>\n

We tend to think of the Blessed Mother as a quiet, serene figure \u2013 a woman of few words, but blessed with tremendous faith, and boundless trust. This is true. <\/p>\n

But this morning, I\u2019d like to ask you to think of her a little differently. <\/p>\n

Think of her also as a woman of action. <\/p>\n

She is a woman on a continual journey — constantly, by necessity, on the move. She is restless, rarely sitting still or staying in one place. <\/p>\n

After this journey to see Elizabeth, we next find Mary embarking on an arduous trip, while pregnant, to Bethlehem. <\/p>\n

After giving birth, she and her small family are on the move again, fleeing to Egypt, to escape death. <\/p>\n

We meet her again, traveling to Jerusalem, where her son goes missing \u2013 and we follow her as she goes in search of him. Finding him, she continues her travels, bringing him home to Nazareth. <\/p>\n

Mary, as the first disciple, in many ways prefigures all the disciples who will follow \u2013 those who traveled, mostly on foot, throughout the world to spread the gospel and proclaim the good news. Like those apostles, Mary was a missionary \u2013 the first missionary, a woman who traveled and carried Christ to the world. <\/p>\n

In today\u2019s gospel, we see her, literally, bringing Jesus to another, as she carries him in her womb and goes to her cousin and speaks the words any missionary might pronounce \u2013 words which are the very essence of The Good News, and the beginning of all belief: <\/p>\n

\u201cMy soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n

What follows, the Magnificat, is Mary\u2019s great gift to scripture, one of its most beautiful prayers. It is prayed every evening in the Liturgy of the Hours by millions around the world. With that, Mary\u2019s great acclamation becomes the Church\u2019s. <\/p>\n

We can only imagine what other travels she took in the course of her life \u2026 but we can\u2019t forget one in particular, the most difficult of all, as she followed her son on HIS journey to Calvary. <\/p>\n

But today, on this feast, we celebrate her ultimate journey \u2013 her assumption into heaven, body and soul. The woman who spent so much of her life in motion — setting out, traveling, searching and fleeing \u2013 finally is given a place of rest, a place \u201cprepared by God,\u201d as Revelation puts it. This day, we honor that, and honor how God has \u201clooked with favor on his lowly servant.\u201d <\/p>\n

This feast marks the end of Mary\u2019s earthly story \u2013 and the beginning of one that continues, to this day, in heaven. She becomes, for all time, what Elizabeth says in her first word of greeting: \u201cBlessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

But though she left this world, Mary is not removed from us. Her life is closely entwined with ours. All of us, like Mary, are on a journey. All of us are traveling to places we may not understand, to destinations we cannot see. This is life. But we ask Mary to help guide us on our way. <\/p>\n

The road is long. The journey isn\u2019t easy. We pray to have the trust in God that we need to travel whatever road we must take \u2013 just as Mary did. <\/p>\n

And we pray, too, that one day our journeying will lead us to meet her face to face \u2013 in that place prepared for her, that destination that became her home, and where she waits for us, with a mother\u2019s love and a mother\u2019s hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The gospel today begins with a journey. \u201cMary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste\u2026\u201d This time of year, I think, a lot of us can appreciate the idea of taking a trip. Millions of us are headed to the beach or the mountains, National Parks or Disney World. But what Mary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies"],"yoast_head":"\nHomily for August 15, 2007: Solemnity of the Assumption - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/08\/homily-for-august-15-2007-solemnity-of-the-assumption.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homily for August 15, 2007: Solemnity of the Assumption - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The gospel today begins with a journey. \u201cMary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste\u2026\u201d This time of year, I think, a lot of us can appreciate the idea of taking a trip. 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