The Queen: Editorial: LET’S CELEBRATE MARY’S ASSUMPTION
Fr. J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
LET’S CELEBRATE MARY’S ASSUMPTION
Do prices at the supermarket ever come down?
Although the consumer price index tells us that inflation is minimal, whoever does the family shopping knows that those figures are misleading. Expenses for the ordinary household are zooming. Bananas have steadily increases. The price of fresh fish – even if on sale is out of sight.
Wait! Hold on! No matter the legitimacy of our gripes, the general population of the First World does have the wherewithal to cope with the higher costs. And we do have more than the basic staples to satisfy us. What about the majority of our brothers and sisters, bundled in rags, trying to fall asleep in some ramshackle dwelling? And the persistent pangs of hunger rob them of rest. A hunger so severe it kills.
We so easily shrug our shoulders and say that the problem of world poverty is too massive for any one individual to rectify it. And after all, haven’t we enough problems trying to make ends meet? So we pour the evening martini, our troublesome consciences strangely calmed.
REJOICE IN THE GREAT SUMMER FESTIVAL
Such an attitude is equivalently a denial of the great summer festival of Mary, the feast of the Assumption. Why? First, redemption is of the entire person, soul AND body. It is not just Mary’s soul which is one with her risen Son. No matter how theologians may attempt to explain it, the feast insists that Mary, in the fullness of her personality – soul AND body – enjoys the glory of God. Mary is the exemplar of what it means to be graced, to be redeemed, to be saved. Therefore, the body is called to share in the victory of Jesus Lord. The Assumption teaches us that hunger, homelessness, lack of the basic necessities of life are all glaring signs that the redemption by Christ Jesus has not as yet been fully implemented. Evangelization is not just bringing good news to the soul but to the whole person.
Second, Mary, in the glory of her Assumption is the effective spiritual Mother of us all. Not just of Americans. Not just of Catholics. Her maternal role in the risen Christ comprises all people. We are all the children of Our Lady so that we may be more intensely the sons and daughters of God.
WE MUST ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE . . .
To celebrate the feast of the Assumption is to accept the challenge to bring the fullness of redemption to all our brothers and sisters. We are one with the starving, with the disenfranchised, with those who are the discards of the rugged individualism of western culture. Like Mary of the Magnificat, we must boldly accept the challenge to bring the Good News to all people, to the WHOLE person. This is an intrinsic element of Saint Louis de Montfort’s spirituality.
Where can we start? In our own home town. If we truly celebrate the Assumption, our hearts become sensitive to the need for evangelization in its totality. And we cannot forget those who although thousands of miles away are also our brothers and sisters in need.
Editorial
From time to time, The Queen will republish Editorials or create new Editorials on various topics.
To celebrate the feast of the Assumption is to accept the challenge to bring the fullness of redemption to all our brothers and sisters. We are one with the starving, with the disenfranchised, with those who are the discards of the rugged individualism of western culture. Like Mary of the Magnificat, we must boldly accept the challenge to bring the Good News to all people, to the WHOLE person. This is an intrinsic element of Saint Louis de Montfort’s spirituality.
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What can we do? Years ago Saint Ambrose gave us a beautiful answer, repeated in various forms down through the years and in the teachings of the magisterium:
The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment in your wardrobe is the garment of those who are naked. The shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of those who are barefoot. The money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are so many injustices.
. . . TO BRING THE GOOD NEWS TO THE WHOLE PERSON
So go on and celebrate the Assumption! Celebrate our certain victorious goal ahead, Jesus risen. Rejoice that, like Mary, we too will share soul AND body – in the fullness of the eternal triumph of Christ. Furthermore, celebrate that we are one redeemed family, bonded together no matter our race, our nationality, our society-status. Celebrate the Assumption by accepting the challenge of evangelization of the whole person. Celebrate the Assumption by following the appeal of Ambrose; share what you have with the poor! No matter how much we may gripe about the spiraling prices, we have too much when we consider the starving homeless of this world.
Look into your closet. Take a look into your refrigerator. Look into your bank account. Look into your way of life. Then read again the appeal of St. Ambrose and follow it through. Then we will really be celebrating the feast of the Assumption.
