In other words, belonging to the Lord, we are to be like Him crucified to the world so that it can be saved. If to follow Christ is to walk the Way of the Cross, then the person who does it most perfectly is none other than Mary, His mother. She is the woman for whom her service to her God did not end at Golgotha or even at her earthly demise. It continues today. Therefore, if the “Little Flower” promised to spend her heaven doing good on earth, one can imagine how much more present on earth has Our Lady been in the mission of Son’s mercy.
As such, the Assumption is more than a celebration of our solitary boast. It is more of an expression of our gratitude to God for the presence of Mary. If life is a pilgrimage, then, this Marian solemnity is truly a pitstop in the odyssey through this Valley of Tears. When times are tough, we need encouragement and our consolation is to contemplate the destiny of Mary.[1] She followed Him closely and as her body was privileged to bear God’s Son, it stands to reason that she did not experience corporeal corruption and thus, united body and soul, she was assumed into heaven.
This pitstop is not as Marian as it is Christ-centred for us to be grateful to the Lord for His graciousness to Mary.[2] When we gaze at her, we can see our destiny in the distant horizon because at the Cross Jesus gave us more than a model and the type for the Church.[3] In Mary, we have hope and a guarantee.
In a particularly life-engaging apparition, slightly more than a 100 years ago, Our Lady stood before three children in Fatima. The timing is significant because she appeared in the midst of the “Spanish Flu” with a world gripped by a global conflict. She came when man needed a helping hand and a realignment of his moral compass. Given that we are stuck in this never-seem-to-end pandemic, we have the same opportunity to turn to Mary, the Mother of Hope.
In terms of hope, we may not realise how desparate we are. Technology has advanced exponentially since the time of the “Spanish Flu”. For example, genome sequencing has played a pivotal role in understanding and helping authorities respond to the pattern of Covid transmission. It is a known fact that genome sequencing for Covid-19 was accomplished in a matter of days whereas the same process for SARS, more than a decade ago, took three months to map. Genomics is central to the effective development of vaccines. Now with the inoculation speeded up, what we witness in the re-opening of countries and economies is a rise in the cases of infection.
Our hubris is technico-mechanical in a sense. Somehow, we have laboured under an assumption (no pun intended) that it is only a matter of time that we turn the corner. All we need is a faster scientific response and technological control. What may not have sunk in for many is how impotent scientific expertise has been. What escapes us is that man can shout all he wants but God’s ways are just not ours. Many of us are no more than a six-degree separation from someone we know who has passed on due to Covid-19. Before we trot out the usual catchphrase that God is capricious, we should perhaps pause.
What we may have failed to grasp is that with this Delta variant, the end may have to be pushed back as many are dying around us. The palpable despair that characterises our reality highlights our failure to appreciate an existential truth. Dependence on God is the intrinsic condition for true human existence. Thus, as rosaries were prayed during the Battle of Lepanto, in our vulnerability, we turn to Mary the hope and help of Christians. Sub Tuum Praesidium. We fly to thee of Virgin of virgins.
As the prevailing mantra continues to shout at us to “Follow the science”, we should instead “read the sign”. Mary is the sign along this Eucharistic detour. While following the science is important, we should also be aware that under the unforgiving glare of this “god of science”, fear can always be dressed up as prudence. This type of precaution should be illuminated by God’s guarantee because under that light, Mary stands signalling us not to be afraid. Our Lady of Hope and the Refuge of Sinners can help us in this difficult time when death envelopes us all.
The Assumption of Our Lady is our guarantee. Yes, we may not be immaculately conceived (even though our present-day presumption is that people are immaculately conceived) but our hope is that when we follow Christ like Mary did, then at the Resurrection, our body reunited with our soul, will enjoy the same glory that Mary has now. In the context of a predicament presented by the pandemic, the dogma of the Assumption is a definite declaration that no scientific response can ever solve the riddle of death. Only faith in the Resurrection can. The Bread of the Resurrection is the Eucharist. Thus, it makes perfect sense that we made this detour. She is our promise of the future and the Eucharist, the “Viaticum”, is the guarantee of our eternal destiny.
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[1] It is remarked that Pius XII in declaring the dogma of the Assumption left open the question of whether Mary died and rose immediately to be assumed into heaven or she went to heaven directly without experiencing death. In the East, the focus was on the Dormition, the Sleeping of Mary, that her departure was more of a sleep than a death. In the West, they sees her death more of a resemblance of Christ rather than of us, sinful men. She died not on account of sin, but she died just as her sinless Son did on the Cross.
[2] He had already graced her at her conception by protecting her from the corruption of Adam’s sin and now at the end of her earthly life, He graced her once again. The Assumption is the Immaculate Conception brought to its logical conclusion.
[3] The text of the Catechism (#966) states that “Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death”. This is taken from Vatican II’s Lumen gentium (#59) which echoes Pope Pius XII’s Munificentissimus Deus.
