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Happy Feast Day

It is not easy to take ordinary life seriously. We see this when we move in the world of faith. Realism can frighten us. In the days of Jesus, Nazareth was virtually unknown. To come from there was not much of a commendation. This was the case of Jesus and things were not much better for his mother. The only real praise for Nazareth is that Jesus made it known. Even to this day Nazareth is not much in terms of wealth and beauty!

In Mary's day there was only one well there. There was a small synagogue. The archaeologists suggest a cave dwelling with a front to it as the house of Joseph; there may have been a couple of hundred inhabitants there then. And one is not even sure of that. It was a long pilgrimage for Mary from the annunciation to the assumption.

Why the Assumption?
The Assumption can be seen as the triumph of the act of faith. Mary was the first among believers. She exemplifies where belief in Jesus leads- to the experience of a life fulfilled. Life is about love and love is the realised fullness of harmony with oneself and with others. Our bodies are not second order aspects of us- we are our bodies. We are identified by our bodies. To be loved is to be loved with all our historical identifiers. We know ourselves and are known with and through our bodies. And the resurrection means being totally loved, or totally saved. What Jesus became in resurrection is also what resurrection means for others. That his mother was the first full participant in this was believed for centuries and centuries, long before it ever became known as the dogma of the Assumption in 1950.

Mother
Back to the ordinary again. It is impossible adequately to express the meaning of mother in ordinary language. Here as always we experience the distance between the reality and the name. But those who loved Jesus, who really in faith acknowledged his relationship with God, concluded that his mother had a special place in thinking of relationships with God. This involved thinking profoundly about motherhood. To be a mother is not to be a machine. Most of us surely shudder at the idea of surrogate motherhood. Human beings are turned into machines- supposing they can loan their bodies because of sympathy, or for money or for fame or even notoriety. Of all the relationships that of mother and child is the most mysterious and intimate. It cannot and must not be trivialised. The circumstances of the conception and birth of Jesus were so singular that believers meditated with Mary on it. Mary was not a machine but a willing loving mother. And her Son was the best person who ever lived on this earth. What she totally shared with him was her humanity. What he totally shared humanly with her was his Personhood.

From the time of the annunciation that young girl had lived daily life in Nazareth waiting for the birth of her Son. And who could have suspected what that involved? In Jerusalem she lived with the fear of his execution. She knew his origin; his earthly destiny depended on others. The Nazareth girl had become a mother of profound experience. That registered in the believing Christian imagination. Did she really die and pass away forever? Was she totally forgotten? Or was it right to expect that she would anticipate what all believers expect- the fullness of eternal life and love with her Son?

Assumption
The Assumption is a celebration of the fullness of humanity, what it is to be a total human being. It is the triumph of life itself. In days when people are dying of hunger or worried about obesity and anorexia it is right to celebrate the sheer goodness of being a human being, an ordinary human being. We honour the body maximally during these Olympic Games (2008). We are full of amazement at what people can achieve. If with that we could also celebrate sheer personal goodness, love, fidelity, the fullness of humanity, then we would be on the right track. If we could see what motherhood is, and how it is honoured and loved and esteemed in the eyes of God- then we will appreciate the Assumption. We are being shown the best in personal relationships. We are not just talking in abstractions. We are talking about a mother being loved totally and absolutely by her Son- we are being told of a mother's total self-giving for her Son. It is the story of love, and the model of love. Even Napoleon was not afraid to keep the feast as a national holiday in France- it was his birthday.

 

A happy feast to you all.
Fr Richard J. Taylor