Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for August 15, 2006
Liturgical Year B - Cycle II
Assumption of the Virgin Mary
By Fr. Joshua Nyoni
Topic: Mary's Glorification
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Gospel
Lk 1:39-56
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with goodthings, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.”

Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
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Today we are celebrating the feast of the Assumption and the question is: What is the Assumption all about? In celebrating the Assumption we are celebrating, Mary’s glorification, her being taken body and soul into heaven. Fittingly, the Gospel emphasizes what God did for Mary: “the Almighty has done great things for me." Mary’s greatness comes from her participation in God’s plan, God’s plan for salvation. Her complete surrender, giving herself completely and in fidelity to what the Lord had asked her from the beginning. So in a way, I would say, Mary shows us the path of true discipleship, what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Mary’s example does challenge us because she allowed God to work great things in and through her and that must happen in our lives. We must allow God to work great things in and through us. In celebrating the Feast of the Assumption today, I invite you to reflect on three things about our mother, Mary:

First:
Mary was a servant of God. In her, we see the spirit of the handmaid, “Be it done to me according to your word." That is the spirit of service, the spirit which lives only for the other. She gave her life fully, totally. She was available to God.

Second:
Mary was a woman of joy. She was a carrier of joy. Elizabeth, in fact, exclaimed, “For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy.” Her presence, Mary’s presence, was joy. She imparted joy. Now as I speak of that I put the question for each one of us here: Does our presence, wherever we are, with whoever we are and in whatever circumstances we are; does our presence bring about joy or it brings about something else? Please don’t answer me. Answer that to your God. Mary was a carrier of joy. Am I? Are we?

Third:
Mary was a woman who made the great Yes. Mary believed. She made the great Yes of faith. And how did this Yes come about? She made the great Yes first in her heart and that Yes in her heart became the child Jesus in her sacred womb and gave that to the world for our own salvation. There we see Mary giving us something, giving herself to the world and that great Yes was a Yes of faith. How is my Yes to God? Is it like that or of one always on the fence?

Mary’s Yes, I would say, is summarized very well, very well by this song. In fact, you know very well that I’m not a good singer but, well, I’ll try my best. At least I can give you the words and then if I make a mistake, don’t worry about that. The words are as follows:
Maria of Yes, O! Teach me to say Yes.
One day Maria said her own Yes
And changed the face of the whole Earth
Because of her Yes, was born our Lord
And came to live among us the loved
One day myself, I said my own Yes, the Yes
That changed my life…

The point is, how is our Yes to God?