Assumption (Luke 1)

     “Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” From the Gospel for today, the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 1, verses 48 and 49.

     In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Decades ago, in my parish in Toronto, a priest began his homily for this feast, by saying, “People who have problems with the Assumption of Mary make three false assumptions!” I don’t remember any more of the sermon than that; I don’t recall the “three false assumptions”, but, whatever they were, they didn’t detract from the splendor of the occasion, or from the veneration that the congregation accorded to Mary.

     The special place of Mary in Scripture and tradition is well-attested. And it’s her place in Scripture that I’m going to talk about tonight.

     Today’s Gospel, which is the psalm-like text we call the Magnificat, is placed between Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, and the birth of John the Baptist. It would make sense to include the visit to Elizabeth in today’s Gospel, because the Magnificat, in the text as we have it, is really a continuation of the conversation between Mary and Elizabeth. The Magnificat is a reply to, and an expansion of, the words of Elizabeth. And Elizabeth’s words continue the revelation in Luke’s Gospel of the role and meaning of Mary in the history of salvation, and Mary herself adds to that revelation.

     "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb,” says Elizabeth.  The blessedness of Mary is intimately connected to that of her son. The one cannot be separated from the other. Blessing, of course, is divine goodwill, or grace. We recall the greeting of the angel Gabriel to Mary, even earlier in the chapter, “Greetings, favored one!” or “Hail, full of grace,” as the old translation says. This is far more than a casual expression, a polite noise, which we may perceive as even more polite because an angel is condescending to address a human. “Favored one” or “full of grace” is a title, and meant to be understood as such. These words associate the blessedness, the grace-filled state of Mary with the many references to the blessings of God in the Hebrew Scriptures, beginning with material blessings of long life, family, crops, herds and wealth and including the later, deeper understanding of blessedness as wisdom, righteousness and peace. Wisdom, righteousness and peace in the Hebrew Scriptures are marks of the coming Messianic age. Blessedness means nearness to God and all that flows from that. When the angel addresses Mary as “favored” or “graced” he is associating her with all the blessings of God, past and future, especially with the blessings of the promised Messianic age. Elizabeth confirms this when she proclaims, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” This word “blessed” is not mere complimentary decoration around an encounter between two women, but is a theological statement about the nature of Mary and her child; the Evangelist is making it clear that Mary has a central, vital role in the history of salvation, a role as great as, or greater than, the roles of all the prophets and personalities in the Hebrew Scriptures before her. As Elizabeth says, “the Mother of my Lord comes to me.”

     Mary’s response to Elizabeth, today’s Gospel reading, has two parts. The first part, verses 46 through 49, records Mary’s reaction to the revelation she has received. The second part, the remainder of the Magnificat, is about God, the “Mighty One” as Mary calls him. She lists some of the Mighty One’s attributes, and summarizes some of his mighty acts in history, including his mighty act in preparing Mary for the birth of the Messiah, the Son of God.

     "My soul magnifies the Lord,” says Mary; other translations say, “my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” These are not mere words. Her “soul” proclaims the greatness of the Lord. In other words, in her inmost being, her soul, she perceives directly God in his greatness. This is a real experience, a spiritual and psychological event, in which she knows God directly; this knowing she calls “greatness”. The word “greatness” only begins to convey what this experience is like. The next verse does more to convey it: “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Imagine the flash of joy, of wonder and surprise, that she experiences in her awareness of her nearness to God. “Rejoicing” hints at the impact of this awareness. The history of the Church is full of people, men and women, young and old, who have had experiences like this. We know them as “mystics” or “contemplatives” and the lives of some of them have been recorded. And Mary is a model for them all.

     “For he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.” The literal meaning here is easy to understand: a high-status being has decided to confer a favor on a low-status person. (The Mighty One is nothing if not “high status”.). We are all familiar with this kind of behavior. Our society has many high-status individuals who do confer favors on the rest of society, financial and otherwise. We are all impressed by such acts, and are grateful for them, as we should be. But there is more going on in this verse than a mere status-based transaction. The “favor” after all, is nothing less than the spiritual good of the world, the salvation of the human race. It is Mary’s lowliness, that is, her utter lack of concern for worldly status, which has made it possible for the Mighty One to bring the Messiah into the world. The same soul which perceives the greatness of God, perceives the real nature of the salvation he is offering, and makes it possible for that salvation to come into the world. Her “lowliness” is her complete willingness to accept her calling, to make this salvation possible.

     “Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.” This Biblical injunction is as clear as it can be, and mainstream Christians have been calling Mary blessed ever since she first uttered these words. These words are a clear expression of Mary’s nature and role in the history of salvation. We call her blessed, because her acceptance of her vocation to bring the Messiah, the Son of God, into the world, helped make possible our blessedness, our ability to accept God’s gift of eternal life with him.

     "Assumption” comes from “assumpta” meaning “taken up.” The word and the idea have a long history, but I’m not going to get into a long, technical discussion about this word, and other words for the feast like Dormition and Falling Sleep and all the arguments about just what is meant here. All such discussions would lead us away from what is the main point of this celebration: the central, and pivotal, role of Mary in the history of salvation, and the veneration she deserves. Because Mary is blessed, so are we blessed, and Mary has helped make that blessedness possible.

     In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.