August 15, 2021 – Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081521-Day.cfm)

How fascinating it is to see two or more pregnant women meet. Familiar or stranger they might be to one another, whenever pregnant women cross path with each other, we could readily sense their excitement & anticipation of their coming child birthing. Regardless of the circumstances of their pregnancy, whether of teenage, out of wedlock, menopausal or planned pregnancy, pregnant women by instinct know not only the difficulties & challenges but also the great promise pregnancy can bring into their very lives. Deep inside, pregnant women know how blessed they are to bear & rear a child, and sense their joys & blessing are not only for them to keep, but is to be shared to everybody and all. That is why how infecting and life-giving it is for us to see meetings of pregnant women.

This is what happened to Mary & Elizabeth in our gospel today. Under questionable situation, Mary on teenage pregnancy & out of wedlock, & her cousin Elizabeth, barren for many years, now pregnant on her old age met & shared their joys & gratitude as they found themselves on the way pregnant. They both cannot contain themselves to be happy for each other & to praise God in thanksgiving for the blessing of the promise of a new & better life ahead, not only for themselves, but for all humanity. Whatever their circumstance they are in, pregnant as they are, they believe that through their pregnancy, great grace & blessings are in store ahead for all of us.    

Be as it may. While we are dealing nowadays with increasing numbers of casualties due to death & sickness during these pandemic times, we cannot help but wonder about our life now & hereafter. While we are still in our survival mode, coping with large amounts of uncertainties & insecurities, somehow we ponder not only on the sense & meaning of what is happening in our lives now, but also on what our future will be. We have already loss and still losing number of lives in these pandemic times, and we do find ourselves asking these hard questions: What’s next? To those who have gone before us, what happen to them next? And what’s next for us who are still here? Is there Life after Death? If death is upon us, what’s the point of life then? Is there a life here-after?

In God’s plan of salvation – our history of salvation, we Christian faithful followers believe in the resurrection of the body & life everlasting. By His death & resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ has offered us the promise & given us the hope for eternal life with our Father. For us who believes Jesus as our resurrection & life, our life in faith with God is not ended but transformed, improved, upgraded, & above all eternal. Thus we believe that there is more to life for us Christian, than what we are going through now & even more than our inevitable death. In other words, we believe that our faith in Jesus Christ has given us meaning & purpose in life here & now &  life here-after.

For us believers, there is life after death for our faith life in Christ now is pregnant with life eternal. By faith, we believe that our life now can be better & sacred at present & hereafter. And whenever God & us cooperate and collaborate, salvation is assured and heaven-life eternal is possible for us now & always.

Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Assumption of our Blessed Virgin Mary. Today the whole church gives importance to the entry of the BVM into heaven at the end of her life on earth. We recognize that through her assumption, Mary is the forerunner and archetype of our faith journey in life. Salvation begun when Mary took responsibility for God’s word into our lives. Human life is now pregnant with God’s salvation, as Mary collaborated and journey with God’s will for humanity. As Mary’s faith in God assured her of eternal life, we now also assured that at the end of our life-journey, with God there is the promise of life hereafter & eternal.

The assumption of our Blessed Virgin Mary simply reminds us that there is life after death & there is life before death as well, whenever like Mary, we consent & participate in God’s will of salvation for us. Our life now & hereafter is pregnant with God’s salvation…And that is how Blessed are we, and how joyful & grateful we should be.

With Mary, in this Eucharist, we praise the Almighty God for He has done great things for us. Holy is His Name. May we always be blessed in Life same way as Mary has been blessed now and forever. Amen.