Homily

In the heart of the month of August, the Churches of the East and the West together celebrate the feast of the Assumption of Mary. As known, in the Catholic Church, the dogma of the Assumption was proclaimed during the Holy Year of 1950. After listening to the bishops of the world, Pious XII proclaimed the assumption of Mary into heaven with her body. But the roots of this memorial reach back to the first centuries of the Church. In the East, where the feast perhaps began, it is still called the "Dormition of the Virgin." Saint Theodore of Stadium, astonished by the truth of this feast, asked himself: "What words will I use to explain your mystery? My mind is in difficulty...your mystery is uncommon and sublime: it transcends all of our ideas." And he added: "She who became a mother by giving birth remained as intact as a virgin, because it was God who was generated. Thus in your living formation, unlike all others, you alone rightfully put on the glory of the complete person, body and soul." And he concluded: "You have fallen asleep, yes, but not to die. You have been assumed into heaven, but you do not stop protecting the human family."
The ancient icon of the Dormition shows how, when the end of the terrestrial life of the Mother of Jesus was approaching, angels told all of the Apostles spread over the world what was happening, and they all quickly came and gathered around Mary’s bed. We could say that they recreated the scene of Pentecost, the day when they were gathered in the upper room and "joined constantly in prayer, together with some women, including Mary" (Acts 1:14). Now they have gathered around her again after some years from that day, and maybe they tell her about all of the wonders the Lord had worked through their preaching. The miracle of Pentecost had not ended: many Christian communities had been born in numerous cities. The little seed had become a tree with many branches. Tradition says that as soon as the Apostles finished speaking, Mary fell asleep. In the East, this scene was turned into an icon that depicts today’s feast. At the centre there is Jesus holding Mary’s soul, depicted as a little girl, in his arms; she has become "little" for the Kingdom, and the Lord is taking her into heaven. We could say that today’s feast reminds us of the last leg of the journey Mary undertook immediately after the angel’s greeting.
We heard from the Gospel according the Luke that Mary "set out at that time and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country." In those days, Mary hurried from Galilee to a town near Jerusalem in order to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Today, we see her hurry towards the mountain of the Heavenly Jerusalem to encounter at last the face of the Father and of the Son. It must be said that Mary never left her son’s side during her earthly life. We saw her fleeing to Egypt with the little Jesus, then she brought him as a teenager to Jerusalem, and then for thirty years she watched over him daily in Nazareth, keeping everything in her heart. She then followed him when he left Galilee in order to preach in every town and village. She was with him at the foot of the cross. Today we see her reach the mountain of God, "clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars," (Revelation 12:1) and enter into heaven, through the heavenly Jerusalem. She was the first believer who welcomed the Word of God, and now she is the first to be taken into heaven. She was the first person to take Jesus in her arms when he was still a child, and now she is the first to be taken into the arms of the Son to be assumed into heaven. Because she welcomed the Gospel, a humble girl from a tiny village that was lost on the edges of the empire has become the first citizen of heaven, assumed by God and placed beside the throne of the Son. Truly, the Lord has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and raised up the lowly.
The mystery we are celebrating today is great indeed. It is Mary’s mystery, but also it is the mystery of each one of us, and the very mystery of history. In fact, all those who bind their lives to the Son as Mary did will follow her on the path opened up by her assumption. The pages of the Bible read during this liturgy immerse us in this mystery of salvation. The book of Revelation tears open the heavens of history and shows us the struggle between good and evil: on one side, there is the woman and her child, and on the other side, there is the red, crowned dragon. Christian interpretation sees in this passage the figure of Mary (the image of the Church) and Christ. Mary and Christ, intimately connected one to the other, are the highest sign of goodness and salvation. On the other side there is the dragon, the monstrous symbol of violence. He is red like the blood he sheds and drunk with power, symbolized by the crowns he wears. Mary, with Jesus, forms the new "couple" that saves the world. If, at the beginning of history, Adam and Eve were defeated by the evil one, in the fullness of time the new Adam and the new Eve defeat the enemy once and for all. With Jesus’ victory over evil, even death, both physical and interior, is defeated. The resurrection of the Son and the assumption of Mary stand out clearly against the horizon of history. The apostle Paul writes: "For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ."
Mary’s Assumption into heaven in body speaks to us about our future: we too will stand next to the Lord in body. One could say that the full victory of the resurrection begins with today’s feast: the new heavens and the new earth announced by Revelations begin today. The celestial Jerusalem is starting to be inhabited, and it is beginning its life of peace, justice, and love. Mary’s Magnificat can rightly become our song, the song of the whole of humanity, as it sees the Lord bend down and touch all men and women, humble creatures that they are, and take them with him into heaven. Today, united with the humble woman from Galilee, we hear the particularly festive Magnificat sung by all those nameless women whom no one remembers, those poor women crushed by the weight of life and by the tragedy of violence who finally feel themselves embraced by strong and affectionate hands that lift them up and lead them into heaven. Yes, today is also the feast of God’s assumption of poor women. It is the assumption of the slaves, the women of the south of the world who are forced to go through life doubled over to the ground; it is the assumption of the girls forced to work in inhumane conditions and exposed to an early death; it is the assumption of the women forced to succumb in body and spirit to the blind violence of men; it is the assumption of the women who work in secret while no one remembers them. Today the Lord has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the humble and unknown women. The Lord has sent the rich and powerful away empty-handed and has filled the women who hunger for bread, love, friendship and tenderness with good things.