Today we are blessed to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary as it falls on a Sunday for the first time in over 10 years. We get to celebrate this great memorial remembering and honoring the life of Jesus’ mother by pondering on how it ended. Mary was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory giving us a foretaste of what we pray at every Mass when we say “I believe…in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen!” The first reading we hear today enriches us with great insight on how Mary embodied a life of Christian holiness enabling her to achieve this great reward. Through the vision of Saint John, the apostle we hear in the book of Revelation that when “God’s temple was opened…the ark of the covenant could be seen in the temple. A great sign appeared in the sky, a Woman…she was with child” (Revelation 11:19,12:1). Although a mystical vision, even our early church fathers agreed that the woman is Mary and of course the child is Jesus. So, Mary is the “ark of the covenant.” Remember that the first ark of the covenant went missing and has never been seen again until this revelation.
Within the traditional ark of the covenant was a jar of manna, the staff (branch) of Aaron and of course the 10 Commandments of God (Hebrews 9:4). But what about Mary? For 9 months she carried within her the Bread of Life (true manna from heaven), the Messiah who is described as the “branch from the stump of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1) and the Word of God made flesh (John 1:1, 1:14). For 40 weeks the mother of God carried the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus our savior within her. Although hard to believe and comprehend, we also carry within us this gift and mystery for those sacred moments after we receive Jesus in the most holy Eucharist!
What can Mary teach us about being an ARK which allows the Lord to dwell in us richly? First, she Acquiesced and submitted to the plan of God and not her own. After the angel’s announcement, Mary made herself totally as clay in the hands of the potter when she replied, “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Second, she Reflected upon these heavenly events and “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Finally, Mary longed to Know more of God and her place in his plan by keeping close in frequent prayer. She and the apostles “devoted themselves to constant prayer” (Acts 1:14).
Mary gives to us on this feast day encouragement and hope that we too may one day behold the glory of the Lord and hear those comforting words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”