Homily on the Assumption of Mary

God is Spirit. He created the flesh and found it very good. Flesh is blessed by God. Through the incarnation of Jesus coming down, flesh was sanctified by God. The human flesh was so vulnerable and prone to sin and temptation so easily, it needs the creative hand of God, blessing of God and Sanctification by God. Through the assumption of Mary, it reaches another milestone; the Flesh is graced by God through Mary.
The Church teaches us that Mary with the whole reality of her life – with body and soul, therefore, - has entered into that perfect fulfillment which every Christian hopes for from the grace of God, as the one outcome and fruit of his own human life. By ‘flesh’, the one, complete, true physical human being was meant, and of him the Church says that his last end and his perfection consists in sharing one day the eternal glory of his creator, with the entire reality that constitutes him, glorified in his body, surrounded by a new heaven and a new earth, filled in all his spiritual powers by the whole splendor of the eternal Word.
That is the one eternal goal of man. Man is called to enter with body and soul into God’s life and God’s own glory. She has attained her perfect beatitude – Mary, full of grace has accomplished her earthy course, just as Christ is risen with his human nature.
Today’s Gospel teaches us a good lesson. The prayer of Mary is preceded by her good deeds: she rushed to serve the old woman Elizabeth. Though the flesh has the ability to ascend to divinity through opening our hearts in prayers, it is adorned further with grace through our good deeds: our sensitivity to the needs of others, our forgiving spirit, and our ability in walking an extra mile in love.
We know that the prayer of Mary, the Magnificat is an overwhelming and powerful prayer in the history and tradition of Christianity. This prayer is a powerful one since Mary had the ability to let God grace her flesh with her servanthood and Discipleship.
Magnificat influenced Jesus to the full, that his ability to teach the ‘Our Father’ to his apostles had its origin in it. ‘My soul glorifies the Lord’ is equivalent to ‘Our Father who art in heaven.’ God’s blessing and sanctification happens in and through Jesus in the ‘Our Father’ and man’s response and gratitude in ascending to the Divine love is experienced in and through ‘My soul glorifies the Lord’ of Mary. Mary teaches us that one lesson: to respond to God’s love with an undivided heart.
What is the lesson for us today? We are not here just to wonder and marvel at our great Mother; rather we stand by her in perfecting our own flesh, our own bodies. We have a responsibility in making it obvious that our bodies are temples of Holy Spirit. All temples belong to God. Let us pray that through the prayer and intercession of Mary, may our bodies be blessed, sanctified and graced by God, thus we too take part in the assumption of Mary. Amen.