Today is the celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was announced only in 1950, but since the 3rd Century, people were recognizing this doctrine. This was not treated as a Festival as there was no record of the event in the Gospel. Mary’s strength was in her power of intercession. God allowed Mary to have a significant role in the history of salvation – Mary had a role in fighting the devil. We, as legionaries, also had to fight the devils, such as, our personal weakness. Men treasure freedom, they think they can be in control of everything, they can choose whatever they want. In reality, all Catholics should co-operate with the priest who should have the final say, as priests are chosen by God. The Church is a spiritual structure, not a human one, and not a democratic organization. In the Book of Revelation, Our Lady started fighting the devil and they were in active confrontation.
“Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you”. We are highly favoured as Mary was, the Lord is with us and we are blessed but the way it is revealed in our lives may be different. “All ages will call you blessed”, the honour conferred on Mary was the highest because Mary listened to God and did what He told her to, she was granted the blessedness of being the mother of the Son of God …. yet that very blessedness was to be a sword to pierce her heart. Some day she would see her son hanging on the cross. When Mary visited Elizabeth, she was just pregnant and facing a new challenge in her life but she was to bring Jesus to mankind. Through Jesus we can see God, and the ultimate happiness. However, we are always carrying too many worldly burdens, we have to give up reliance on materialistic things. We are blessed but are often controlled by the devil; Mary was blessed but she brought her blessings to others, she accompanied Jesus throughout his life. We have to read in depth the Word of God. In the Assumption, Mary prepared herself to be in unity with God, Mary’s trust was in God, co-operation with God’s mercy will lessen our suffering in Purgatory. Mary is always prepared to fulfil the purpose of God and we should also imitate, hollow out ourselves, provide more space in our hearts to receive the Word of God and prayers, so that we can become “full of Grace”. We had to rely on Mary and follow Jesus.
Spiritual Director
Fr. Francis Tam
15 August 2021