Readings (Year B):
Revelation 11:19; 12:1–6, 10
Psalm 45:10–12, 16
1 Corinthians 15:20–27
Luke 1:39–56
Reflection: Great things from God
Today, the church celebrates the assumption of Mary, and we might wonder what this has to do with us. The answer is quite simple: Whatever God has done for Mary, God has done or will do for us. Mary was conceived without original sin, and in the waters of baptism, we are cleansed of original sin. Mary brought Christ into the world, in the anointing with chrism, we are commissioned to bring him into the world by what we say and do. And as Mary was assumed into heaven, a place in heaven awaits us.
In today’s gospel, we hear Mary’s great prayer of thanksgiving (Luke 1:46–47), a prayer we are invited to make our own: Our souls proclaim the greatness of the Lord. Our spirits rejoice in God our Savior.
Many years ago, when I was a seminarian, I did some volunteer work at an inner-city parish in Chicago. The pastor emeritus had been retired there for many years. When he was pastor in the 1960s and 70s, the neighborhood around the parish changed. It had once been a large Irish Catholic community, but as Black families began to move in, most of the long-time parishioners began to move out.
The pastor strove to welcome the new members of the community and at the same time to encourage the parishioners to stay in the neighborhood and welcome their new neighbors, too. While many of the white parishioners moved away, he stayed. And when he retired, he asked the new pastor if he could continue to stay.
I got to know him as a kind, old man—a man of God—who cared deeply for the people of God no matter their race, color, or creed. When I was a deacon, I would sometimes assist him at Mass. His vision was going and he was sometimes forgetful, losing track of where he was in the celebration. After a while, he could no longer preside and rarely left his room, and on occasion I would bring him his meals and we would talk.
During one conversation, he told me that he wanted the Magnificat, the prayer of Mary, to be read at his funeral. He was afraid that whoever preached at his funeral would make him out to be a good and holy man, and he wanted none of that. What he wanted people to remember was what Mary wanted people to remember: “The Mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Luke 1:49). Mary takes no credit for anything and instead points to what God has done for her. The old, dying priest wanted to be remembered for what God had done, not for what he had done.
Every evening, millions of people in the church pray the Magnificat. Every time I pray it, I am reminded to remember what Mary and that old, dying priest remembered: “The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
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