20 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF
MARY
Today the Church, in
her liturgy, presents Mary in her Assumption to Heaven, at the end of her
pilgrimage on earth that she began free from original sin. Her whole life was a
pilgrimage filled with love toward the God who favored her so much, making her
the mother of his Son Jesus
FIRST READING – Rev. 11:19a;
12:1-6a, 10ab
Ø John, the autor of the book of Revelation dewcribes here
a wonderful scene, the temple of God opens, the temple of eternity, of all that is
good and fills with love those who are in it.
Ø When it opens the Arc of the Covenant can be seen, and at
the same time the woman, clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and
a crown of twelve stars on her head, appears.
Ø Mary has been called, many times, the arc of the
covenant, because she carried in her womb the author of the covenant.
Ø The
author John tells us that the Woman that
will appear is not a real woman, but a sign, that is, a symbol of something
else. Of what?
Ø Now,
in the book of Revelation, every time that a woman appears, it is about a city,
or a people or a group of personified human beings. For example, the great Prostitute dressed in
purple (17, 1-4) symbolizes the city of Rome (17, 18). The bride coming down
from heaven (21, 2) symbolizes the city of Jerusalem (21, 10). The prophetess
Jezebel (2, 20) symbolizes a dangerous sect of the city of Thyatira.
Ø Thus,
the woman clothed with the sun must be also a people. But, what people? The New
Israel, the Church.
Ø The
book of Revelation or Apocalypse was written in times of great suffering in the
Little Nascent Christian Community, the new Israel.
Ø With
this sign of the woman, they were comforted on seeing how God protected her,
thus He would do the same with them, the nascent Church.
Ø This
woman, although persecuted, has given birth to the Messiah with the protection
of God. (Rev 12:5-6)
Ø In
the same way, the Christian Community, will give birth to the Messiah, in the
world in which they live, proclaiming with their life and their words Jesus,
Messiah and Lord.
Ø And
John can say “Now have salvation and power come, and the kingdom of our God and
the authority of his Anointed,”(Rev 12:10)
Ø The
Church in her reflection, listening to the voice of the Spirit who teaches her,
as Jesus said, has acknowledge in that woman not only the Church but also Mary,
the woman of Genesius, whose son will strike at the head of the serpent, the
evil one. María is the Young woman of Nazareth, the adolescent to whom the
Angel Gabriel greeted as “favored one, full of grace.”(Lk 1:28)
Ø But while in the most holy Virgin the Church has already reached that
perfection whereby she is without spot or wrinkle, (cf. Eph5: 27) the
followers of Christ still strive to increase in holiness by conquering
sin. And so they turn their eyes to Mary
who shines forth to the whole community of the elect as the model of
virtues. (Lumen Gentium 65, Documents of the Second Vatican Council)
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Sal 45:10.11.12.16
The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in
gold.
The queen takes her place at your right hand in
gold of Ophir.
The queen
stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear,
forget your people and your
father’s house.
The queen
stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
So shall the
king desire your beauty;
for he is your lord.
The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
They are borne in with gladness and joy;
they enter the palace of the
king.
The queen
stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
Ø This psalm describes
in a festive environment the wedding or act to take the bride to the house of
the bridegroom to live there with him.
Ø The
Young woman is invited to forget her family home to dedícate her life to the
King and she is told that in place of her parents she will have children.
GOSPEL Lk 1:39-56
Mary goes in haste, as someone who is
in a hurry. ¿Why are you in a hurry Mary? To help Elizabeth who is with child in her old
age.
Elizabeth’s child leaps in his
mother’s womb on hearing Mary’s greeting.
Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirits greets Mary as the mother of my
Lord.
And she says something very beautiful
about Mary “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the
Lord would be fulfilled.”(Lk 1:45)
What are those words? Full of grace…
You will conceive and give birth to a son… who will be called son of God….
Yes, Mary is blessed, because she has
believed without seeing, because she has believed in the light when all that
she saw was darkness, difficulties, dangers, of being considered among the
people of her town as the girl who became pregnant before her wedding and could
be stoned for that.
Mary, who is filled of the joy that
God has given to her, joy of those who say “yes” to God without seeing or
touching,… she sings a song of praise to
God who has looked at her, the God who looks those who are little, oppressed,
abandoned by society and does justice to them. He does also justice to the powerful taking
power from them thus, helping them to react and acknowledge what God says to us
continually “love one another….”
Mary in her song praises her God, the
God of Israel who remembers and is faithful to his promises, and these promises
are fulfilled in her, although, probably, she did not realize it then.
Let us sing to our God who has done
and does great things in each one of us. Let us think and remember what are
these things that the Lord has made for us and in us, and then, compose our own
song of praise, our Magnificat.
SECOND READING 1Cor 15,20-27ª
v Paul
says to us, that Christ has been risen from the dead, as the first fruits of
all who have fallen asleep.
v Death
entered the world by a man (Adam) and now the resurrection comes also by one
man (Christ.).
v Christ
must reign until God will have put all his(Jesus) enemies under his feet, this
is a sign of dominion over others, here is the dominion of his enemies.
v What
are these enemies? All that hurst and destroys human beings and the rest of the
creation of God, being death the last enemy.
v Christ
has conquered death on the cross, but he must conquer it in each one of us and
for this, he needs our cooperation. I believe that this cooperation is to make
real in our life, in our relationships, in our society and in our world the words
he said in the Last Supper “Love one
another as I have loved you.”
v Paul
says that when everything will be fulfilled, when there will not be sin nor death any longer; when we will love one
another, then Christ will handed over the power to God, his Father and our Father, as Jesus said the day of the
resurrection “my God and your God; my Father and your Father.
CLARETIAN CORNER
Day of the Assumption of Mary most holy. I
gather the young ladies I had admitted as companion with a great devotion and
fervor , offering ourselves to God by a vow of crossing the seas and go to any
part of the world without diving the group, nor go away from the opinion of our
superior in anything. Since I had at that time no other superior than my
confessor, we offer the vow to our Lord after the Holy Communion with the
intention to ratify it in the afternoon of the same day in the hands or
presence of the most Rev. Dr. Jose
Caixal – my confessor and the confessor of the others as well. As we promised
in the morning, we did it in the afternoon in the presence of Dr. Caixal and,
after we made the vow and offered ourselves to suffer any kind of trial for love
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the confessor gave us a talk so fervent telling us such things that have been very
profitable for us in so many tribulations which came to us, as it will be seen
(even only as a shadow) in this summary I am writing under obedience.
(Aut.MF 121)
O Mary, my Mother
and my hope, consolation of my soul and object of my love, consider all the
graces for which I have asked you in the past, all of which you have granted
me. Shall I find that this ever-flowing stream has only now gone dry? No, no,
it has never yet been heard, nor shall it ever be, that anyone who turns
devotedly to you has ever yet been turned away. My Lady, you can see that all
these things I ask you are for the greater glory of God and you, and for the
good of souls. Hence I hope to obtain them and I know I shall obtain them. That
you may grant this all the sooner, I do not offer you my merits, for I have
none to offer. Rather I shall say that, since you are the Daughter of the
Eternal Father, Mother of the Son of God, and Spouse of the Holy Spirit, it is
most becoming that you be filled with zeal for the honor of the Blessed
Trinity, whose loving image man's soul is--an image, furthermore, that has been
washed in the blood of God made man.(Aut. PF. 162).
SOURCES
CLARET, ANTONIO MARÍA. Autobiography.
PARIS, MARÍA ANTONIA. Autobiography.
DOCUMENTS OF THE COUNCIL VATICAN II in
the web page of the Holy See in “Fundamental Texts.”
NCCB (National Conference of Catholic
Bishops USA). Daily readings.
What I have explained about the woman
in the Apocalypse has been taken from the web.
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