Mary our Mother

The feast of the Assumption... Death, where is your sting?  Sin, where is your victory? 

I have never quite understood why to celebrate this day.  I know that makes me sound like a complete pagan, but it has never struck my heart as anything very important.  I absolutely love the feast of the Annunciation.  Mary says yes and Christ is conceived in her.  For the first time ever, the Eternal God is physically present on this earth.  God becomes a little tumble of cells at the mercy of His mother's body to keep Him alive and to cherish Him.  And then we are invited to encounter this living God, not only spiritually, but physically as well.  The mysteries of the Annunciation bring so much joy and wonder to my heart. 

Other times, the great feast days of the Church are, sad to say, an excuse for me to eat more or to break a fast.  St. Joseph's feast day in Lent is exciting because it is just that, a feast day.  But as being a parent often challenges me to be more conscious about my behavior, dreaming of raising a good Catholic family on which these feast days are significant for more reasons than that we absolutely have to go to Mass or... what a great reason to run down the street and get Chipotle--my dreams also include relaying to my children why we are celebrating in the first place.  What is taking place?  Why rejoice in such a particular way today, this day that Mary assumed into Heaven?  What does that have to do with us? 

This morning in prayer I ended up surfing the internet for reflections on this special day, and was struck by words of Pope John Paul II saying that Mary leads the way for us into Heaven.  She shows us the power of Christ's triumph.  She is the first victim of God's mercy, she who was protected from even sinning in the first place, and who is first in line to experience His glory.  God shows us in her what will be for us.  This is good news! 

I still am hungry for more knowledge about this day and for a deeper encounter with Mary and Jesus in these mysteries, but I want to share one other comforting reflection.  I am probably not the only mother who often is gripped with anxiety over harm coming to my children.  Of all of these things I attempt to surrender to God and His providence, the lives of my children are the most difficult.  I find myself returning again and again to this breach in my relationship with Christ, because I can't seem to bring myself to trust Him with this.  Lately I have had an image that brings me closer to peace when I am swamped by these fears, and it is also significant to this feast day of Our Lady.  When Agnes gets hurt, she is hurt for but a moment, and I hold her in my arms until she is ok again.  My love for her is what she desires the most when she has to go through pain.  If I have this much love for my child, and if she is so consoled by me, so imperfect a mother, how much more, when death takes her, will Mary, the most perfect of mothers, and perfect in love, be able to hold her, to comfort her, to bring her rejoicing into beautiful Heaven.  How much confidence I can have in our Mother to care for my child if I am absent? 

Granted this latter reflection is probably not the one I will share with my little children around the feast day dinner table, but I will have more to share with them about death's failure to triumph, about our mother who waits for us in Heaven, about our own resurrection, and about Christ, who is the ultimate Prize, and so completely available to us always.