Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15, 2020 at St. Austin Catholic Parish in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Psalm 45; 1 Cor 15:20-27; and Luke 1:39-56.

What’s your image of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary? For years, I’d had an image in my mind that was a weird mix between those traditional statues of Mary standing demurely on a pedestal… and Julie Andrews sailing away with her umbrella at the end of the movie Mary Poppins. No, the point of today’s feast is not “Up, Up, and Away”!

The key to all of the Church’s Marian feasts is this: instead of focusing on how Mary may be different from the rest of us, we need to look for what we have in common with her. As we listen to our readings today, let’s keep two things in mind. First, the awesome image in our first reading from Revelation, about the woman clothed with the sun, is probably not a representation of Mary. The symbolism of Revelation is complex, but we think that this woman represents all of us within the Church. Each of us has a place prepared by God. Secondly, our reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is the key to understanding the importance of what we celebrate today.  

Let us take a moment to celebrate the graces and mercies that God has showered upon each of us, graces we expect to receive for the rest of our lives and beyond.

We’ve been using a new translation of the Roman Missal for almost nine years now, and I’ve gotten accustomed to most of the changes. Many of them aren’t a big deal, a few still seem awkward to me, but some I absolutely love. Even though we rarely use the Nicene Creed at St. Austin, the new translation of its last sentence rolls off my tongue easily. I find it powerful to declare this belief out loud: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

That statement, believe or not, is at the heart of what we’re celebrating. Today is a celebration of hope, a celebration of irrepressible, unmitigated hope. We’re going to explore this in three parts: (1) the life of the world to come, (2) the resurrection of the dead, (3) how Mary’s assumption can help strengthen our faith in the resurrection of the dead.

I definitely believe in the life of the world to come. We may doubt from time to time that we will each live forever, but for me, all I need to do is think about the wonderful people in my life who have already died. Our God is a loving God, and it simply can’t be that death is the end of the existence of these beloved people.  

I’ll never forget what a pastor of mine said roughly 20 years ago. He said: “The day my mother died, I knew there was a heaven.” 

What he said made sense to me then. It has made even more sense to me ever since my own mother died in September 2009. At the Easter Vigil seven months later, I found myself breaking into joyful tears as we sang the final song: “We shall rise again on the last day…. We will find an open door there.” God has prepared a place for each of us to live with God forever. A place for my mom. A place for my dad. A place for my relatives, for my friends, for everyone I’ve ever met through ministry, and for me. I firmly believe that if I live a life of faithful discipleship, I will be reunited with everyone who has been dear to me.

Let’s move on to the idea of “the resurrection of the dead.” We don’t know how time works after we die, but we believe that we will all eventually be resurrected at a time that we call “the last day.” We will each be transformed by God. We don’t understand the when, the where, or the how of the resurrection, but we’re not going to be disembodied souls: we will have eternal life, body and soul together. In a lot of ways, it just doesn’t make sense to us. Even though the bodily resurrection is a central tenet of our faith, Christians have continually struggled to understand the physics of how this will work. It’s easier to believe that our souls are something separate from our bodies, and that after we die, our souls will never be connected to our bodies again.

It’s easier to believe that only our souls – not our bodies – will have eternal life. But that easier concept forces us to reject another central belief of our faith in a subtle way. We believe that God created everything, and that everything created by God is good. That includes us. We believe that we are created in the image and likeness of God, and we believe that God declared us to be “very good.” Our bodies are good. They are essential to how God created each of us. When we start to think of “the life of the world to come” without our bodies being there, we run the risk of disconnecting ourselves from our emotions and our experiences, the very things that define who we are, who God has created us to be!  

We don’t understand how our bodies will be transformed in “the life of the world to come.” The Bible indicates that we’ll still be ourselves, but we might look a bit different after we’re resurrected. The disciples did not always immediately recognize the resurrected Jesus. Perhaps he was restored to health, or perhaps the disciples were too distracted to realize that it could possibly be him. But let’s remember: before the disciples recognized Jesus, they did not mistake him for some kind of angel or extraterrestrial! 

It’s hard to believe in the resurrection of the body, since we can’t comprehend how it will work. We’re no different than those early Christians in Corinth. In our second reading, St. Paul addresses their doubts about the resurrection of the dead. The Corinthians could believe that Jesus Christ had been resurrected from the dead, but they struggled to believe that they would also be resurrected from the dead.  

And this is where Mary can help us. We believe that Mary fully cooperated in God’s plan. Even if we struggle to think that God declared us to be “very good” when he created us, we can believe that God declared Mary to be “very good” when he created her.  

Again, we don’t understand where, when, or how we’ll enter into “the life of the world to come.” But we believe that Mary is already enjoying that life.  

This is a celebration of great hope. I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. We shall rise again on the last day. God has prepared a place for each of us. We will find an open door there. And when we arrive, Mary will already be there, welcoming us with open arms.