15 August 2023 – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Solemnity) (Year A)

By Fr Fabian Dicom

Dragons in some form or other are nearly universal across cultures. And as such have become quite significant in modern popular culture, especially in the fantasy genre. Shenron appears in Dragonball. Smaug appears in the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Viserion – Game of Thrones. Toothless – How to Train Your Dragon. And Merlin, I like his dragon, Kilgharrah.

A dragon, I hope I am allowed to say all these names in church, a dragon is a mythical monster. And in the West it tends to symbolise chaos or evil. Whereas in East Asia, it is usually a benevolent symbol of fertility associated with water and the heavens. Anyway, it is terrible if someone calls us a ‘dragon’, right?

We have today a dragon in our reading and it is a bad and evil one. The dragon begins its appearance as the ancient, it begins very early, as the ancient serpent in Genesis 3. A later interpretation of the talking snake in the Garden of Paradise. Now there is also an illusion of the beast to that of Daniel Chapter 7. A vision of Daniel, the book of Daniel. But clearly if we read this whole text that we read today, totally, that verse is missing, Chapter 12 Verse 9, Revelation says the dragon is the devil. But at the same time, it also represents the human empires, the human powers used by Satan to attack God’s people.

Now many viable interpreters agree that the beast referred to here in the Reading today by the author of the Book of Apocalypse or the Book of Revelation, Chapter 12 and Chapter 13, represents the Roman powers. And the main argument to support this idea is the contextualisation to the time of Jesus and John, who is accredited to write this, and the times, the Roman times. And even after that for the early Christians. The Roman powers. Keep that in mind.

And the second image in the Reading of today is a pregnant woman, adorned with sun, standing on the moon with twelve stars on her head. Who is this extraordinary woman whose child the dragon stands ready to devour? The word ‘woman’ in the Old Testament symbolises the people. The Old Testament people. And here it symbolises the people of God, bringing forth the Messiah. And here she was likely in today’s Reading, she is likely the symbol of the church at that time. The New Testament church.

The church was called to give birth to Christ, in words and in works, in the face of the hostility of the Roman Empire. So you need to transport yourself to the community who this book was written for. The child of this woman, the Risen Lord, was perceived as a threat by the Roman Empire and its local representatives because the woman brought a male child into the world. The son who was to rule all the nations with the iron sceptre. That is what the reading tells us today.

He laid claim to rule all nations, including Rome.

If Jesus alone is Lord, then the Emperor of Rome cannot be the Lord. The Emperor, the Conqueror, wanted to be declared as God.

So in this deadly conflict between the dragon and the woman, God cares for the woman, for the church. He cares for her. And according to the Reading, by making a place safely for her in the wilderness, the Lord to whom she gives birth in the world will ultimately be victorious over the dragon. All authority will finally be given to him.

This was a message of hope. This was a message of consolation for a struggling persecuted church at that time. A tiny minority in a society that insisted on the worship of the Emperor as God. So we need to understand the context.

Now as the Christian community grew, believers came to recognise the woman, not just as a symbol of the church, but as a symbol of Mary. This was not difficult for them to do so. The church was and should still be not the building but a community of disciples. That is the church and Mary was seen as the disciple par excellence. She was the perfect embodiment of the church. Everything about church was in her. And her life is the perfect blueprint of her disciple and that is the church in her. And the disciple she is or she was, we are called to be.

Now the Gospel of the day describes this all too well. Known event in Mary’s life – the Visitation where she in haste she left to visit, physically carrying Jesus in her womb, to visit Elizabeth, her older cousin. As disciples of the Lord, you and I are called to carry Jesus to others. Our baptismal calling is to become bearers of the Lord’s presence to all. Mary embodies our own baptismal calling. Mary has been described as a pattern for our pilgrim way. Now as the first disciple of her son, she shows what it means to follow the Lord’s way.

Now what possessed Mary to do this? Why? To bring the Lord to Elizabeth? What got into her?

We go back a bit. It is because at the moment of the Annunciation when the Angel came to her. She had given her whole self over to God’s purpose for her life. And she had consented to allow the Holy Spirit to overshadow her, to take hold of her completely.

So my dear brothers and sisters, to the extent that we give ourselves over to God’s purpose for our lives, and allow the Holy Spirit to overshadow us. And when I say ‘overshadow’ us, I don’t mean to go and speak in tongues. I don’t mean to making loud proclamations. I don’t mean being slain in the Spirit. I mean this gentle, humble acceptance of God’s purpose for us. And like Mary, we too will become people who bring the Lord to others. That is the consequence of being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and nothing else. Nothing else. It moves us in friendship, in charity of service.

There are other elements of the Gospel Reading that show us how Mary can be the blueprint or the software that we need to install and run so that we can go on that pilgrim way. When Mary reached her destination and greeted Elizabeth, Elizabeth we are told was filled with the Holy Spirit. We too are called to relate to others in the way that help them. And we can, to become filled with the Holy Spirit. And that opens them up more fully to the workings of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Mary’s encounter with Elizabeth invites us to ask ourselves if others are more alive in the Spirit, they are more empowered, they are more positive, and they are more joyful for having been in our company.

Elizabeth declares Mary ‘blessed’ because of her faith. Blessed is she who believes. Her faith showed itself in love, in her journey of loving concern for her older and more vulnerable pregnant cousin. She shows us that authentic faith, always expresses itself in loving service of others. That is the only benchmark for us.

As Saint Paul says in one of his letters:

The only thing that counts is faith working through love.

So just as Mary’s presence filled Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth’s presence and blessing of Mary as the mother of the Messiah fills Mary with this spirit of prayer.

My soul gives glory to God. My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.

Spontaneously. Mary’s prayer also goes to show her to be a radical woman. A radical woman who hungers for a new justice on earth. For she says:

Where the lowly are exulted, the hungry are filled and the oppressive powers are overcome.

The words of the Magnificat. And this are the similar message that we hear in the Beatitudes later on in Luke Chapter 6. It is God’s preferential option for the poor, not optional. Option. The option of a God who scrupulously respects human freedom. He awaits the response that will achieve that great transformation.

Mary shows that authentic faith expresses itself not only in love but working for justice. And that is the response. That must be our response.

So my dear brothers and sisters, the Readings of the day tell us that we must continue our journey of faith in hope and courage through good times and especially bad times, like the early church, like the woman who symbolises us. The Lord will take care of us and we must trust in that.

Mary shows us the way to bring Jesus to others by allowing the Holy Spirit to overshadow us. That our encounter with everyone will be an encounter of live, will be an encounter of love, will be an encounter of the Holy Spirit and by that they will be empowered, especially the poor and the marginalised.

If Mary is a pattern for us now on our pilgrim way, she is also a pattern of our ultimate destiny beyond our earthly pilgrimage where life does not end but changes. The Feast of her Assumption celebrates her full sharing in the risen life of Jesus. She gives us hope that in the words of today’s Second Reading:

All will be brought to life in Christ.

As one who shares fully in the Lord’s risen life, you and I can confidently turn to her, asking her to pray for us now and at the hour of our death and always looking towards her as the model that we want to emulate every moment of our lives.

Can I ask all of us to just remain silent for about a minute or two, just to contemplate the messages that we want to take back in our hearts.

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