Mary’s Assumption During the Jubilee Year of Hope
We are at the midway of the month of August, and we can see the daylight hours are getting visibly shorter. The summer is quickly moving to its informal closing on Labor Day, and it does not seem quite possible that the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope is halfway spent. School has already started, and the pace of life will change in southern Florida. Time slowly but surely moves forward, and this is a sign of hope for us to celebrate this Jubilee Year.
It is fitting that we now celebrate the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary as it reminds us of our journey through life. As time moves forward, so do the days of our lives. That movement is a natural one and will eventually result in us moving from time into eternity. However, Mary’s Assumption puts that movement into a hopeful perspective. She, too, had to depart from this world, but her departure reminds us that we are put in this world precisely for that departure. Unfortunately, the consequences of original sin have brought an uncomfortableness and even pain to that departure. However, it was not meant to be that way. The Assumption of Mary helps to restore a necessary perspective of hope.
Last year, on the solemnity of the Assumption, Pope Francis reminded us of Mary as a woman constantly on the move. In his Angelus message, he referred to Mary’s visitation of her cousin Elizabeth, as recounted in the Gospel reading from St. Luke for the Mass for the Assumption. The pope said, “In reality, this first journey is a metaphor for her whole life, because from that moment on, Mary will always be on the move: she will always be on the move following Jesus as a disciple of the kingdom. And, in the end, her earthly pilgrimage concludes with her Assumption into heaven where, together with her Son, she enjoys the joy of eternal life forever.” During this Jubilee Year, the Assumption reminds us of the reason we have hope as we journey and are on the move through this life.
Mary’s Assumption into heaven was infallibly defined by Pope Pius XII on Aug. 15, 1950. He stated, “Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” Mary’s life in this world had to be completed as do all of ours. Whether she knew the time of its completion or how it would come about cannot be determined. However, when her earthly life was completed, she was the first to share in the fullness of her Son’s Resurrection by being raised bodily into heaven. Like Christ, Mary shares in the life of heaven as no other. She has a privileged place but one that is meant to remind us of what we anticipate.
The Assumption is above all a feast of hope, of sure hope. It is the feast that reminds us of where we are all heading and of our ultimate home in heaven. While what God has given to us in this life is good and meant to make us happy, it is temporary and passes away before us as each day of our lives passes. We are on a journey to eternal life where ultimately all in this world will be transformed into the fullness of God’s kingdom. Mary has made the journey perfectly and reminds us of what awaits us all. It is this hope that gives us life and purpose and also enables us to have hope in the difficult situations we sometimes face in our life.
Mary is the first to share fully in the fullness of redemption, which Christ obtained for us by his cross and Resurrection. She is the perfect disciple and holds out to all of us the sure hope that is ours in Christ. Her body did not experience any corruption in death as does ours, but, like her Son, she was taken body and soul into heaven. We will await the resurrection of our bodies as our souls are taken into eternity. For Mary, it has all taken place as she now reigns as Queen of Heaven, beckoning all of us to the culmination of our lives in heaven. Indeed, it can be said that in Mary heaven and earth come together as God had intended it to be.
The importance of hope, as lived by Mary, is well summed up in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength. ... They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint” (Is 40:31). These words make clear that God gives strength to those who hope and trust in Him. Mary is the embodiment of this type of hope. She never doubted God’s promise and always reflected light to those who came into her presence. This is clear from the joy that Mary brought to her cousin, Elizabeth, and to the strength that she gave to the apostles. No one else possessed the hope of Mary, not even John the Baptist. The Baptist needed to be reassured of who Christ was, but Mary never faltered. Mary, again, embodied the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Though many faint and grow weary and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, ... they will soar as with eagles’ wings” (Is 40:30,31). It is the soaring into eternal life which is the focus of all hope, and Mary’s Assumption is the ultimate sign of this hope for all of us.
As the month of August continues to move ahead and the amount of daylight slowly decreases around us, we realize that our lives also are moving forward and ultimately into eternal life. Mary reflects Christ, who is the source of all of our hope. We move ahead with great hope knowing that life has purpose found only in God. We move ahead knowing that all the limitations of this world will ultimately pass away and one day we will see God face to face. Mary’s Assumption reminds us that God’s kingdom will ultimately come and our lives will be clothed in the fullness of light. May Mary, “always on the move,” continue to be our hope and guide.
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
