Assuming Mary

The unquantifiable devotion of centuries of the faithful ensured that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was lavished with a raft of titles: Theotokos, Star of the Sea, Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of Lourdes, of Fatima, Help of Christians, of Mount Carmel, of Sorrows, of Providence, of Guadalupe, of Lebanon, of Peace and there are many, many more. Each title has a deep and rich history. What they have in common is acknowledging Mary’s role in the story of human salvation.

Mary was, as we know well, a very young woman when she was engaged to Joseph. Her ‘Amen’ to the angelic visitation is the paradigmatic, Christian response. We actually know very little information about Mary and her motherhood from the scriptures and much has been made of the small amount that does appear. Inquisitiveness about Mary did not exist in the very early church, and this is reflected in the Gospels and Paul’s letters. In the generations that followed, however, the faithful’s appreciation of her generosity and her proximity to the divine, gave rise to speculation. There is an ancient adage, de Maria nunquam satis (Latin: one can never say enough about Mary)

Speculation and reflection (in some cases) over many hundreds of years led to development of several key teachings about Mary, and ultimately enshrined as dogma by the church: Mary as Theotokos (Christ-bearer, or more commonly the Mother of God) in Ephesus in 431 AD; the Immaculate Conception in 1854, and the Assumption of Mary in 1950.

The Assumption is a feast that was celebrated from the 7th century in Rome and while it attempts to describe what occurred after Mary died, it is a reflection on her whole life, her call, her parenthood, her faithfulness, her discipleship, her provoking of Jesus’ ministry, her companionship. She stands a model for the church, the model believer. We struggle with language to express Mary’s role, and given Mary’s extraordinary role in salvation history, we need to be able to link the human Mary and what was asked of her in life with the God who asked so much of her. Our experience and reflection tell us that on death, this wonderful and most unique creature in creation was invited in her entire humanity, body and soul into eternal communion with her creator. Would we expect anything less?

Today the Assumption gives us a foretaste of what we too can expect. Mary is indeed the model, the exemplar of discipleship and each of us could do no better than to follow her example. This Sunday is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.