Today we rejoice as Jesus welcomes his Virgin
Mother into Paradise. And we know her
journey is a foretaste of our own – we are destined like her to be with him
forever. When he ascended Jesus took our flesh into heaven. In Christ Jesus matter has been glorified forever; for our flesh, all that we are, is very precious to
God. And so he has taken the sinless Virgin Mary first of all, and with her we
celebrate this sacred intersection, this interconnectedness between heaven and
earth.
Mary’s Assumption into heaven is a sign of things to come for
all of us and for all creation, a great sign of hope, for it reveals the
destiny God intends for each of us. Our homeland as human beings is heaven. All of us, all of creation, is in a
vast progression toward God in Christ. He is our beginning, our way and our goal.
With Mary as our guide, our confidante, our intercessor, the Mother of Mercy we
live in hope and confidence.
Tintoretto, The Assumption of the Virgin , (detail), 1582-97, oil on canvas, Scuola di San Rocco, Venice.
