THE WOMAN’S COMPLETE VICTORY

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

 

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

The solemnity of the Assumption celebrates the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven at the end of her earthly life. The feast is rooted on a dogma which states that having completed the course of her earthly life, Mary the Mother of Jesus was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. It was on the first of November, 1950 that Pope Pius XII promulgated this dogma in the apostolic constitution munificentissimus Deus.

The first reading is taken from the book of Revelations (11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab) which generally exposed the complete victory of the woman blessed by God. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Who is this woman? She is the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was with child, who is Jesus, her son. There was another sign. The huge red dragon was readily waiting for the woman to give birth to devour her child when she gives birth, but God saved the child, and gave a properly prepared place to the woman.

This woman was adorned with the sun, the moon and the stars. This links us to the dream of Joseph in Genesis 37:9-11. And Joseph had another dream. This time, the sun, the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me. Here, the sun represented the father, the moon the mother and the eleven stars the brothers. The picture was a picture of Israel, and so Joseph was dreaming that Israel would be saved from destruction through him. And that is the same picture we must see in Revelation. The twelve tribes of Israel represent the sons and daughters of Israel (the people of God), but the children of God have now been begotten by faith. So, the twelve tribes represent all of the children of God begotten by faith who would be saved from destruction by sin by the singular fiat of this woman to be the mother of the saviour. There is a clear reference to Jesus as the child who would rule all nations (cf. Ps. 2:9). He alone is exalted up to the throne of God.

The woman would give birth to a child who would rule with an iron sceptre against the nations of the world. He has come to destroy evil. He comes to bring righteousness and godliness to the world by being so hard against evil and the devil. The Psalmist says, you will rule with an iron sceptre; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. And so, because of the highly exalted place of the baby (Jesus) of this woman, God prepared a special place for her. In her specialty, she was not allowed to see corruption but to be taken up body and soul to heaven. We celebrate her because she endured the pains of childbearing. We celebrate her because she had a facial encounter with the red dragon that was patiently waiting to devour her child. Oh, what a tensed state. We celebrate her because God Himself showed his power over the dragon, and taking the child gave her a most exalted place. She was saved so that she can be a channel of grace for us. Little wonder, the Blessed Virgin Mary is called mediatrix of all graces. She became a channel of grace because she allowed herself to become a channel of God’s entrance into the world.

If we align ourselves with such grace, we cannot walk in disgrace. The devil represented as the dragon will always suffer defeat. Even in the midst of the crisscross of good and evil here on earth, God remains there to save us from evil. There is a constant struggle between good and evil, but the good finally prevails. This tells us that there is a great spiritual combat waged behind the scenes of this world, fought for the souls of men. It is grace which goes hand in hand with our efforts that can make us win the war.

Finally, in an age of carnality, sensuality and materialism the assumption reminds us of the dignity and destiny of our human body, and while appreciating the dignity of womanhood, and channels our thinking capacity to the true life beyond the grave. The grace of assumption then gives to the human body the dignity it should have as it makes us to realize that God uses and favours everyone regardless of race and gender. Assumption gives us a clue to be expectant of the life beyond ours and to work to join those going to a properly prepared place. As the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God and our mother is victorious, we too can be completely victorious after our earthly toil. HAPPY ASSUMPTION day. God bless you.