Sunday Gospel Reflection
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Luke 1:39-58
A Life of Assumptions
JM Nuqui – Campus Minister
For days now, I’ve been binge-watching the American adaptation of the “Good Doctor.” And every time I watch a hospital-based series, I cannot help but be amazed by how surgeons discuss the prognosis and diagnosis, and eventually how they carefully and accurately operate on the patient. One thing I noticed about the characters—at least in the series—is their desire to be acknowledged, noticed, and credited for the success of the operation. However, in the face of this thirst for credit and praise, there’s also a recurring statement directed to the patient after every successful surgery, “Hey, it was you who did great.”
My dear brothers and sisters, we hear in the Gospel today two interesting dialogues. Elizabeth’s, on one hand, were full of the pronoun “you.” Blessed are you among women. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. Then comes Mary’s response. Instead of grabbing all the praise unto herself, instead of taking credit, instead of assuming everything by responding through the first-person pronoun “I,” Mary defers to a third person. He has looked with favor on his lowly servant. He has cast down the might from the thrones and has lifted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich He has sent away empty. When Elizabeth exalted Mary, Mary humbled herself and magnified God.
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption. And we see how Mary’s life is full of assumptions—all in obedience to the will of the Father. In the Incarnation, God made Mary assume motherhood of His Son. In the passion, God made her assume the suffering and pain of seeing her son tortured and killed. And at the end of her life and mission here on Earth, God made Mary assume her place in heaven. At kahit kailan, hindi inako ni Maria na patungkol sa kanya ang lahat ng ito. Mary never presumed that she is blessed because she is good, but because God is good and gracious. She never presumed that she is holy because of her own right and power, but because God is holy and has graced her. God gifted her the Assumption into heaven, body and soul, because she was empty of all presumptuousness. Sa kanyang pagpapakumbaba, inangat siya ng Diyos.
And isn’t the Preface for today’s solemnity—saying that the Assumption of Mary is a “sign of sure hope and comfort to Your pilgrim people”—true in our lives? Isn’t the Assumption something we also experience in our everyday lives? That in our lowliness, God also lifts and magnifies us? Tulad ni Maria, inaangat din tayo ng Diyos.
Sa tuwing napapanigan ng hustisya ang mga mahihirap at mahihina, Assumption.
Sa tuwing napapatalsik o bumababa sa pwesto ang isang mapangabuso at kurakot na lider, Assumption.
Sa tuwing napapakain natin ang mga mahihirap at nagugutom sa pamamagitan ng mga community pantries, Assumption.
Sa mga pagkakataon na napapatunayan natin ang ating mga sarili sa kabila ng lahat ng pang-aapi at pagdududa, Assumption.
Sa lahat ng ating karanasan ng pagpapatawad at pag-ibig sa kabila ng lahat ng ating nagawang pagkakasala at pagkukulang, Assumption.
Through the Assumption, through Mary’s Magnificat, we realize how graced we are. In our lowliness, littleness, inadequacies, and frailties, the Lord lifts us. And wasn’t this made concrete when Christ was born? God, through Jesus, assumed our humanity, assumed our lowliness—and we are magnified by God. Labis labis na grasya. May our lives be always about God, and never about ourselves. And like Mary, may we also sing our hearts out, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”
Happy Solemnity of the Assumption!
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Artwork:
The Assumption of the Virgin by Andrés de Rubira
