Assumption of Mary Lk 1,39-56

Introduction.
The Roman writer Aulus Gelasius wrote about his experience on the way from Cassiopeia to Brundusia. On the ship was a philosopher from Athens who promised to teach his students to despise death for money. While the boat was sailing, a storm broke out. The writer observed how the travelers behaved. They all screamed as the ship was tossed back and forth in the great waves. The philosopher did not yell. His face, however, was white as a wall. He was shaking like a leaf. He, too, was afraid of death. Even today, many charlatans come with various techniques and promises; we teach them to eliminate the fear of death. We don’t have to seek help from these frauds. Our faith gives us hope that death is not the downfall of life. We are aware of all this on today’s feast of the Assumption of Mary.
Homily.
The apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives after the Ascension of Jesus. They all prayed with one accord, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers./ Apost. 1,14/. The Holy Scripture does not remember Mary then. However, there is much in the Christian tradition. She participated daily in the Holy Mass and visited the places where her Son suffered and died. After the death of Jesus, she lived for 23 years. St. Paul writes that death is the punishment for sin. Since Mary was without sin, neither original nor personal, she should not taste death. But she wanted to be conformed to Jesus Christ, who also died. If we accept it as God’s will, death is the expression of great humility, the opportunity to gain great graces. Our death is often preceded by various illnesses, pains, and memory loss. This was not the case with St. Mary. With her, death came like a silent sleep in which her soul separated from her body. St. Jerome writes that he saw the body of St. Mary buried in the Gethsemane Garden. God called the apostles to Jerusalem when the time of Mary’s departure was approaching. They witnessed her death, and they buried her body. Only the apostle Thomas was absent. When he came on the third day, the apostles opened her tomb to show him Mary’s body for the last time. But in the tomb, the body was not. The apostles were convinced that Jesus had taken the body of St. Mary to heaven. This news also gives us the possibility to see further and deeper. Let us not see death as a ruthless, brutal law. Let us also see its second shore. Death is liberation only when a man is prepared for death, when he dies in peace, when he gives his soul to God. Who thinks that death lives well and dies well? At the world championship in parachuting, a French parachutist’s parachute did not open. He fell to the ground and died. His wife ran to him and called for a priest. Fortunately, among the spectators was a priest who spoke French. He gave the dying man absolution, the last anointing. The spouse was satisfied. She did not call the doctor because it was already in vain. She did not pull out the hair from despair. She did what was most necessary. Both of them were deeply believing people. That is why the dying man received the grace that opened the way to eternal life. We must not flee from death, but accept and prepare for it. Let us ask St. Mary to intercede for us with her Son, and so ask for many graces for us for the hour of our death.