the
The Assumption of Our Lady: August 21 Readings: Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10, Psalm 45:1-12, 16, 1 Corinthians 15:20-27, Luke 1:39-56
N
EXT Sunday we celebrate in this country the Assumption of Our Lady. Now the thing that we have to remember is that doctrines about Mary always point to the truth about her Son, and also to the truth about her fellow human beings. And that can be difficult. The first reading reveals that Mary and her Son are under threat, the “woman clothed in the sun, and the moon under her feet and on her head”. She is in labour, but, worse than that, there is “a great red dragon”, which represents the hostile power of Rome, waiting to “swallow up her child when she gives birth”. The child, however, is safely born, because this is God’s project, and, we learn “is going to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod”, and is snatched up to the safety of God’s throne. So the child, clearly Jesus, is going to be protected by God, and we breathe a sigh of relief; but the woman remains under threat, and “fled to the desert, where there was a place prepared from God”. So she should be all right. Then we hear a liturgical hymn, which gives us confidence, whose refrain goes: “Now
S outher n C ross
Mystery of Assumption has come the Salvation and the Power and the Kingdom of our God—and the authority of his Messiah.” Do you see how the text points to God and to Jesus, and to Mary only secondarily, and then to us as fellow-members of the human race? That is the secret of the Assumption. The psalm is probably originally a coronation-song, or a royal wedding-hymn; in this excerpt from it, the poet first addresses the king, congratulating him on the number of women who wait upon him. Then his wife is addressed, perhaps not in terms that are currently fashionable, since she is told: “Forget your people and the house of your father; the king is going to desire your beauty. He is your Lord; and you must worship him.” Whatever we think of the patriarchal society that produced this poem, it fits well enough the relationship between Mary and her Son; she finds a new role precisely in pointing to Jesus, the “Lord” whom she is to “worship”. We only understand Our Lady in her connection with Jesus. The second reading faces head-on the difficulty that many people feel with regard to
the Assumption, namely the privilege that Mary has in being raised from the dead. Paul’s answer, directed against his Corinthians who were finding it a bit difficult to believe, not so much in the Resurrection of Jesus but in the resurrection of others who have died, is to go back to basis. He insists that Jesus’ Resurrection was only the beginning. For Paul, what happens to Jesus means the undoing of what happened in Adam. In him, “everyone dies”, while in Jesus “all shall be made alive”. But there is a correct order: “first Christ, and then those who belong to Christ” (and Our Lady, of course, is high on that particular list). Then: “At the end when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father…he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet.” So this feast of the Assumption holds the whole thing together; Mary is a sign of what God has done in Christ, and what God is still doing for us. There is much to celebrate here. In the Gospel we hear the lovely story of the Visitation, beautifully painted by Luke. Once again the tale brings together God and Jesus and Mary.
How we misunderstand hell H
tion because of the fear of hell, it is essentially wrong and should not be taught in the name of Christianity. Why? Because it belies the God and the deep truths that Jesus revealed. Jesus did teach that there was a hell and that it was a possibility for everyone. But the hell that Jesus spoke of is not a place or a state where someone is begging for one last chance, just one more minute of life to make an act of contrition, and God is refusing. The God whom Jesus both incarnates and reveals is a God who is forever open to repentance, forever open to contrition, and forever waiting our return from our prodigal wanderings. With God we never exhaust our chances. Can you imagine God looking at a repentant man or woman and saying: “Sorry! For you, it’s too late! You had your chance! Don’t come asking for another chance now!” That could not be the Father of Jesus.
A
nd yet, the gospels can give us that impression. We have, for example, the famous parable of the rich man who ignores the poor man at his doorstep, dies, and ends up in hell, while the poor man, Lazarus, whom he had ignored, is now in heaven, comforted in the bosom of Abraham. From his torment in hell, the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to him with some water, but Abraham replies that there is an unbridgeable gap between heaven
Conrad
ELL is never a nasty surprise waiting for a basically happy person. Hell can only be the full-flowering of a pride and selfishness that have, through a long time, twisted a heart so thoroughly that it considers happiness as unhappiness and has an arrogant disdain for happy people. If you are essentially warm of heart this side of eternity, you need not fear that a nasty surprise awaits you on the other side because somewhere along the line, unknowingly, you missed the boat and your life went terribly wrong. Unfortunately for many us, the preaching and catechesis of our youth sometimes schooled us in the idea that you could tragically miss the boat without knowing it and that there was no return. You could live your life sincerely, in essential honesty, relate fairly to others, try your best given your weaknesses, have some bounce and happiness in life, and then die and find that some sin you’ve committed or mistake you’d made, perhaps even unknowingly, could doom you to hell and there was no further chance for repentance. The second of your death was your last chance to change things, no second chances after death, no matter how badly you might like then to repent. As a tree falls so shall it lie! We were schooled to fear dying and the afterlife. But whatever the practical effectiveness of such a concept, because it really could make one hesitate in the face of tempta-
576AM
Nicholas King SJ
Sunday Reflections
Mary, presumably a girl of no more than twelve, makes the long (and, one might say, unwise) journey from Galilee to the Judean uplands, where she greets Elizabeth, and finds that this is a God-moment, for Elizabeth’s child enables her, “filled with the Holy Spirit”, to identify Mary’s child: “Where does this come from that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” This is important, because up to this point in Luke’s gospel “Lord” has referred only to God. Nor does the story end there, because the second part of the gospel is the thoroughly subversive song that we call the “Magnificat”, which envisages God “sending the rich away empty”. There is a clue here as to how we are to respond to the mystery of Mary. Finally, she does not stay longer than she needs, but after three months (presumably referring to the birth of John) she goes home. She is a very inconspicuous servant of God and of her Son, this lady whose feast we shall celebrate on Sunday.
Southern Crossword #719
Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI
Final Reflection
and hell and no one can cross from one side to the other. That text, along with Jesus’ warnings that the doors of the wedding banquet will at a point be irrevocably closed, has led to the common misconception that there is a point of no return, that once in hell, it is too late to repent. But that’s not what this text, nor Jesus’ warning on the urgency of repentance, teaches. The “unbridgeable gap” here refers, among other things, to a gap that remains forever unbridged here in this world between the rich and the poor. And it remains unbridged because of our intransigence, our failure to change heart, our lack of contrition, not because God runs out of patience and says: “Enough! No more chances!” It remains unbridged because, habitually, we become so set in our ways that we are incapable of change and genuine repentance. Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus actually draws upon a more ancient Jewish story that illustrates this intransigence: In the parallel Jewish parable, God does hear the rich man’s plea from hell for a second chance and grants it to him. The rich man, now full of new resolutions, returns to life, goes immediately to the market, loads his cart with food, and, as he is driving home, meets Lazarus on the road. Lazarus asks for a loaf of bread. The rich man jumps off his cart to give it to him, but as he pulls a huge loaf of bread from his cart, his old self starts to reassert itself. He begins to think: “This man doesn’t need a whole loaf! Why not just give him a part! And why should he have a fresh loaf, I’ll give him some of the stale bread!” Immediately he finds himself back in hell! He still cannot bridge the gap. The psychospiritual writer Kathleen Dowling Singh submits that in making a series of mental contractions we create our own fear of death. That’s true too for the afterlife: By making a series of unfortunate theological contractions we create our own fear of hell.
ACROSS 5. ... of My Saviour (hymn) (4) 7. Where you might find an Anglican superior? (4,6) 8. His garments were as white as this (Dn 7) (4) 10. The devil showed Jesus all of them (Mt 4) (8) 11. Decreased, leaving Dee frightened (6) 12. Amble a short way with bread bun (6) 14. Bear what a highwayman can do (4,2) 16. Postpones (6) 17. Some of the works of mercy (8) 19 Yield to some who precede you (4) 21. Let earth go around completely (10) 22. Sure way to find employer (4)
DOWN 1. Shut in this way (4) 2. Rained and drew shoe away (8) 3. Garrotted (6) 4. They are plainly not right (6) 5. Drop from the little house (4) 6. Without work (10) 9. Nicer pools around old cemetery (10) 13. Let Leo react when you move to another parish (8) 15. Uncomplicated chastity (6) 16. It came down heavily on Noah (6) 18. Shape of fruit that’s gone bad? (4) 20. His book follows Chronicles (4)
Solutions on page 13
CHURCH CHUCKLE
T
WO boys were walking home from catechism after hearing a strong lesson on the devil. One said to the other: “What do you think about all this Satan stuff?” The other boy replied: “Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out. It’s probably just your Dad.”
in Johannesburg & beyond DStv Audio 870
www.radioveritas.co.za streaming live
SMS 41809 MASS followed by Mass Intention 41809 VERI followed by comments
PO Box 4599, edenvale, 1610 (t) 011 663-4700 eblaser@radioveritas.co.za
For all your Sand and Stone requirements in Piet Retief, Southern Mpumalanga
Tel: 017 826 0054/5 Cell: 082 904 7840 Email: sales@eskaycrushers.co.za