August 15, 2010 Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary Rev. 11:19, 12:-1-6, 10; 1 Cor. 15:20-27; Lk. 1:39-56 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/nab/081510a.shtml   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   The Feast of the Assumption of Mary states that the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into Heavenly glory. In Mary’s song, she tells of her Saviour who has "looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant." Mary sings a song of freedom for all who, in their poverty and their wretchedness, still believe that God will make a way where there is no way. Mary prophesies about a way that is coming in the wilderness of injustice. Here at the beginning, Mary rejoices in God’s destiny - for her, and for a world turned upside down. In the Mary’s song, God totally changes the order of things. God takes that which is on the bottom; and God turn everything upside down, and puts the bottom on top and the top on the bottom. God revolutionizes the way we think, the way we act, and the way we live. Before God’s revolution, we human beings were impressed with money, power, status and education. But God revolutionizes all of that; God totally changes all of that; God turns it upside down. The poor are put on the top; the rich are put on the bottom. It is a revolution; God’s revolution. The Magnificat clearly tells us of God’s compassion for the economically poor; and when God’s Spirit gets inside of Christians, we too have a renewed compassion and action for the poor. Our hearts are turned upside down. Can Mary’s God truly be our Lord and our God -- the God who overturns the way the world works, who elects the least and the last to bring in the kingdom, whose judgment in every sense will save the poor, the wronged and the oppressed? And yet, here is hope -- even for the likes of us. If Mary sings this Advent, perhaps we will finally know that every song of the future apart from hers is simply off key. Every future projected apart from Mary’s God has no future --it is doomed, and it is damned. But in Mary’s song, God will bring us the future. When Jesus gets a hold of us, Jesus revolutionizes our lives; he turns everything upside down and we look at the world differently. So the big question for your life and mine this morning is: has God’s revolution occurred in your life?  Have things been turned upside down where your life now is dedicated to exalting the poor, regarding the poor, feeding the poor, helping the poor, remembering the poor. Has this revolution occurred in your life and mine?     <<   Previous: 19th Ordinary Sunday  | Next: 21st Ordinary Sunday >>   Go Back to SERMONS (Year C)