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From the Pen of Fr. Tim - 8/13/2023
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From the Pen of Fr. Tim
This week, we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And this year it is a Holy Day of Obligation. God ‘willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be exempted from this general rule. She, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body.’
While the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was believed by many of the Church Fathers and Church Doctors, timing is everything. And the timing of the pronunciation of this teaching of Holy Mother Church came to us at a time when humanity stopped believing in itself. With all the horrors of two world wars, with the Korean War spiraling out of control, and with the cold war spinning up, humanity asked the question about our basic goodness.
The Blessed Virgin Mary – who had been given a unique Grace by the Lord to prepare her to be a worthy Tabernacle for our Lord’s Birth – cooperated this Grace and lived an extraordinary life. And thus God would not permit the corruption of death to touch her body. God permitted her to be redeemed immediately upon her death.
Among the Saints, it is not unheard of for Saint’s bodies to be incorrupt. God does this for the very same reason [in part] that He permitted the Virgin Mary’s Body to be Assumed into Heaven. The Incorrupt Saints are a sign to us to see how that person cooperated with Grace, and to follow their example. It is a call for you and I to cooperate with God’s Grace unto Eternal Life.
One a personal note: since I am not the pastor and not carrying those duties… as I said in my weekend homily: one of the things I seek to do is to pray for your needs. If you have a need you wish me to pray for, you need only ask.
Let us be careful out there!
Fr. Tim Henderson
