Reflection

On Thursday 15 August 2019 the Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  On this day we recall that at the end of her earthly life Mary was assumed body and soul into the glory of heaven.

This Feast reminds us that we have been created for greatness.  Our destiny is to be with God sharing his life and joy in the glory of Heaven.  Our life here on earth has ups and downs, joys and sorrows, triumphs and tragedies but ultimately God has created us out of love, to be with Him and share in His own Blessed life.

The questions for us now is how do we live with our feet planted firmly here on the ground but with our eyes on our destiny, our eyes on Our Lord?  I think one small key is to live in the present moment. To make each moment a moment, where we do whatever it is we are doing (it could be listening to a friend in trouble, it could be working on a problem, it could be driving in a car or sitting on public transport) we are fully present to that moment, deeply engaged and trying to love and serve God and others.

Our God is always with us.  This never changes.  What does change is us.  Sometimes we are closed to God or so distracted with our own things that we do not see or hear God – present in our lives.  Taking time to be still, opening our hearts to the presence of God and prayer enables us to be more attune to the sacrament or the sacredness of the present moment which is a gift God gives us and this moment will never come again. It is only in the present moment that we can love.  Love is an action and we cannot act in the past or the future, only here and now.  If we take time each day and open our hearts to God’s love, we will find little by little our hearts will grow, change to be more like His and we will be able to love in ways we previously could not.

Let us make a decision today to take some time to be still with God and make this a habit so we here on earth can start to move towards the glory that is our destiny that we celebrate on the Feast of the Assumption.  Mary is the model of holiness, the model of humility and the model of hearing God’s word and responding.  Let us ask her to pray for us and walk with us, so we can be the people we have been created to be.

Holy Family of Nazareth - be our inspiration and our guide

Jesus of Nazareth - help us to grow in faith, wisdom and knowledge.