Author: WebDept ParishAdmin

Do you ever miss being a child? Some of you may read that question, roll your eyes, and say, “Who has time for questions like that?” Or maybe that seems so long ago, that you’ve forgotten that time of life. Perhaps you read that question and automatically responded with a head nod, longing for what it’d feel like to not have a mortgage and laundry list of responsibilities.

Personally, I don’t think I miss those days as much as I like to reminisce upon them. Reminiscing upon the days that were filled with imagination and play. A time in which all of us needed much help. We were incapable of doing simple tasks on our own – a time in which our day to day required trust. We trusted wholeheartedly, whether we realized it or not. Day in and day out, we trusted our parents.

In today’s readings, I am reminded of the littleness I’ve felt in my life and of how little I am today. I don’t mean physically little, although I am an astounding five-foot-tall Italian who always feels small. I mean that I, as a human person, am pretty small in this great big world, and I am pretty small in comparison to the vastness of God.

In today’s Responsorial Psalm, we are told our inheritance is the Lord. We state this four times as we proclaim that the Lord is our refuge, our portion and cup, our counselor, our guide, and our joy. The Gospel today is short and sweet, Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.”

I believe it’s important to reminisce on what it means to be a child, to think about yourself as a child again. For me, it’s a way to keep a part of my heart child-like. Jesus is completely straight forward with us that we must be like children to enter Heaven! Those beginning years of our lives were VERY important! Of course, this does not mean any adult should be acting like a child because that would not be good nor appropriate. But God calls us to be child-like, looking at the beauty of children and taking the lessons to heart. I believe Jesus calls us to trust again like children, to remember that He is bigger than the challenges we face. He is bigger than us! Trust our Heavenly Father in our needs, our wants, and in our future. Wholehearted trust that He brings us comfort, joy, and guidance. Trust that He has our back. Trust that He is faithful to His promise, the inheritance He has waiting for us, life everlasting. May we trust like children trust their parents. May we trust our Heavenly Father completely today. Amen.

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“I gave you a land you had not tilled and cities that you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.” -Josiah 24:13

Josiah is addressing the people of Israel, standing in ranks before him. From the chief priests to the judges, to families. Josiah is reminding them of God’s mercy. He is telling them to be grateful for all God has done for them.

How much do we need that same reminder today!

For most of us, we worship in churches that we didn’t build. We eat food that we have not tilled and live in cities that we couldn’t begin to conceive of building.

I attend Sunday Mass at a beautiful little mission Church in West Michigan. When our Church was first started over 150 years ago, 3 families mortgaged their farms to buy the land. I have told this story 100 times, but it wasn’t until I read today’s passage that it started to sink in. They mortgaged their farms. At that time, farms weren’t just the roof over their head; their farm was their livelihood; it was their source of income, of food, and their shelter.

This is more than just a story from the past; it is a challenge for the future. What am I willing to mortgage to further the kingdom of God? What am I planting for the next generation? What will I be leaving behind? Am I planting seeds of gratitude? Am I taking care of my little corner of the world so that it is in good condition for those who will come after me?

I feel challenged today to stop and say extra thanks. To live in a heightened awareness of just how much I am given. That God’s mercy doesn’t only extend to my the state of my soul but also to every breath of the life I live.

God is good. May you, to plant seeds of gratitude today.

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Today’s official liturgical celebration is “The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” This is significant if we understand that there are three categories of celebrations throughout the year: Solemnities, Feasts, and Memorials.

“Solemnities” are the highest degree of Catholic celebration and so we are obliged to participate in Mass on these days – Sundays, Easter, Christmas, Pentecost, and other Holy Days of Obligation are solemn celebrations of the most important mysteries of our faith.

These are higher than “Feast Days,” which are not days of obligation, but are set apart as days to honor special saints and events of salvation history, such as the Apostles, the Archangels, the Visitation, the Presentation, and the Baptism of the Lord.

The final level of importance on the liturgical calendar, and the one we encounter most often, are “Memorials,” which usually honor the saints, though there are Marian Memorials as well, such as Our Lady of Fatima (May 13) and the Queenship of Mary (August 22).

With that little liturgical lesson done, it is worth asking: Why do we rank the Assumption – a dogma that was not “official” until 1950 – as a solemnity, along with Christmas and Easter?

Pius XII, in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, stated: “By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

Mary’s Assumption into heaven, body and soul, means that the resurrection is not limited to Jesus alone; where the Head has gone, we are called to follow, body and soul. Knowing with the certainty of the Church’s infallible teaching that Mary’s whole being, body and soul, was taken into heaven, we have the certainty of knowing that there is a place for our glorified bodies as well.

So, onthis Solemnity, we are called to participate togetherinthe Eucharist and look to Mary ina particular way: as one like us (a creature, thougha sinless one) who exists to bring Jesus to us andto bring us to Jesus, andwho is alreadyfullyin heaven.

There are two human bodies in heaven and they are our BROTHER and our MOTHER, whose two Hearts beat as one with love for us! In our participation in the Eucharist we are joined already to those in heaven and to the Body of Christ on earth, and we are reminded that our destiny is beyond what we see and touch right here and now, that we are called to an eternity of love and belonging and peace beyond all understanding.

And that is a solemn celebration indeed.

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