The Woman Who Carried Heaven

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

There is something beautiful about today’s feast: Mary is going to heaven, but today’s Gospel begins with Mary going somewhere else. She is going to Elizabeth. The context is important. Just before this Gospel, the angel Gabriel has told Mary that she will become the Mother of the Son of God. Mary has given her great “yes” – “Let it be done to me according to your word.” You would think that after receiving news like that, Mary would stay home, sit quietly, and try to understand what had just happened. Instead, Luke tells us that Mary “set out and traveled to the hill country in haste.” She has Jesus within her, and her first instinct is to bring Him to someone else. That may be one of the simplest descriptions of what a Christian is supposed to be: someone who carries Christ and brings Him into the lives of others.

When Mary enters the house of Zechariah and greets Elizabeth, something extraordinary happens. The child in Elizabeth’s womb – John the Baptist – leaps for joy, and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. Notice: Mary does not preach a sermon. She does not perform a miracle. She simply arrives carrying Jesus. And everything changes. That is worth thinking about. Sometimes we imagine that serving God requires doing something impressive. But maybe the deeper question is not, “What great thing am I doing for God?” Maybe it is, “When I enter a room, do I bring Christ with me?” When I walk into my home, my workplace, my parish, or even into a difficult conversation, do people encounter something of His patience, His mercy, His joy? Mary teaches us that holiness is not always about doing extraordinary things. Sometimes holiness is simply carrying Jesus faithfully wherever God sends us.

Then Mary sings the Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” And here the other readings help us understand who this young woman really is. Revelation gives us the image of a woman clothed with the sun, opposed by the dragon – an image the Church has long contemplated in relation to both Mary and the Church. Saint Paul tells us that Christ has risen from the dead and that death itself will finally be destroyed. That is why the Assumption matters. Today is not simply a beautiful feast about Mary receiving a special privilege. Today is a feast about what Jesus intends to do with death. Mary’s Assumption, body and soul into heavenly glory, shows us where the victory of Christ leads. The woman who carried Jesus in her body is now carried, body and soul, into the glory of her Son. Death does not get the final word. Jesus does.

And perhaps that is what makes Mary’s life so challenging. Mary reaches heaven not by chasing greatness, but by repeatedly saying yes to God in ordinary and difficult moments. Nazareth. Bethlehem. Egypt. Cana. Calvary. Again and again, she receives Christ, carries Christ, and remains with Christ. We often spend our lives trying to make ourselves important, noticed, comfortable, or successful. Mary points in another direction: Do not spend your life trying to make yourself bigger; make room for Christ within you. The world says, “Build your own name.” Mary says, “Holy is His name.” The world says, “Make your life about yourself.” Mary says, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” And strangely enough, the woman who made her life completely about God becomes the woman whom every generation calls blessed.

So on this Solemnity of the Assumption, maybe the question is not simply, “How did Mary get to heaven?” The more personal question is, “What am I carrying through this life?” We can carry resentment, anxiety, pride, old wounds, the need to prove ourselves – and eventually those things become heavy. Mary carried Christ. And because she carried Him, she carried hope into Elizabeth’s house, faith to the foot of the Cross, and joy into the life of the Church. Today Mary reminds us where we are going, but she also shows us how to get there: receive Jesus, carry Jesus, and bring Jesus to others. The road to heaven begins by carrying heaven within us.

Prayer: Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, teach us to carry Christ as you did. When we are afraid, help us to say yes. When the road is difficult, help us to remain faithful. When we enter the lives of others, may we bring not ourselves, but Jesus. And when our earthly journey is finished, lead us to the glory where you already rejoice with your Son. Mary, assumed into heaven, pray for us. Amen.

– Homily by Rev Fr Patrick Agbeko