A Homily given by Fr. Ben Jones,

For St. George’s Anglican Church, Raleigh, NC;

On the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; A.D. 2010.

“God Bearer”

+In the name of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of God the Holy Ghost, Amen.

From the Gospel according to St. Luke 1:46 - 49.

“And Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord.  And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my saviour.  For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.  For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name.”

During our Liturgical or Church Ordo Kalendar we celebrate or commemorate feasts that are related to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Of those that come to mind almost immediately, a few seem to be important to our faith and belief.  As well, the Stations of the Cross come to mind where we recite the Hail Mary Prayer once at each station.  By taking a closer look at the Hail Mary Prayer we will see why a few of the feasts, to include “the Assumption” or “the Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary” are important to our faith and belief in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Another thought that comes to mind when I think of the Virgin Mother is a comment that I have heard our Archbishop Provence mention from time to time.  You see, Archbishop Provence holds to the feasts of our Blessed Virgin Mother and would like for all of the Churches in the province to have a “Memorial to the Blessed Virgin Mother”.  I certainly understand and can commiserate whole heartedly with him in respects to his comment.  Our Archbishop says that he will have enough to answer for when he meets Jesus without Jesus having to ask him why weren’t you more kind to my mother!!

So let’s take a closer look and see how the three parts of the Hail Mary Prayer call to our attention feasts of the Blessed Mother which are important to our faith and belief.  The first part, “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women”, embodies the words used by the Angel Gabriel in saluting the Blessed Virgin as found in Luke 1:28.  This is the Feast of the Annunciation.  Mary was humbled and at the same time was obedient in her heart and in her body.  By the angel Gabriel telling Mary that she was “full of grace”, he was indicating that she had received grace from God.  She was chosen of God to be the “God-Bearer”.  The second part of the Hail Mary Prayer, “and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus” is from the Divinely inspired greeting of St. Elizabeth to Mary which is found in Luke 1:42.  This is seen as being attached to the first part of the Hail Mary Prayer by the word “blessed” as a form of an extended greeting which is from the prophetic knowledge that God had given to Elizabeth of Mary’s condition.  “And it came to pass, that, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.”1  This is the celebration of another feast of the Blessed Mother; the “Visitation”.  In another way the prophetic statement made by St. Elizabeth shows us another feast of the Virgin Mother; “The Incarnation”.  The result of the Incarnation, from the very moment of conception, is Jesus being both fully God and fully man.  Jesus being fully divine and fully human came to dwell with us, to carry out His Father’s work; to be our Saviour.  Here is the crux of the Incarnation for us.  Jesus Christ is our Mediator and as this Mediator, He has worked out our PEACE with God, by the shedding of His blood for us; His redemptive work on the Cross, the finishing of His Father’s work.  The third part of the Hail Mary Prayer, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death”, is where the “Assumption of the Blessed Mother” or the “falling asleep of the Blessed Mother” is seen.  The Assumption is where Mary’s earthly life has come to an end and she enters into eternity.  By this we turn our eyes to focus on God’s Eternal Kingdom which gives us the hope that we too will follow when our earthly life is finished.  The Virgin Mother has gone before to be in the presence of her Son, her Saviour.

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Doesn’t this sound familiar??  Our Gospel lesson this morning is referred to as the Magnificat or the “Song of Mary” which is the response to St. Elizabeth’s prophetic statement when Mary arrives for the visitation.  The Magnificat illustrates Mary’s rich acquaintance with Old Testament scripture and the closeness of her fellowship with her Lord God.  She sums up the hope of the lowly and meek, the hungry and the poor, for the redemptive fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel.  Mary is that lowly handmaid who deeply reverenced her God in humility and obedience.  From her strength through the grace of God she will help the lowly and poor and at the same time challenge the rich and powerful who use their resources for evil, by giving birth to the Saviour of the world.

So here it is.  We use the examples set forth in the Assumptions connection to the Magnificat to grow spiritually.  We believe in our hearts that just as God did great things for Mary, God does great things for us and in our in humility and obedience we give Him thanks and praise.  From our gospel we heard, “For He that is mighty hath done to me great things.”  We are visited every day, minute by minute, second by second, by God through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.  Even the mother of our Lord had need in Him as her Saviour which was exhibited through her humility and obedience.  Just as God chose Mary from all women, of all time, so God chooses each and every one of us to be His redeemed.  All we simply have to do is to answer His call, just as Mary did.  Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will take care of the rest.  Thanks be to God.

AMEN.

+

“AND NOW UNTO GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON,

AND, GOD THE HOLY GHOST;

BE ASCRIBED ALL MIGHT, MAJESTY, POWER, AND DOMINION,

MOST JUSTLY DUE THIS DAY, BOTH NOW, AND FOREVER,

WORLD WITHOUT END.

AMEN.”

1 The Gospel according to St. Luke 1:41.