Glory
and Justice
Fr.
George Smiga
August
15, 2004
Luke
1:39-56
We
cannot understand the meaning of Mary's assumption without
understanding the meaning of Jesus' resurrection. In the resurrection
of Jesus God begins to change the world. At the heart of our
faith is the belief that Jesus' rising from the dead was the
first step by God to establish the Kingdom of God, a kingdom
in which all evil will be destroyed, where there will be no
more poverty, no more hunger, no more hatred, violence, or
death.
Now
clearly such a kingdom is not yet here. It will not be fully
established until Jesus returns. But we believe that we have
been promised such a kigdom, and we wait for it to be ours.
This is where Mary's assumption fits in. For what we celebrate
today is that by a special gift of God, Mary has been taken
into the Kingdom. We believe that she alone with Jesus is
bodily present in the Kingdom of God . Mary, human like us,
is nevertheless already possessing what we aim for. What she
has, we hope to share. We are, therefore, encouraged by Mary's
assumption, we wait for Christ's return and the complete destruction
of evil.
But
what do we do while we wait? A disciple cannot be satisfied
in simply treading water. As we wait for the Kingdom, we are
called to build the Kingdom. As we wait for Christ's return,
we are called to imitate the God who aims to destroy everything
that is evil or wrong. We are called, to use Mary's words,
to “lift up the lowly, to fill the hungry with good things”.
We are called to work against poverty and oppression in our
world. To do anything less would be to betray the Kingdom.
That
is why it is fitting today, on the Feast of Mary's Assumption,
for us as a parish to recommit ourselves in assisting those
who are in need. Not only locally, but globally.
That
is why it is appropriate for us today to be holding our annual
missionary appeal, because we hope that through our prayers
and through our contributions, we can make an impact on the
world, we can change the world for the better and further
God's Kingdom. Our appeal this weekend is a personal one,
because we will be supporting COAR, the Community of Oscar
Romero in El Salvador , an orphanage and day school for children.
This
was the place that a number of members of our community visited
only a few weeks ago. They'll be in the narthex after mass
with a video and a willingness to discuss their experience.
And after communion today, Chris Janicek who led our mission
to El Salvador , will be giving the missionary appeal and
asking for your support and contributions. You can either
put loose change in the collection or in the baskets in the
narthex as you leave church today, or you can drop a check
in the collection next week made out to St. Noel and marked
“missions.”
Mary's
assumption is a promise of our future glory. But if we plan
to share in that glory, we must make our own contributions
towards changing the world. If we hope to live with Jesus
and Mary and the saints, we must now make an effort to help
build the Kingdom. If we want to reign in glory, we must be
people who work for justice.
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