[Vigil]: 1 Chr 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2 | Ps 132 | 1 Cor 15:54b-57 | Lk 11:27-28
[Day]: Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab | Ps 45 | 1 Cor 15:20-27 | Lk 1:39-56
Take a walk through a cemetery and what do you see? You probably first notice all the memorial stones, standing erect or flush to the ground. Some are overgrown and seemingly forgotten, others manicured with love. The headstones are usually the first thing we notice because it’s what we expect to see. Next, depending on the cemetery, you will see the mausoleums. These will either be large and communal or small and private. Finally, you notice the other items: flowers, flags, pinwheels, wreaths, and various small items people leave at the places where their loved ones are buried or entombed. It’s these items that give the cemetery its character (not the works of stone, necessarily) because they speak of love and longing.
The importance of place is something ingrained into the human character. Places such as gravesites aren’t simply locations. They are symbols for the person, the body which lies there. When we visit the resting place of a loved one, the memories of that person return to us. We know their soul has gone on, but we can, for a time, feel connected with that person in a way that’s different than say, lying in bed, thinking of them. It’s a powerful experience.
As we know, people don’t only visit those people they were close to in life, but also those who become important to them. Go to Rome and notice the long lines to visit the places where Saints Peter and Paul are buried. Every year, thousands of pilgrims walk hundreds of miles to visit the burial site of Saint James in northern Spain. Close to home, people who visit Washington, D.C., often go to Arlington National Cemetery and visit the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, as well as the eternal flame in place where President John F. Kennedy is buried. Places have power.
It was a powerful experience for me, as an artist, to kneel down in prayer before the tomb of Michelangelo in the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Florence. Three statues of women personifying sculpture, painting, and architecture, with the tools of their trade in hand, all mourning the death of this Renaissance genius.
So where is the Blessed Virgin Mary’s tomb? There isn’t one, as our Solemnity today reminds us. That's the Good News: there is no tomb! When her earthly life ended, she was assumed into heaven, body and soul, by the power of her son, Jesus Christ. What she, rightfully, is privileged to enjoy first, you and I hope to follow. You and I weren't made for death. It wasn't part of the original plan. We were made for life!
Assumed into heaven, she is always there for all of us. She is a sign of what we hope for: eternal life. She bore our Savior and he has honored her with the gift of being freed from the terror of death.
When Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the Pietà was unveiled on Christmas Day in 1499, he was instantly accused of having carved an unsuitably young face for Mary. “Surely, this isn’t the mother of a 33-year-old son,” the critics said. The 26-year-old boy is reported to having said without hesitation: “Don’t you know, those who remain chaste retain their youth? How much more might this pertain to her? For, if by a singular grace, God preserved her from the stain of Original Sin, and kept her body free from the corruption of the grave, might He also not have spared her from the ravages of age?”
May we rejoice with our mother and echo and join with her in saying, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.”