Feast of the Assumption - Fr. Leo
“Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” (Lk)
This last line of today’s gospel sums up the Christian life. Living in Christ and sharing his Spirit unites us to God! We come to share in Christ’s divinity as he came to share our humanity.
The key is to “hear” the word of God. Since the “Word” of God refers to God’s presence, the “Word” is more than something we hear with our ears and understand with our mind and emotions. Ultimately it is the silent transforming presence of the Spirit in our hearts at the root of our being made in the image of God.
This ‘hearing” is God’s work, but we need to want to hear. God never forces himself on us, but invites us to choose Him. If we choose to seek God, our searching for God brings wisdom and love in the profound intimacy discovered in the One who has lived in us before we were born.
Practically, we can strive to be intimate with God, to become a friend and lover of the One who loves us. Step one is to remove all fear of God. God is not a condemning judge! God is only for us as St. Paul says. Secondly, when fear is less, we can comfortably sit down with God and spend time with him. We can sit with God and share our hearts and listen to his response.
Spending time reading the scriptures, or a good spiritual text, and meditating on it, is one of the best ways to come to know our Friend and His love for us. New insights inspire us and them moments may dawn on us when we enter into the silent oneness of being and being in God; the apex of union in a marriage with God that permeates every aspect and moment of our lives.
In the Magnificat, Mary begins by saying, “My being proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” This reflects her union with God and the life of God within her. It is her version of saying what St. Paul said later when he proclaimed that it was no longer he who lived, but Christ who lived in him.
Mary can be our intercessor on our journey. She can teach us how to hold the divine in our hearts, reflect on it and let in silently permeate our beings to the point that her prayer becomes our own, “My beings proclaims the greatness of the Lord.”