(Assumption 2018: This homily was given on August 15, 2018
at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Revelation 11:19-12:10; Psalm 45; 1
Corinthians 15: 20-27; Luke 1: 39-46.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Assumption 2018]
A 2016 article in the Washington
Post called it “one of the most unlikely and unstoppable juggernauts on TV.” The Post
called it that because of its incredible popularity. At the time 25 million people per month were
watching it. It wouldn’t surprise me if
that number has increased in the last two years.
I’m talking here about the House Hunters program on the HGTV network.
I confess that even I have been drawn into its “web” from
time to time. When I go to Barrington on
my day off, every once in a while I’ll find my sister and my brother-in-law
watching it—and invariably I’ll get hooked and end up watching it with them.
For those who might never have seen it, this is a reality
show in which a couple or family searches for a new home. In a typical episode, a local realtor
presents the prospective buyers with three properties that meet their
requirements and are priced within their budget. Then, at the end of the show, the couple or
family chooses one of the three to purchase.
Part of the fun of watching the show is trying to anticipate which
property they’ll pick.
By the way, I almost always get it wrong. I guess that’s one reason why I don’t sell
real estate!
Fr.
Ray, what does this have to do with Mary and the feast of the Assumption?
Actually, quite a bit.
It also has a lot to do with us.
You see, I have a theory as to why this program, House Hunters, is so popular. This is just my idea; you can agree with it
or disagree with it—but I think it’s true.
I really believe that House
Hunters is as popular as it is, because the show is actually A METAPHOR FOR
LIFE!
From one perspective, you could say that the purpose of
this earthly life is for us to “choose a house”—a house that we will live in
for all eternity! Jesus himself
indicated this in John 14 when he said, “In my Father’s house there are many
dwelling places.”
That’s one of the possible choices that we can make: to
live in our heavenly Father’s house
with Jesus Christ and all the saints for all eternity.
Of course, we can also make another choice: to live forever
in another house—a house where it’s very hot (even a lot hotter than it’s been
in Westerly in recent weeks).
And just like the couples on the House Hunters television program, we must make a choice! It’s not
optional. The only difference is they
have three houses to choose from on the TV show, but we have only two in life.
Today
the Church celebrates the choice that Mary made. That’s what the feast of the Assumption is
all about. “From this day all
generations will call me blessed,” Mary said in her Magnificat. (We heard that a few moments ago in our gospel
reading.) Because our Blessed Mother
never sinned and was always obedient to God, she was blessed at the end of her
earthly life by being taken up—soul and
body—to the special “dwelling place” that God the Father had prepared for her
in his incredibly big house.
This is the common destiny of all those who leave this life
in the state of grace—which is a group that will hopefully someday include all
of us! Although for us it will only
happen at the resurrection of the dead at the end of time. Mary’s soul was never separated from her
body, even at the end of her earthly life.
Our souls, on the other hand, are
separated from our bodies when we die.
Our bodies then go in the ground; our souls go either to hell or heaven
(or to purgatory on their way to heaven).
It’s only at the end of time that our bodies will be raised up and
become like the bodies of Jesus and Mary.
Therefore, what happened to our Blessed Mother 2,000 years
ago when she was assumed into heaven is an anticipation of what will happen to
the rest of the saved at the end of the world.
This should motivate us to examine our consciences each and
every day so that we can identify and repent of our sins (if necessary by
bringing them to the sacrament of Reconciliation). In today’s meditation in the Magnificat
prayer book, the author—a Carmelite nun from England—says this: “Jesus is what
he is because of his life on earth, because he fulfilled to the last iota the
Father’s will. So also Mary is what she
is because of her life on earth. The
glory, the holiness, which now shines resplendent in heaven was forged here
below.”
Mary, in other words, chose the right house in eternity, by making the right choices in time. May God help us to repent of our sins and to
follow Mary’s example of holiness in our own lives here on earth, so that in
the end we will also choose to live forever—body and soul—in the Father’s house
and not the hell house.