Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
August 15, 2021

My brothers and sisters in Christ, ¹

So today we are rejoicing with the angels and saints as we celebrate our Blessed Mother’s Assumption into heaven, body and soul, at the end of her earthly life.

It is a day of great joy and hope for us. Because we believe that where Our Lord has taken his Mother, one day he will bring each one of us.

So we share in our Blessed Mother’s joy when she says in the Gospel today: “The Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name.”

So in our celebration today, we are joining the Church in every century in continuing this great tradition of love and devotion.

As you know the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was declared a Dogma of Faith by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950. But historically, since the very beginning, there is that great tradition of talking and believing in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

And I would like to share with you — there is a beautiful homily, written by an Archbishop in Greece, his name was John in the late-fifth century, and it reflects stories handed on since the early Church. The beauty of the mystery of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

So this Archbishop tells us, and I think it’s a beautiful way of expressing the truth of the Assumption — he tells us that when it came time for Mary’s earthly life to end, the twelve apostles were summoned by angels and returned to Jerusalem — from every part of the world — to be with Our Lady at her bedside.

And he describes the apostles weeping and praying with Mary. And when she dies they lay her in a tomb. And three days later, she is taken up body and soul by Jesus and his angels to heaven. ²

I think it is a beautiful testimony to the Church’s ancient faith that Our Lord Jesus Christ wanted his mother to be with him, body and soul, in heaven. What a beautiful thought that is — Jesus did not want to be apart from his mother, so he brought her to heaven.

In our responsorial Psalm today, we also have a joyful image of their reunion when they got together in heaven: the queen standing at the right hand of the king, rejoicing and arrayed in gold.

But we see Our Lady’s glory, too, in the first reading. Holy Mary is the great Queen of Heaven, “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

Now of course, as we know that our Blessed Mother Mary was conceived without original sin and lived with perfect holiness throughout her life. So she is the Mother of God, but she’s also our Blessed Mother.

So obviously there is a difference between her and us. But still, just to see her going to heaven and that desire of Jesus to have her with him forever is the great promise of our faith.

Blessed Mary was the first of us to be taken to heaven, the first to experience the joy of eternal life. But my brothers and sisters, as we know, she is not the last. We will join her!

And especially in this moment in history, in our society, in our world, when we are living in a time of fear and uncertainty, illness and death. When the coronavirus pandemic continues to trouble our world. When we are all trying to find our way, trying to function with the reality of this deadly virus that is all around us.

 Today’s feast gives us hope.

Of course, the challenge for all of us in this moment, is to keep before our eyes the truth of Mary’s glorious Assumption into heaven. We need to remember that we believe and follow Jesus who has conquered sin and death.

St. Paul tells us today in the second reading of today’s Mass: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death!” That is still the truth! God’s love is stronger than death! God’s love destroys the power of death! And that’s what this beautiful feast — this Solemnity — is all about.

Blessed Mary — just like Jesus before her — walked like us on earth, the lonesome valley that the Scriptures talk about, the valley of the dark shadow of death. ³ But just like Jesus before her, Our Lady was welcomed into the land of the living, and walks now in God’s presence, in the light of eternal life.

And my brothers and sisters, the hope we have is that we can, just like them, receive the grace of being in heaven forever. We can follow Blessed Mary and know the joy of heaven.

I think that is the first reflection we have to consider today — the beauty of Mary going to heaven and the fact that we all are called to be with God, with Mary, with the saints, in heaven forever.

And in the passage of the Gospel today, we hear Mary sing her great song of the Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”

And my dear brothers and sisters, this is the way that we want to live here on earth. Just like Mary our Blessed Mother, we need to proclaim the greatness of God and the joy that comes from knowing his love in our lives. We need to be excited about our lives and our mission in the world.

At this time, at this challenging time, it’s so important for all of us to reflect on the beauty of our faith that we have to live in our daily life and share with our brothers and sisters.

So, as we know, God calls us to be missionary disciples, to spread his love all over the world, beginning in our own lives. If we live the way God created us to live, we will find joy and happiness and truth and love, starting here on earth and then in a totally beautiful way in heaven.

So my dear brothers and sisters, let us ask for the grace today — to deepen our belief in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

And let’s keep praying for our nation, for all those who are sick and dying and all those who are caring for them, at home and in hospitals. Let us ask Our Blessed Mother, to intercede for us and bring deliverance from this pandemic.

As the apostles did, we return today to gather around this altar and to remember the Mother of Jesus, who is the Mother of the Church and Mother of each one of us who believes in her Son.

Let us ask her to strengthen us, to help us to become really missionary disciples. And let’s ask her to pray for each one of us — our personal needs, and our families, and our parishes, and in our Archdiocese — to pray for us, “now, and at the hour of our death.” Amen.

1. Readings: Rev. 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; Ps. 45:10-12,16; 1 Cor. 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56.

2. Brian Daley, SJ,  On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies (St. Vladamir's 1998). 7-8, 47-70.

3. Ps. 23:4.