Joke: Sophia and Hannah are discussing the best ways to make their young sons finish their meals. Sophia says, “As an Italian mother, I put on a fierce look and say to Primo, ‘If you don’t finish your meal, I’m going to kill you.’ It works most of the time.” “Well, as a Jewish mother, I look at my Isaac in his eyes and say, ‘If you don’t eat the meal, I’ve slaved over all day, I’m going to kill myself.’ It works every time.”

The first woman, Eve, closed the gate of heaven because of her disobedience. Our Blessed Virgin Mary opens up because of her total faith in the Lord that today the whole Church solemnly honors her taken up to heaven both body and soul. Today, the church solemnly celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary that Saint Luke beautifully describes a prayerful and humble woman with deep faith and total trust in the Lord that she is most worthy to be lifted up into heaven both body and soul.

Mary set out and traveled in haste to the town of Judah when she heard the angel of the Lord announced to her that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant with a child. Why did she set out and travel in haste to come visit her cousin? When did the angel come to her during day time or day dream or night dream? The angel came to Mary in a dream. Experts said that sometimes, dreams come true or tell of a future event, it is most likely due to coincidence. In other words, it is a blind faith that one believes it comes true. Blind faith sounds like believing without understanding. Faith and understanding, Saint Pope John Paul II once wrote a book title, Fidet et Ratio, in which he compared faith and understanding are like the two wings of a bird that one cannot rise to the truth when one of the wings is injured or broken. Mary believed in the words of the angel was not a blind faith that she went in haste to visit her cousin. In order to have this kind of faith and understanding, Mary must have a prayerful life that she understood and believed in the words of the angel even in her dream.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb. The infant leaped in the womb of Elizabeth was not because of the presence of Mary, his future aunt, but because Mary brought the future Savior to him or introduce the Savior to him that later John the Baptist introduced the Savior to the whole human race.

The greeting of Mary to Elizabeth was filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit overwhelmed Elizabeth that she cried out, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.” A beautiful description of the exchanging greeting occurred between the two ladies. How did Elizabeth know Mary carried the future Savior in her womb? In today’s Gospel, Elizabeth said that she knew that Mary carried the future Savior in her womb because of at the moment of the greeting of Mary reached to her ears, the infant in her womb leaped for joy. Had Mary come to visit Elizabeth simply because she was her cousin pregnant at her old age and needed help? It was more than that. Mary came to visit her because the child that Elizabeth carried in her womb would be the forerunner who would baptize her son with water to reveal the three Persons in the Most Holy Trinity at Jesus’ baptism. By saying “yes” to the angel to be the Mother of God, Mary introduced the Son of God and God himself to the humanity. Just as Mary saw the needs of her cousin Elizabeth that she came to help her, have we ever needed Mary to intercede for us in our life? Just as Elizabeth opened up her door to allow Mary to bring the Prince of Peace to her house, are we willingly to open our hearts to allow Mary to come into our house, the temple of the Holy Spirit to help us in any brokenness or difficulties of life? How do we open our hearts to let her come in if we don’t listen to the Word of God, don’t allow the Word of God to sink into our being, and don’t want to live his teaching and the Church teaching? Can we just have faith in the Lord Jesus and that is it? How awesome it is that the Lord allowed us to come to receive him into our lives every time we receive Communion? Each time we receive Communion is each time we invite Jesus to come into our house, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Why should we let him come into our house if it’s not first to be blessed by his presence and second to allow him to nurture our soul, our inner being for the eternal life.

The Magnificat that Mary said to Elizabeth is worth for us to remember, to meditate, and to live out our call to be human beings with all limitations and weaknesses that our Creator has a special love for us to bring us into the existence.

“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.
   From this day all generations will call me blessed:
      the Almighty has done great things for me
      and holy is his Name.
   He has mercy on those who fear him
      in every generation.
   He has shown the strength of his arm,
      and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
   He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
      and has lifted up the lowly.
   He has filled the hungry with good things,
      and the rich he has sent away empty.
   He has come to the help of his servant Israel
      for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
      the promise he made to our fathers,
      to Abraham and his children forever.”

Just as Mary is lifted up into heaven because of her prayerful life with a deep faith and a total trust in the Lord, we are invited to develop a prayerful life by prayers and participating in the life of the Church by attending Mass and other activities of the Church and to learn to balance our faith and understanding through learning to listen the Word of the Lord, to allow the Word of God to sink into our being, to come more often to receive him at Mass, and to have courage and strength to live out the Word of God. The decision is yours.