The Assumption of Mary is one of the central Marian feasts of the Church. For the Sisters of St. Mary, August 15 is celebrated by our Sisters throughout the world. In the Eastern province , it was the traditional "day of acceptance" into the Congregation and the day we professed our vows, surrendering ourselves publicly to God to follow the way of consecrated life in the Church with the Sisters of St. Mary. It was a day of happiness and great joy! And it remains so today, when we gather at Mass and within that celebration renew our vows together after the Gospel.
Like Mary, who heard and received the word of the Father, and said 'yes,' we, her Sisters have heard the Word of Christ, . We try to be open to God for anything. Like her, we choose to allow and hallow the Word of God in our lives and in our communities. Unlike her, we are not without flaw or sin. But, she is a light for us, by her humble, simple life..being "completely dispossessed in favor of her Son. and unreservedly wills this dispossession."
Today, the Church celebrates the feast of Mary's Assumption. "After her quiet death, the Blessed Virgin and mother of god entered, body and soul, into eternal life, the life of God himself. In Mary's case, too, the fruit of death was life, and so this feast is also the anniversary of a death. It is a question of that mysterious moment when time and eternity, transitoriness and immortality touch one another in the existence of one human being, the moment when a mortal person enters the house of her eternity."
William Wadsworth writes in his poem, The Virgin,
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature's solitary boast;
..."We are blessed in the pure, unselfish joy that the goodness, purity and all the virtures that we love have achieved an eternal victory through the most Blessed Virgin. We sense that her victory is our own."
Let us pray in the silence of our hearts: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners Now in this transitoriness, (which was also yours,) And in the hour of our death,
..so that we may enter into the eternity that today is yours."
(Quotes taken from The Great Church Year, 345-347)
-Sr. Nancy Charlesworth
Sisters of St. Mary of Namur . 241 Lafayette Avenue . Buffalo, New York 14213 . (716) 884-8221