1^st Chronicles 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2          1^st Corinthians 15:54b-57          Luke 11:27-28

Mary Theotokos, i.e., Mary Mother of God, has been honored and depicted in numerous roles and titles. Today is the Vigil of the Solemn Feast of Mary’s Assumption into Heaven. In more prosaic terms, it remembers and imagines Mary’s natural, physical death also known as the Dormition of Mary. “Dormition” means literally, “the falling asleep” where “sleep” is a euphemism for death. The “assumption” is a label with special reverence asserting that Mary was “taken up” into God’s Presence with a deliberateness and enthusiasm attributable only to God’s great love. Note that we distinguish, at least in terms of vocabulary, that Jesus was not “assumed,” i.e., “taken up.” Rather, we tend to say of Jesus that he “ascended,” i.e., took himself up under his own power. Such distinctions might in former days have provoked arguments in which one party or another would hurl the accusation of “heretic” at the others for differing. For our purposes here, we attribute all saving power to God so that when speaking or writing about Mary Theotokos, we say that God’s own power brought her into the Divine Presence. Artists have depicted this. Your imagination may well paint its own image.

The first scripture text used at the Vigil of the Assumption of Mary each year is from the First Book of Chronicles. The pair of scrolls or books called Chronicles probably dates from the late 5^th Century BC and is generally a composite of memories about the establishment and importance of the Davidic-Solomonic Eras as the ancient Jewish “Good Old Days.” This era became the base-line if you will from the time of Chronicles onward which described that to which the messiah would restore Israel upon his arrival. And, while there were (and probably still are) believers (both Jewish and Christian) who like to assert that any real messiah would more likely restore not merely the Davidic-Solomonic Era, but rather that of the Garden of Eden, they are outside of the mainstream of Jewish and Christian theological thought. Thus, Chronicles is a sort of history from the perspectives of numerous genealogies and sermons, purporting to remember those “Good Old Days.” Today’s verses from 1^st Chronicles are some detached segments describing the inauguration of the almost permanent tabernacle for the Ark of the Covenant once David had secured Jerusalem as his capital. The Ark was the movable locus of the true Presence of God amongst the Chosen People. It was ostensibly a golden chest in which were kept even in David’s day, the second stone copy of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), a jar of a sample of the last day’s manna from the desert pilgrimage, and Aaron’s miraculous staff (walking stick). The Ark was housed in a tent called the Tabernacle. Catholics have appropriated this same word to designate place in which the remainder of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is housed for the purpose of reserving it to be taken to the sick and homebound. Today’s liturgical feast asserts that Mary Theotokos was herself a Tabernacle of the Savior, for she carried Jesus in her womb until his birth. Hence, the New Testament’s Presence of God in the Savior was first present in her. Mary thus was the Tabernacle who deserved at her death to be put in the true heavenly Presence of God. Indeed, today’s feast is a metaphor since none of the details of Mary’s death have been preserved. There is even dispute over where she died, either in modern-day Turkey near the site of Ephesus OR in Jerusalem. Pious traditions argue for each, but indeed, the issue is unresolvable. But, the image of Mary as tabernacle of the Savior for nine months between Annunciation and Nativity is a popular and well-respected part of Tradition. Of course, just as Moses’ Tabernacle of cloth was replaced by Solomon’s more permanent Tabernacle of stone when the first Temple was constructed, so too was Mary’s Tabernacle function replaced with that of the genuine and eternal Presence in the Kingdom of God. Notice that David and the Israelites focused all their worldly reverence upon Moses’ Tabernacle as a sign that God “tabernacled among his people.” Thus, today, does God’s Presence “tabernacle among God’s People” in the gathered liturgical assembly, in the proclaimed Word of God, and in the Sacramental Realities as celebrated by the Church.

The second reading today is a simple reminder of the impermanence of death. While it is the cause of great anxiety and sadness, such anguish is natural and normal enough, and to be expected by each of us in turn. But, it has no permanent position. God’s Grace is both superior to death, and overwhelming of it. Perhaps the Christian motto over death might be a phrase from today’s text, “Thanks be to God!”

The Gospel passage today is a pair of verses about a quick encounter between Jesus as preacher and an attentive woman in his audience. His words touched her so deeply as to provoke an exclaimed compliment about his mother, a style of graciousness which transcends cultural boundaries. We still today credit the parents with a child’s noteworthy success. And, much as Jesus used the superlative reputation of John the Baptist in encouraging his disciples to seek out first God’s Kingdom, so too did Jesus here receive what is arguably the greatest of human compliments. He used it to compliment all those who “hear the Word of God and keep it!” Mary Theotokos was the first to hear the Gospel in nuce. By means of her cooperation, the New Testament and Universal Salvation were placed in the midst of human history. Today’s festival asks us to remember that someday we must depart from this place and go to God “in the Kingdom.” “The Kingdom of God” was the substance of Jesus’ Gospel message, along with the command to change our minds and embrace that Good News!

Mary was so highly respected among early Christians that they considered even her dead body as deserving an immediate transit from Earth’s mortality to God’s Heavenly Presence in Everlasting Life. This might be considered a sequel or epilogue to the Paschal Event narratives in the New Testament literature. The Good News holds out a similar hope for each believer. And, what a hope that is! Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!