Assumption Day 2014

This day marks my twentieth celebration in this parish of the Assumption of

the Blessed Virgin as its pastor. I recall many memorable feast days observed
in those years, and even before that during my three-year assignment as
associate under Monsignor Sawher who would become my predecessor. While
every parish has its patronal day, there is none, I believe, like ours in this
archdiocese. Its an annual spiritual event which from a long time since the
parishs founding in 1832 has brought people here on this day, and even more
especially since the building of this outdoor Lourdes Grotto in 1884. The
longevity of this parish means that people have been here to worship God and
to petition the good graces of the Holy Virgin Mary through the time of the
Civil War, World Wars I and II, Vietnam, and the various conflicts which have
not ceased to succeed each other since that time.
My message for this year has a somewhat patriotic note in it for the just reason
that the spirit which has sustained the American people through its past
difficulties seems now to be declining, while the need for spiritual solidarity
that derives from a shared belief in Christ and adherence to His
commandments remains ever constant. The Catholic faith in this country has
suffered much in implanting itself in this land and has faced many challenges
since the time since its founding. And the Catholic Church, which has been the
cohesive and steadying force of Christianity generally, has been the object of
continual yet today attack and for holding to the basic tenants of Christian
faith and morals which were once the common possession of Christians of all
types. This supportive and foundational role of the Catholic Church for the
upholding of all Christians is something recognized not only by Catholics, but
by many non-Catholic Christians as well. If the Catholic Church were to lose
its hold on the souls of its own people(again, this is said by many Protestant
leaders)then the whole of Christianity would be in dissolution in this country.
Since the time of Christ founded His Church, the Catholic faith has upheld the
2
orthodox belief (that is, the correct teaching) on such things as the Blessed
Trinity, on divinity and humanity of the one Person of the Son of God, Jesus
Christ, on the sacrament and sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist as the real and
true Presence of His body, blood soul and divinity under the mere semblance
of bread and wine, on the preservation of the whole doctrine of Christ intact,
on the indissolubility of Christian marriage, and on the condemnation of the
many forms of unchastity which is now so heatedly being contested in the
world. The Church has stood strong and unassailable against erroneous
teaching because, as we Catholics believe, the Church was founded not by any
man, not by any apostle, philosopher or church reformer, but by God Himself
so as to be the unique instrument for bringing the graces of salvation to
mankind. This is still the belief and certain conviction of the Church: that she
will perdure until the end of time, a confident assertion of her permanence
that may be safely granted her in view of her impressive, incontestable and
unsurpassed endurance for the past 200 centuries. This is the same Catholic
faith that has sustained millions upon millions of people of every race and
nation: a true attestation of her title Catholic (which means universal).
I point out these few facts not in order to boast about the Catholic Church
(which would be foolish, since its endurance is due to the hand of God and
since so many of its own membersclergy and lay alikehave done so much
damage to her reputation). Rather, I mention the success of the Church (to
which Christ promised He would remain until the end of time) to point out not
how good Catholics are but how miserably they are failing holy Church in our
time. Catholics, whether in public office, in the ranks of the clergy, hierarchy,
or among the laity, have caused the Church considerable embarrassment not
on account of their rigid, inflexible adherence to its doctrines and practices,
but rather on account of their abandonment of them and their compromises
with the godless, secular world. It is evident now that Catholic people are
scarcely distinguishable from the rest of the population in their opinions,
3
beliefs and moral conduct. This capitulation to the spirit of the world, to the
low and degrading morals exemplified in the media and popular art and
culture, is shifting the balance of Christian fidelity to an ever smaller number
of people. The various analyses of the causes of this abandonment of a
genuinely spiritual and rigorously orthodox religious way of thinking, speaking
and behaving have been contested and do not concern us here except for one
thing that has always been a convincing argument and defense of the Catholic
faith: the heroic fidelity and example of some outstanding Catholic men and
women who are the Churchs saints.
Saints are ordinary people who live extraordinarily because they have so
accepted Christs word and so disciplined and molded themselves that their
manner of life has stood apart from the common lot and instilled or
reawakened in mens consciousness and consciences, the truth of the Catholic
faith. Words come cheap and looks can deceive, but charity in action, even to
the length of self-sacrifice, is a sure sign of the validity of the Church.
While much could be said in this vein about the appeal and attractiveness of
the lives of the saints, there is the one Saint who towers above them all and
embodies all the virtues of faith and divine charity: it is the primal Christian
disciple of Christ and the one He, from eternity, selected to become worthy of
His motherhood in the flesh: Mary Immaculate. There are many
interconnecting points between Mary and the Churchboth of whom are called
motherbut there is one I want to make in the context of Christian witness and
inspiring example, and it is this: Mary herself is the image of the Church.
Image is, of course, a certain likeness which can be more or less exact. Christ,
for example, is the exact or perfect image of His Father: God from God, Light
from Light. We humans all were created in the image of God, bearing not an
exact image but a resemblance to God in certain respects. Jesus our Lord is the
4
image of God in a double sense: in both His divinity (as Son of God) and in
humanity (which bears the imprint of divinity on it). The Virgin Mother Mary
is the image of the Church since the Church was fashioned by Christ to be holy,
spotless, the pillar of truth, the instrument for imparting grace, holiness and
(as a consequence) salvation to mankind through her, mother Church. This
all to brief biblical sketch of the ideal beauty of the Church (about which much
more could be said) is almost too good to be true. The perfection of the
Church itself as the creation of Christ Himselfdespite the imperfection of her
membersthat perfection, that ideal has but one singular instance of
realization, and this is in the person and unparalleled life of Holy Mary. She,
like the Church herself, is almost too good to be true. Those who are outside
the Catholic Church and find her incomprehensible and mysterious are
understandably baffled by the high veneration given by Catholics to the
Mother of God. This is almost necessarily so since Mary is, again, the image of
the immaculate Church, and hence that biblical figure of the woman clothed
with the sun and the celestial bride of Christ in all her shining adornments.
This fullness of grace found in Mary is found, to limited and varying degrees,
in the lives of Christians, members of the Church who have the grace of God
in them through their second birth from the womb of mother Church.
The parallel of Mary and the Church would need to be examined and extended
in much greater detail. I have only one purpose in making it on this day of Her
Assumption, and it is to highlight Her providential role in being the model
Saint we Catholics must continue to uphold as our guide and indeed
instrument for making a recovery of the faith, sacredness and moral integrity
that Christians everywhere are fast losing today, particularly in this country.
A virtuous woman is a compelling motivation for respect and courtesy,
generally speaking. And when that woman is the Mother of the Son of God,
the summit of virtue and a perfect instance of discipleship of Christ, then the
5
stimulus for imitation of her virtues of faith and moral perfection are most
persuasive. Mary is who She is, not because Catholics have so fabricated Her,
but because of what God made Her to be. (Understood this way, Her
Assumption into heaven, following the pattern of Christs Ascension, seems
logical and even necessary.) When we view the images which God has made
of Himself and in the varying ways He has done itof humanity generally, of
Christ the divine and human Lord, and of Christians born and reborn through
the Churchwe get also the image of Holy Mary as an image of singular
holiness which is both a reflection of divine goodness and holiness and a
model for Christian perfection. She appears then as a kind of bridge or link
between the utter immensity of divine perfection and our lowly humanitybut
with this purpose: Mary is meant to be for us an inspiring motivation, impetus
and effective helper for us to lead a holy and faithful Catholic life. This is the
place She has always held in the minds and hearts of Catholics through the
ages. And it is this very model of goodness, utter fidelity to Christ, purity in
body and soul, that is being diminished and even refused by manyto their
utter personal ruination and to the social and moral miseries and crises that
are enfeebling our American people.
If Christians lose their saltiness they are good for nothing. If Catholics lose
their Christian-ness, they are good for nothing. And if the perfect image of the
Church in holy Mary is obscured, cast aside or forgotten by our Catholic
people, we have little of what reminds us of what we are to be as Christians
and of what we are meant to become in the kingdom of heaven.
Mary stands for sinlessness, virtue, holiness, grace, and total dedication to
Christ. We need to polish this image, the image of the Church, to make her
shine more brilliantly, more evidently, to inspire others to be valiant Christians
and to invoke her intercessory help that they and we might become better
images of God and more disciples, however unworthy, of Christ.