Today’s celebration of Mary's bodily assumption into Heaven should give us great hope! For today, we remember that Our Blessed Mother’s body and soul is now in Heaven. This should give us tremendous hope, because as wel all know, our own body is a source of great anxiety for us all. Is it not? Every time we look into a mirror, we see new wrinkles and another gray hair. No matter how we battle against the aging of our bodies, through eating fruits and vegetables, and exercise, we know we shall lose the war eventually. Our bodies will all shrivel up like raisins.  “Thanks Father for the compliment!” But remember, Mary's body is in Heaven! 

We heard in the First Reading today that a woman, adorned with a crown of stars on her head,  does battle against the dragon. That’s the Blessed Mother, fighting against Lucifer. Lucifer was God’s highest Angel. Tradition said the reason he rebelled against God was because God showed him that he would take human flesh and unite it to the Holy Trinity. God, in Jesus Christ, would take our frail, broken human bodies, and unite to himself. When Lucifer was told of God’s plan, he said “NOOOOOOO!” How dare God take something below him as raise it above him. He could not imagine that human flesh, would be higher than Him. The Devil will now use this vector of attack against us. In chapter 3 of Genesis, Lucifer uses the flesh to tempt Adam and Eve, by showing them the Forbidden Fruit, which “was good for food, and a delight to the eyes.” The moment they ate, that's when death, sickness, disease, and aging enters into the world. Our bodies were not meant to grow old. From that moment on, this flesh that was meant to share in the life of the Trinity, becomes a source of pain. 

St. Padre Pio, famously said, it is the sins of the flesh that causes most people to go to hell. But my friends, that is why Christianity is Good News. Jesus is the answer. He preserves Mary from the stain of Original Sin, because from Mary, Jesus will receive his human body, his flesh. Since the devil uses flesh to attack us and cause us fear, Jesus will now take this frail and broken body of ours and raise it up on the cross. He sacrifices his own flesh, to destroy death, as heard from St. Paul in the Second Reading. The Good news does not stop there! At every single Mass, Jesus will give us a new powerful weapon to heal our broken bodies and spirits. Remember last sunday’s reading: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."