My eighth grade teacher had a statue of Our Lady of the Assumption in our classroom prayer corner that enshrined the Scriptures and displayed other sacramental – rosaries, holy cards, and the like – that we Catholic kids would pick-up and use along the way. Unlike the traditional Immaculate Heart of Mary statues that graced most classrooms in our parish grammar school, this Assumption one was different: Our Lady was floating atop a billowy cloud being hoisted by two chubby angels, her arms raised in supplication and praise to our Heavenly Father as she was being taken to Heaven.
Now being the somewhat irreverent teenagers we were at the time, many of us called the statue “Our Lady of the Who Really Cares” due to the fact that her posture – especially the arms – seemed to indicate the whole heavenly glorification process was a bother, or a “holy shrug,” if you will.
And yet, how wrong we were about the Assumption. Although there is no explicit Scriptural reference to this most holy of feasts, the Assumption is at its core a sacred mystery in which we contemplate and celebrate the work of our loving God who is always with us and created us to be His in time and in eternity. Where Our Lady has gone as a result of God’s grace, we are called to follow. As Catholic writer Alice Camille so beautifully writes: “Our Lady’s Assumption shows us that just as she was protected, preserved and lifted up, so we anticipate we will be as well.”
Please join us to celebrate the Holy Day of Obligation this coming week (8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at ICC and 6:30 p.m. at St. Jude/no Vigil Mass on 8/14). After all, “Who Really Cares Mary” does point to the deepest truth that this is exactly what Our Blessed Mother does for us on the journey: care immensely and always as we make our way to the Father.