An Assumption Picnic
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director
Priests for Life
I had only been a parish priest a couple of years on that
memorable Feast of the Assumption, August 15. I celebrated one of the morning
Masses with the usual extra joy that accompanies holy days. The Church was full,
and the faithful were nourished with the Christian hope expressed in the Preface
of the Assumption by the words, "Today the virgin Mother of God was taken up
into heaven to be the beginning and the pattern of the Church in its
perfection..."(P59).
That particular feastday, one of the parishioners had arranged an "Assumption
barbecue." In fact, the dessert was a "Cupcake rosary"...The freshly made
cupcakes were arranged on the table in the form of a rosary...The "Our Father"
beads had white frosting; the "Hail Mary" beads had chocolate frosting. The
children arranged them beautifully.
But walking on my way over to the barbecue, I noticed the traffic was backed
up. Someone came up to me and said that a priest was needed, and I found out
that a woman had been hit by a car. I ran over to the scene, and her body was
right in the middle of the street, motionless and covered with a blanket. I
anointed and absolved her. Later she died. Her two young children had no father.
I celebrated the funeral Mass some days later, having informed the parish of
what had happened. The Church was filled with parishioners, who had compassion
on these children who now felt so alone. The faith and hope in the Church was
just like it had been a few days before, on the Feast of the Assumption. The
words of the Preface again spoke to us of Mary as "...a sign of hope and comfort
for your people on their pilgrim way."
In my homily, I said that when I saw Brenda's body on the road, I did not see
only her...I saw Christ. Where is He in our suffering? He is there, right there
in the midst of it. He does not merely watch us suffer. He jumps into our
suffering...and into our death. We, then, like Mary, can jump into His life,
into His glory.
The Assumption is not only about Mary; it's about us. Mary has a unique
privilege. Being the Mother of God, she was taken at once into glory upon the
completion of her earthly life. Yet the entire Church is the Body of Christ. As
we pray on the Ascension, "where He has gone, we hope to follow" (Preface of the
Ascension, P26). We, too, are called to share an everlasting life, in body and
soul, in the company of Christ and all who are saved. "I will raise him up on
the last day" (Jn. 6:54).
The tragedy of that woman on the street finds its answer in the woman in the
heavens...The tragedy of the baby discarded by abortion finds its answer in the
Mother of Life. How we need the Assumption!
Contact Priests for Life at PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314;
Tel: 888-PFL-3448, 718-980-4400; Fax: 718-980-6515; email:
pfl@priestsforlife.org; web: www.priestsforlife.org
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