The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Listening the Spirit
Lord Jesus,
give us the courage to cross boundaries and reach out to others,
the humility to listen and learn,
and the love to make room for everyone at Your table.
Make us a community that goes out, listens, and welcomes,
following the missionary spirit of St. Francis Xavier.
Amen.
Listening the Word: Luke 1:39-56
Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”
And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.”
Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.
Reflection
Every year, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we hear her words: My
soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
She did not say: I proclaim… I rejoice…, but: my soul proclaims, my spirit rejoices. These
words of praise come from the innermost part of Mary; they come from her soul, from her spirit.
It is there that she experienced the presence of God in her life. It is there that she was touched by
God’s love.
These words of Mary are a great lesson of life to us all. If we want to meet God we don’t need to
go looking for Him here and there. We need to enter the secret room of our soul and in the
silence of that secret room we will hear his voice, we will be touched by his merciful love, we
will experience the gentle greatness of his infinite power. A power which does not crush our
weakness but gives strength to it. A power which does not annihilate our smallness but, instead,
exalts it. It is in the secret of our soul that we can feel that God is our Father and that we are his
children.
Let us make it a daily habit of entering the secret room of our soul and spend a little time in
silence, enjoying the presence of God, so that we can repeat with Mary “My soul proclaims the
greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour”.
Reflection Questions
- Where do I usually look for God in my daily life—outside myself, in activities and circumstances, or in the silence of my own heart? Am I making time each day to enter the “secret room” of my soul and simply remain in God’s presence?
- Like Mary, can I recognize God’s loving presence even in my weakness and smallness? What in my life today can lead me to say sincerely, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour”?
