Solemnity of Assumption – 15 August 2025
In the last weeks we may have noticed something new. The days have already become that little bit longer, the mornings are a little less cold. The trees are starting to put out new buds. The wattles are all blooming along the highways. There is every sense that we are entering a new season.
We commonly refer to this new season as Spring – even if it be quite different from the season of the same name in the northern hemisphere. Whatever we may call it, though, it is a season of new life. The cold and dampness of winter give way to warmth, colour, and energy. Everything seems to stir into life again. And when we see that change in nature all around us, our sense of hope returns. We look forward to something that is new. And, indeed, as followers of Jesus, we are those who believe that God is doing something new in our midst, that God is bringing about something new in our world, and that we are being invited into a new appreciation of life.
Today, on the feast of the Assumption, we celebrate that Mary—Jesus’ mother—has already received this new life in its fullness. We understand that at the end of her life, Mary is wholly taken into that new life. We do not know exactly how this happens. In a sense it doesn’t matter how it happens. Rather, it is a bold affirmation that the one who brings forth the Saviour of the world and who is entirely shaped in her heart by him, is taken immediately into the experience of his Resurrected life without the delay of time. She is brought without delay into the new life for which we all hope when we speak about the Resurrection of the body. In Mary, we see that for which we are all destined. What we hope for has already been realised in her.
The Assumption of Mary, then, is like the first blossom of spring in the garden of heaven. Mary shows us what our future can be through our own closeness to Jesus. Just as she is brought into God’s life and love forever, so will we, if we keep our hearts open to Him as she did. And this means, like her, always uttering our “yes” to God’s invitation and plan for us. It is a plan that comes to us, as for her, in and through all the events of our life, especially through the life-choices we make in life. When each of these is a “yes” to life, we find ourselves on that journey to the fullness of life which she enjoys even in her death.
So as we notice the first signs of a new season around us—buds on the branches, new shoots in the garden, wattles blooming along the freeway —let us remember that God is making something new in us too. If we say “yes” to Him as Mary did, then we, too, will be led into a life fully lived, fully alive.
Mary, help us to say “yes” to God each day, so that one day we can share with you that new season in eternity we call heaven.
