Prized Possessions: Vigil of the Assumption of Mary

Do you have a prized possession? Perhaps your grandmother’s china, or a trophy from your Little League days, or perhaps a favorite family heirloom? We all have certain things that are priceless to us, that we put in honored places in our homes.

In today’s first reading (vigil Mass), we hear how King David brings the Ark of the Covenant into the royal city of Jerusalem. The Ark was the most prized possession of the Israelites; it was the tabernacle that housed God’s very presence. Although they treasured it above all else, they had lost it – it had fallen into the hands of the Philistines, Israel’s mortal enemies. When David became king, he launched a campaign to bring the Ark out of captivity, and to defeat the Philistines, along with all of the rest of Israel’s foes. Today’s story is the conclusion of that saga – having established his kingdom, David reclaims Israel’s most prized possession and enshrines it in Jerusalem.

David Bearing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (c. 1665) by Domenico Gargiulo (Micco Spadaro)

That story very closely parallels the feast that we are celebrating today. We believe that, at the close of her life, Mary was brought body and soul by God into heaven. As Catholics, we describe Mary as “the Ark of the New Covenant,” because it was in her very body that she bore Jesus, the Son of God. Because of that great honor, because of that holy grace, Mary was rescued from the hands of mankind’s mortal enemy, death and decay, and enshrined into the heavenly kingdom.

What does this feast mean for you and me? In Mary, we can see how God has brought humanity out of captivity to sin and death, and through her, we already have an enshrined place in heaven. Like Mary, we are called to bear the presence of Christ within ourselves, not physically as she did but spiritually and sacramentally, through the grace of the Eucharist. If we do so faithfully – if we observe God’s word and carry it out, as Mary did – then Mary’s Son, the new David, will do the same thing for us that he did for his Blessed Mother – he will reclaim us as his most prized possession and raise us to heavenly glory, one day uniting our immortal souls with new and glorified bodies.

Brothers and sisters, in God’s eyes, each of us is a prized possession, and he has created us not for death and decay but to take an honored place in his heavenly abode. Let’s pray for the intercession of our Blessed Mother this day, that we may see in her the deep and abiding love that God has for all of us, his beloved children, and let’s ask her Son Jesus to help us to hear and observe God’s holy word, so that we can take our place in his kingdom.