Has anyone here ever been to the home a famous person?
Name a few homes and ask people to raise their hand:
Graceland (Memphis, TN): Home of Elvis Presley
Biltmore Estate (Asheville, North Carolina): Home of George Vanderbilt
The White House (Washington, D.C.): President’s home
Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, Virginia): George Washington’s Home
Monticello (Charlottesville, Virginia): Thomas Jefferson’s home
These are all very interesting places to visit, but I wanted to share a very exciting home of a famous person I got to visit last summer: The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord.
I went on a trip to Turkey last summer and visited the city of Ephesus where Mary lived with St. John during her final years.
Her home is located on a mountain about five miles away that overlooks the city.
When we arrived, there were many people waiting in line to go inside her home.
There was a sense of peace and joy as I quietly walked through this humble home of the mother of our Lord.
Being there was a very moving prayerful experience.
As I left there where people were writing prayer intentions on little pieces of cloth and they placed them in the cracks of the wall.
I wrote down my own prayers, knelt and placed them in the wall, praying to Mary to ask her son Jesus to grant these prayers.
While we visited the place where Mary lived, we did not go to the place where her body is buried, because there wasn’t one.
The reason why is that Mary was assumed directly into heaven after she died.
This has been the belief of Church since the first centuries.
This was possible because of God’s special gift to Mary.
He had filled her with grace so she was without sin, so she could be the perfect mother of Jesus.
Mary lived without sinning her entire life, so when she died, she went directly to heaven to be with her son, Jesus.
What a fitting gift for her to be assumed into Heaven to be with her Son
That’s why we are celebrating this special Holy Day, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
We have a special prayer to remind us of why Mary was given this special gift of being assumed into heaven, the Hail Mary.
When we pray the Hail Mary, we recall where the Bible tells us of Mary’s unique role of being the mother of God.
Let’s start with the first line, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee”, which from the Gospel of Matthew.
It’s the greeting the Angel Gabriel gave to Mary just before he announces that she will have child who will be the Son of God.
She is filled with Grace, and it enables her to say yes to be God’s mother.
The second line, “blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”, is from her cousin Elizabeth that we heard in today’s Gospel.
Elizabeth rejoices in seeing Mary, because of the gift God has given her in being the mother of Jesus, the Son of God.
The third line is, “Holy Mary, Mother of God”, is just another way of what Elizabeth says about Mary as being the “mother of my Lord”.
So, these first three parts of the Hail Mary are directly from the Bible.
The final part is what we ask Mary to do for us, “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death”.
Through our belief that Mary is in heaven with her Son, we can ask Mary to pray for our needs to her Son.
When we have a loved one who is ill, don’t we ask family and friends them to pray for them?
Why not ask our friends in heaven, especially the one closest to Jesus to pray for us.
Now we are always welcome to pray directly to Jesus, but why not go to someone who is most dear to Jesus, his own mother.
It’s been said that a good Jewish son always listens to his mother.
So, we know about Mary, but how do we know Mary?
By knowing someone, we can build a relationship with them.
We can come to know Mary by praying to her, with her, and through her.
A good way to do this is by praying the Rosary through the eyes and heart of Mary.
When we pray the beads of the Rosary, we pray Hail Mary’s while reflecting on events in the life of Jesus.
The events are known as mysteries and there are four versions of the mysteries of the Rosary, The Glorious, Joy, Sorrowful, and Luminous.
One of the versions, the Glorius mysteries, has five events to reflect on.
Two of the events are the rising of Jesus from the dead and Mary’s assumption into heaven.
As we pray Hail Mary’s holding a bead on the rosary, reflecting Jesus rising to life, we can imagine how much joy Mary felt when she sees her son alive again!
Now again imagine, after Mary died, how joyful she must have felt being reunited with her son in heaven.
If you have not prayed the Rosary and would like to learn, plan on coming to Mass a half hour early in October, as it will be prayed before each Mass.
So, by praying with Mary, we can come to know and develop a relationship with her, a relationship that always leads us to her son, Jesus.
If want to have a close relationship with Jesus, work on building a relationship with Mary.
She is the one who was closest to a Jesus in his earthly life.
She also is the one closest to him in heaven.
Mary is our direct line in heaven to ask her son Jesus to help us in our needs.
Consider praying a Rosary daily to help grow in your relationship with Mary.
If you’re new praying to the Rosary, start off slow, praying ten Hail Mary’s and reflecting on the life of Jesus, through the eyes and heart of Mary.
Praying to and with Mary, will bring you closer to her and Jesus, and more peace in your life.
You’ll be glad you did.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
