In her timeless 1977 book, Mary for Today, Sr. Patricia Noone, SC, reflected on the people of God and their unfolding understanding of the mystery of God at work in the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus
About today’s Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, Sr. Pat lifts up the central core of the feast, not as a privilege separating us poor mortals from her, widening the gap between Mary and us. Instead, she suggests that this Marian feast should be understood as an “affirmation of the divine love for human nature.” In Sr. Pat’s words:
“The Virgin Mary, human woman that she was, led the way in faith for us to God….
She lived the union for which we are all destined from the beginning of our lives, the union to which we will personally one day go, through whatever barrier or valley of shadow we must….
If we are to be true to our times, perhaps it is not so much a matter of ‘restoring’ Mary to her ancient place as it is of allowing her to take the place which has been opened up for her by the insights of the age in which we live: the place of a fully human person who continues to grow even now in knowledge and love of a dynamic God, and vital sympathy and commitment to the community [the Church] which is becoming the full measure of her son.”
–Sr. Patricia Noone, SC, Mary for Today (Thomas More Press, 1977), 144, 149
Image: Stained glass window, Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, Mount Saint Vincent, Bronx, by Regina Bechtle, SC