(A concise explanation on the teaching of the Assumption of Mary can be found here.)

Last year I wrote these thoughts.  This year we've got blueberry pie.  

But it's blueberry pie made with handpicked organic blueberries, a whole wheat crust, and topped with homemade raw vanilla ice cream from my spankin' new ice cream maker.  So that's good too.

Oh, heck...I can't NOT write something on this holy day...  I love this Solemnity.  Mary being the first believer whose body is redeemed and now resides in the beatific vision is honored.  Mary, whose "yes" and whose very body brought salvation into the world, invites us to do the same.  Mary, who was honored by her Son is now honored by we who claim to follow Him.  

This feast is such an awesome reminder for the Body of Christ that our BODY and SOUL are holy and called to heaven.  I think it is so important for we as Christians to throw off the neo-gnosticism of our time and declare that yes, our bodies are decaying and they are bound by the effects of sin and they certainly cause us a lot of trouble but STILL they are holy because even they are redeemed by the actions of Jesus Christ.  Our worship is not just in our souls but it is with and IN our very bodies!  Our bodies worship him through the deliberate acts of kneeling and smelling and speaking and raising our arms and hearing and standing and folding our hands and seeing colors and bowing...and that's just the liturgy!  

Our bodies give Him glory by being like HIM in and of themselves!  Being completely open to new life we are like Him, the Lord and giver of life.  And as women, oh my goodness, our bodies practically shout the presence and work of God!  We can welcome new life into our very bodies.  We can nurture that life by carefully taking care of our own bodies giving that new life the best we can offer.  We can bring that life into the world dying to our very selves in an agony and mystery that screams the Pascal Mystery.  (Seriously, outside of the Eucharist I can think of nothing on this earth that more closely replicates the redemption of the cross than giving birth.)  We can then feed that newborn life with our VERY BODY.  It is mind blowing.  And it is Eucharistic.

If we are blessed with a long life, our bodies will be worn out and tired and sagging and wrinkly when we leave this world.  And rightly so.  We are called in this life to give our entire selves, body included, over to Him.  We take care of it because it is a holy and precious gift but we use it to bring life into the world.  And we recognize as Christians that we WILL have bodies in heaven...none of this turning into an angel stuff :)

 May Mary intercede on our behalf so that we can make of our entire selves, body and soul, a testimony of sacrificial love, a testimony to Him.  May this holy day be blessed and may Mary be honored as the one who paves the way for the rest of us.