Assumption

 For Catholics, August is the month when they celebrate the Feast of the Assumption.  It is August 15, when many Catholics are on holiday or getting ready for school for their children, so mass attendance is not all that great.  But the event of the Assumption has a deep meaning for us all.  In the Creation story God made Eve so that she would live in Paradise Garden without death.  Also, she would not suffer from giving childbirth.  But that did not work out.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, is supposed to be the “New Eve.”  To do this she has to follow God’s plan and not succumb to tricky, insidious evil.  She did this in part by not holding onto her plans.  She surrendered, which is key to transformation.  She was humble.  Now, recovering people can tune into all this.  So, when Mary dies, she does not corrupt.  She goes to God intact, God’s original plan for us all.  So why not us too?  Well, instead of whining about why we have to die and get buried and corrupt or burn into asses as in cremation, maybe we should accept that she is one of a kind, but a kind that points the way.  So I work on surrender and humility and letting go of my plans.