Growing in holiness is similar to training in a sport. We need someone to show us how we can live our faith well. Mary is a model of sanctity. She shows us how to be faithful to God’s will, living each day with confidence in God’s mercy and love. At the Nativity, in Jesus’ public ministry, and at the Crucifixion, we see her steadfast trust. She allows the Lord to use her life to accomplish his plan for her and for all of us. In the Preface of the Mass for the Assumption of Mary, we pray: “For today the Virgin Mother of God was assumed into heaven as the beginning and image of your Church’s coming to perfection and a sign of sure hope and comfort to your pilgrim people.”
 
It is this image of holiness that we strive to imitate. In the office, at home, or in our community, we look for signs of God’s grace that call us to an ever greater love of him and each other. A greater awareness of God is a sign of our conversion of heart that lives the lessons Mary teaches.
Is the resurrection a concept or reality? For many of us, the resurrection of the dead may be a stray idea recite in the Nicene Creed. Heaven we discuss. But resurrection? The feast of the Assumption is a reminder to us that heaven gets even better! We pray that the souls of the faithful departed would soon be united to God in heaven. The truth is, the separation between our souls and our bodies was not God’s original plan for things. It’s one of the results of the Fall, of original sin. At the end of time and Jesus’ second coming, our bodies and souls will be reunited. Lest we forget, Mary’s Assumption is the reminder. Today, we celebrate that Mary is enjoying what we, too, hope to participate in — complete joy in heaven with our God, experienced body and soul. Today and every day, let’s pray for those who have died and that we may meet them again in the heavenly kingdom.