Happy Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary!
Today is a holy day of obligation for many Catholics around the world, but oddly enough it isn’t for Canada. Personally, I still went.
Recently I’ve fallen back into the extremely bad habit of going to sleep at ridiculous hours of the morning. Maybe it was awkward jet lag from traveling overnight across time zones and napping during the day or having closing shifts which have me energized well after midnight. Whatever the case may be, it’s not a good habit of reckless sleeping. One of the things most affected by this is actually my spiritual life. Proper sleep is essential for not only physical health, but for your spiritual life.
Since I’ve been waking up late, between 9am – 10am, I’ve been missing daily morning mass. Daily evening mass isn’t as readily available in my local area, and when there is evening mass I am usually busy with work, service or already made plans. Again today I woke up late, despite my mom calling me to ask if I was going to mass this morning, but I was so tired and out of it I said no.
Today being Wednesday, I have my personal commitment to go to adoration. The parish I usually go to only has morning adoration during the summer. So I got up and got ready and rushed to the church, only to reach at the end of benediction. I was disappointed at myself for missing my opportunity to see Jesus face to face in the Eucharist! Still I knew Jesus was present in the tabernacle, and literally seeing Him go back into the tabernacle for some reason had me comforted to just know He was there.
It was relatively crowd in the small adoration chapel of the church, so I let everyone leave and then made my way to the front. I think I was also happy because it was a lot less people; I’m so easily distracted when other people are around. As I pulled out my rosary and started to pray, I realized the importance of today as the Feast day of the Assumption of Mary and was again disappointed in myself for not having attended mass! I thought about how I haven’t been attending daily mass for over a month now and how distant and empty that made me feel. I apologized to the Lord for being so lazy and for not physically starting my days with him. I have been attending daily mass since the beginning of the year and so I really feel the loss of it. Literally as soon as I apologized and said, Lord I wish I can attend mass today, a lady who had just left the chapel came back and walked right up to me and said, “There’s mass at 11:30 today, I don’t know if you already knew that. It’s only 11:10 right now so there’s no rush but just so you know.”
OH MY GOLLY!!! I couldn’t help but smile, I was so happy and I thanked her for letting me know! Dang, the Lord doesn’t waste time! For some reason it reminded me of a reflection I had during my attempt of 33 Days to Merciful Love. The reflection was about Our Lady, after the Annunciation, making with haste to go visit her cousin Elizabeth (the Visitation). Side note, I was supposed to finish 33 Days to Merciful Love either yesterday on the feast day of Maximilian Kolbe or today on the Assumption of Mary. I failed at both target days because I forgot the book while I was in Calgary and I was already a good week behind in the retreat.
During mass, the gospel reading for today comes from Luke 1:39-56. Again, there it was in the gospel, the Visitation! But what got me was the very first verse of the reading,
“In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah,” – Luke 1:39
I’ve realized in my reflections that Mama Mary was first and foremost very much a daughter of God. She didn’t just see herself as a holy one or the mother of humanity, and thus above everyone. Rather she refers to herself, in where we get the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), as a handmaid or servant. She is God’s humble servant, and in being entrusted with the mission the Lord has given her, she goes “with haste” to tell her cousin and to start the mission. Mama Mary didn’t wait a week or two or check weather conditions to see when might be a more convenient time. In hearing what she had to do and what was going to happen, Mama Mary went as soon as possible to share it with Elizabeth.
Elizabeth’s response,
“Blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
That also made me think when I was reflecting a few weeks back. Could you imagine is Mama Mary didn’t believe what the Angel Gabriel had said to her? Again, because she did believe, she wasted no time. And in accepting and carrying out her mission she becomes ever more full of grace. She becomes more blessed because she is doing what the Lord calls her to do.
St. Maria Faustina Kowalska in her diary talks about how by listening and responding to the Lord’s call, you will receive graces and mercy by doing His will. St. Faustina also got called out by the Lord who asked her how long was she going to make Him wait to do what she knew He was calling her to. This is a very quick rough little insight to St. Faustina who is a great mystic of the Church. But if it’s one thing I’ve realized, is that if the Mother of God and a great saint had to act and move with haste, then how much more should I be moving quickly for the Lord.
Now I know this isn’t as easy as it sounds because a lot of us do not know our specific mission from the Lord. Still we are all called to love and serve the Lord. Even if you do not know your specific mission or calling from God, you can still be present with Him by receiving the Eucharist daily through mass. You can still live out your call as a daughter/son of God by helping those around you each and every day. For me personally it is to be diligent in pursuing a deeper spiritual life and prayer time. I always say I’m not good at novenas or self-retreats, but that stems from laziness. I must treat anything I start and do with importance and make haste to finish and complete it. Please pray for me as I will attempt to restart the 33 Days of Merciful Love retreat. (Also let me know if you are interested about the retreat and would like to be accountability partners).
I pray, that with haste, may we all do our best to seek God’s will in our lives, to respond positively to it, to actively serve the Church and to love God to the best of our abilities each and everyday. Amen
In Christ,
Meagan Webb