We celebrate the Feast of the Assumption, from which our College takes its name.
Saint Marcellin Champagnat, the father and founder of the Marist brothers, believed that we would better know Jesus if we followed him in the way of Mary. As contemporary members of this wonderful world wide Marist community that Marcellin established, the community of Assumption College Kilmore takes the name of this beautiful Marian feast day as a constant reminder that we can best come close to Jesus and continue his legacy on earth if we imitate the attitudes and behaviours of his mother, Mary.
Two of these life-giving values are ‘Simplicity’ and ‘Presence’.
When you read the stories of Jesus’ life and the beginnings of the Church, we discover that Mary is ever present.
She was there before the beginning, generously saying ‘yes’ to God to be mother and life-giver.
She responded with courage and an attitude of selfless service to be with her cousin Elizabeth as she too prepared herself for childbirth, by travelling into the dangerous terrain of the hill country of Judea.
She cared for Jesus during those early hidden years, marked by homelessness, journey and anticipation.
She was constantly there in the background throughout the public life of Jesus, anxiously supporting, yet also challenging, her son.
At the most dark and despairing of moments, we find Mary at the foot of the cross of her dying son, one of only a handful of disciples who remained true to the end.
She was prayerfully present at the birth of the Church and during its early years, passing on her wisdom and knowledge to those who would take the life giving message of Jesus to the ends of the earth.
And the feast day of the Assumption reminds us that Mary is still present with us today, a model and an inspiration for our lives.
But her presence is also marked by a simplicity of life and spirit. The humble stories of Jesus’ birth within a displaced and dispossessed family in Luke’s Gospel, together with their desperate journey as political refugees in Matthew’s Gospel, perhaps help us understand Mary’s passion for simplicity, justice and care for the poor, so poetically captured in the prayer ascribed to her, the Magnifcat:
This Assumption Day, the Assumption College Kilmore community again commits itself to following Jesus by doing all things In The Way Of Mary.
Dear Jesus
May we do all things in the way of your Mother Mary
And give of ourselves totally in the service of each other
Especially those who are most in need.
May our actions be marked by compassion and love
And bring about justice and peace in the world.
Inspire us with the courage we need to always say ‘yes’
And continuously bring your message of hope and goodness
To those struggling in the difficult terrain of the hill country of life.
Amen