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2022-08-15 – Title: Assumption. Body. Soul
● ● Revelation 11:19A; 12:1-6A,
10AB ● ● ● Psalm 45 ● 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 ● ● + Luke 1:39-56 ● ●
[__01__] Arlington National Cemetery includes the burial / resting place of over 400,000 military veterans.
More than 3 million tourists visit
Arlington annually. Last year was a significant anniversary at Arlington
because it was the 100th Anniversary of the “Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier”
I’d like to connect this “Tomb-U.K.S.”
to what we are observing with the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary. The “Tomb-U.K.S.” is the most iconic memorial at Arlington. Since 1921
(i.e. 2021 was the centennial) it has been the final earthly resting place for
one of America’s unidentified World War One soldiers from the early 1900’s
[__02__] And, there have been unknown soldiers
added to the tomb in 1957 and 1984.
It has always been a tragedy of war
time that there have been large numbers of unidentified soldiers.
It is happening in Ukraine right now,
a country which also needs our prayers for peace, for Mary as Queen of Peace.
So, there are unidentified soldiers
due to injury, poor record keeping. One
example – in the United States Civil War (1861-1865), it’s estimated that
nearly 50 % (half) of those who died in battle were never identified by name.
The U.S. is not the only country with
“unknown soldier” monuments; in London @ Westminster Abbey; Paris @ Arc de Trionfe ….
[__03_] In
1920, a U.S. Congressman and WW-One veteran (Hamilton Fish) proposed a law for
an unknown soldier to buried at Arlington. And, this led to the transportation
home of the casket of an unknown soldier from France to be buried in our
country. It was both a homecoming and pilgrimage. The goal was to “bring home the body of an American warrior who in himself represents
no section (i.e. no city or state or geographic place), no creed, on religion,
no race, who typifies the SOUL of
American and sacrifice of her heroic deceased.” (https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Tomb-of-the-Unknown-Soldier
)
Of course, the Congress cannot really make
laws officially to protect our “soul”… but really only our body, but it’s nice
that Congress seems to profess a faith in the human soul !
That there is something enduring in
the Tomb of the Unknown, something worthy of carrying forward into the present
and future. The Tomb of the Unknown is not just about the past ..
Going to a funeral is never just about
the past !
[__04__] At the tomb of the unknown soldier, there is
even a special changing of the guard with an infantry soldier as sentinel.
On November, 1921 – 100 years ago –
when that unknown solder was brought to Arlington, there was a funeral
procession and nationwide, Americans observed 2 full minutes of silence at the
beginning of the ceremony.
[__05__] Our
Blessed Mother – our Lady of the Assumption- is of course not an “unknown
soldier” in the fight for our salvation. Mary is identifiable, known. But I
would like to suggest a parallel, given that I see there are also pilgrimages
we make to places where the Blessed Mother appeared and where she lived.
Father Ronald Knox, a British
spiritual writer observed that we are inclined to honor the bodies and resting
places of the deceased, of the dead. This is true for both “known” and “uknown”
To jump right to the present day, I
read that the cemetery burial place for L.A. Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant
and his daughter, Gianna Bryant, is in fact “known”. That is, the cemetery is
known. But…good luck finding the actual graves because there are not marked for
the public to find …to keep adoring fans away and allow the family to have time
to grieve and visit without fans.
We place great value on the bodies of
the deceased.
[__06__] This is true in Christian / Catholic history
– St. James (Santiago) de Compostela in Spain, Peter the Apostle and Paul the
Apostle in Rome, and others.
So…if there had been a grave, cemetery
place for the Blessed Virgin Mary, it would be way more popular than Peter,
Paul, James or Kobe Bryant!
Why would the body of the Blessed
Mother be important?
Because it is from Mary that Jesus
took his own body and blood. This does not mean that Catholics worship Mary as
a goddess, but rather we revere Mary as the new Ark of the covenant who carried
God’s word in her body and nurtured God’s word from infancy to boyhood and to
adulthood.
As Father Knox observed, for as long
as Mary lived there would be a material keepsake in the flesh of Jesus’ own
body and blood which he took from Mary’s flesh.
It would then be such a natural thing
for us to revere Mary at her tomb.
But God planned otherwise.
Because there is no tomb or final
resting place for Mary.
[__07__] God planned otherwise to teach you and me
something about the unity of body-soul.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
touches on this by stating that the dead body of the unknown communicates
something about the soul and spirit of the one who died and why.
The life and Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary communicates this even moreso.
[__08__] We know, or at least we learn , that the soul
and body are meant for one another – we recognize at moments of crisis that our
soul and body are not in synchronicity.
Due to original sin, the sinfulness in
our soul can affect our body… on a [+] positive note, when we are healed and
forgiven of sin, this can also heal our body.
As Father R. Knox reminds us, our
Blessed Mother was not born with original sin. Her human nature - body and soul – were perfectly integrated .
They belong to one another as we hope ours one day will (Knox, p. 519)
[__09__] The Blessed Mother and the unknown soldier
are a parallel in that both are meant to represent not just those who lived
before or during their lifetimes, but also to represent you and me who come
later.
The Blessed Mother also represents and
is a spiritual mother to people of every race, language, creed, geographic
section, background, health, wealth, woman or man, slave or free, Gentile or
Jewish.
The Blessed Mother represents all of
us. Recall that at one time the Church
founded by Christ had exactly 1 member who was also the1 and only parishioner,
reader of God’s word . That’s Mary.
Our Blessed Mother – like the unknown
soldier – belongs to all of us. We belong to her, as one race, the human race
for him Her Son came to give his life..
Jesus died for us individually whether we knew this or not so that we might also have a hope of our own reunion body and soul in heaven. [__END__]
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