"The Almighty has done great things for me . . ." proclaims Mary. Can I list two "great things" God has done for me? How about two more? Make them specific.

One the Mary's titles is "gate of heaven." She, a human being like us, shows us the divine. If Mary's calling is to bear Christ in the world, so is ours. If her ultimate destiny is eternal life, so is ours.

IT'S A HAPPY coincidence when the Solemnity of the Assumption falls on a Sunday. We get to share this delightful hour together in a way that's not possible mid-week, weary after work or on a hurried lunch break.

Because of Christ's resurrection, Saint Paul says to the church at Corinth, our perspectives on our lives are transformed. "That which is mortal clothes itself with immortality."

Nowadays, she would have flipped open her cell phone and called her cousin. "Guess what?" she'd have exclaimed. But as soon as she found out she was expecting, Mary set out and traveled to see her cousin Elizabeth, who was also expecting.

One of the most moving images in literature and film is at the end of the courtroom scene in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus Finch, the main character, is defending Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white women in the deeply divided South of the 1930s.

Yes, the Olympics can become very nationalistic. Yes, perhaps the games promote an unhealthy level of competition. But there is no denying that the Olympic Games carry some very dramatic images.

"I woke up with hammers pounding in my head." "I would have killed for tickets to that concert." "Those shoes are to die for!" "My in-laws invaded our house last weekend and destroyed it."

Gathered as the family of God, let us ask for God's mercy and healing.

The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. To offer the firstfruits symbolized offering the whole harvest. Christ's resurrection is a pledge to all who follow after him and believe in him.

Today Earth has sent a priceless gift up to heaven, so that by giving and receiving within the blessed bond of friendship, the human is wedded to the divine, earth to heaven, the depths to the heights. . . .