A Disfigured Chalice, Church, and The Assumption: Love Your Mother

On the Solemnity of the Assumption, I offered a 12:10pm Mass at a parish where a friend of mine recently became pastor. Even though the headlines for the past couple of days were filled with the horrific and grotesque details of the Grand Jury Report of the Catholic dioceses of Pennsylvania, the Mass was crowded with devout Catholic men and women and their families. It was moving to witness their example of Faith.

Right before Mass began, I was told that the chalice for the Mass was recently restored. The new pastor had been cleaning out the church basement and found a box with old liturgical vessels in it. Among the vessels was a magnificent chalice that had been given to one of the parish priests by Pope Pius IX sometime in the 19th Century in honor of the parish being the first parish in the United States names in honor of Our Lady of the Assumption. After decades in a box in a church basement, the chalice looked worn and tattered, its original beauty marred and tarnished. 

There is something in us that recoils when we see something noble and beautiful disfigured and marred. We know that that chalice was made in order to hold within it the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. It leaves us saddened to see it relegated to a dingy basement. Imagine, however, if more than just neglecting that chalice, somebody had purposefully distorted it or broken it. Imagine further that this had been done not by someone who didn't know what the chalice was, but rather by someone who did know.  This would cause us not only sorrow, but profound anger. That which was created to bring honor and glory to God and to be a vessel of God's Presence in the world should not be treated neglectfully, nor viciously. 

All of us who know and love the Church are sickened and angered this week because we see that the Church appears tarnished, marred, and disfigured. The Church--like that chalice--was made in order to carry the Presence of Christ to the world. The Church is the vessel that carries within itself all of the graces necessary for eternal life. The Church carries within herself the Word of God and the Sacraments. And so, it angers us and sickens us that she now appears so disfigured. We want people to know that the Church is not that tarnished vessel laying in a pile of filth. That is a disfigurement of the Church. The real Church is that beautiful vessel that lies beneath the corruption, neglect, and sins.

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lady of the Assumption. The Blessed Virgin Mary is not only the Mother of the Church, but she is also the Model of the Church. Among her titles is, "Mother Most Pure, Mother Most Chaste, Mother Inviolate." When we look at Mary, we see no disfigurement, no stain, no defilement. We see the human person as God intended. In Mary, the Image of God shines for all to see. When we look at Mary, the Model of the Church, we discover what the Church truly is. This causes us to feel revulsion when its beauty is disfigured by our sins and the sins of others. 

Mary is the Vessel chosen by God to carry His Son. Mary was saved by Christ, but in a unique way. She was saved by preservation. In other words, because she was to be the unique vessel of Christ, God preserved her from the disfigurement of sin. The rest of us are saved from the disfigurement after the fact. We are restored and perfected over time through the grace of the sacraments. 

Newly Restored Chalice

The priest who discovered that chalice hired someone to restore it. We, however, are not restored by external forces. Instead, by grace, God restores us from the inside out. He pours into us His Divine Life and this is what restores and perfects His Image within us.  By cooperating with His Grace, we become fitting vessels of this Divine Image. We become vessels that show forth the Glory of God.

Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven on this day because she was never marred by the corruption of sin. Her assumption provides to all of us who are weighed down by our own corruption and the corruption of others, a taste of hope. She is the Model of the Church. She is the Model of Believers. What God did in the Blessed Virgin Mary in a unique way, He also wants to do for us. By His Grace, she was preserved from the disfigurement of sin and from the corruption of the grave. By His Grace, we too can be saved from our sins and--even after our body corrupts in the grave--share in Christ's bodily Resurrection. 

This week (and I fear for many days and months to come) we may find much that is filthy and disfigured. Whether that filth and corruption is discovered when examining our own consciences (which we all should do regularly) or whether it is discovered in news reports and church files, we should never become discouraged. Repulsed, angry, sorrowed? Yes, but never discouraged. The reason God sent His Son into the world was to restore what was lost. Jesus comes to restore the Image of God within us, to purify us, and to save us from corruption. 

At the moment, while we dwell within the filth, the Church invites us to look up; to look up and to see Mary, the Model of the Church. We see what the Church--in its deepest identity--truly is. Tarnished, marred, distorted, and disfigured by the sins, corruption, and failures of its members and leaders, the Church--beneath it all--is the vessel of Christ. No matter how many layers of rot there may be, we need not fear. Beneath it all, waiting to shine forth, is the unblemished Bride of Christ.  

For all of us who today find ourselves in the valley of tears--in the basement of filth--Our Lady of the Assumption affords us hope and consolation. Look up! Look up and see the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother Most Pure, Mother Inviolate, Mother Most Chaste. Look up and see Mary, the Model of the Church! May Our Lady of the Assumption give us all hope and trust, that beneath the corruption and filth, is the true Church of Christ. May Mary's prayers and examples also encourage all of us to submit to the power of Christ's grace and to be purified so that the Divine Image might shine more brightly in each of us and that our lives--and the life of the Church--might bring God Glory and bring many souls to Christ.

Lastly, as I was distributing Holy Communion during Mass, a man and his toddler daughter came up. The little girl was wearing a shirt that said, "Love Your Mother!" Today's Feast reminds us that we should love our Mother. Yes, we love the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Heavenly Mother. But she is also the Model of the Church who is also our Mother. Disfigured by the sin of her members and leaders, the Church is still our Mother. Let us love her by being holy and by submitting ourselves to the purification of grace that will restore what has been so badly obscured.