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This morning we continue our journey with Jesus to Jerusalem and we encounter the disciples responding to a charismatic prophet who is casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Their response shouldn’t surprise us as we have listened to Jesus rebuke them these last few weeks for acting or speaking inappropriately. This morning they again act decisively with the assumption that they are doing what Jesus would want. They are busy drawing lines that exclude. They are thinking competitively and Jesus isn’t interested in that gospel. In our readings this morning both Moses and Jesus remind us that we cannot seek to determine or limit what God is capable of doing. 

And though we may not like to admit it we so often mirror the behaviour of the disciple. We too can fail to respond with grace and generosity to anyone who acts in Jesus’ name. We sometimes don’t like to broaden our circle and welcome what the other has to offer. The gospel of Mark reminds us that people who love Jesus can become like Jesus, but it takes time. The gospel is the story of the slow formation of a community moulded in the image of its teacher. It is the story of the slow becoming of the body of Christ. Slow for the disciples and for us because what Jesus is attempting to teach them is clearly something that they don’t want to learn – and I think neither do we. Following him is no casual thing. He is to suffer and die and the course of the disciples’ life is that they will in some way have to follow him in that.

And so we are invited to look at our choices and who we are following and what way we are going. Are our choices leading to God and one another or away from God and the good of one another? The gospel speaks with obvious exaggeration (“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off….”) but such statements are to help us understand the seriousness of our choices for ourselves and our impact on those around us. Self-mutilation is not God’s intent, but the words are meant to grab our attention. If there is something in our lives – some habit, some action, some attitude – that gets between us and God, we must cut it out. What choices lead us to God and away from God? What holds us back – from living the life we sense calling in our depths? If too much time online is holding you back from the quieting your being longs for, turn off or at least silence your device.  If the people you spend time with are not encouraging the best from you, then choose.

And there’s more! Mark offers strong language about how we are to be with others: “Whoever scandalizes one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better if a great millstone were put around that person’s neck and the person were thrown into the sea.” Such sayings make us take our lives seriously because every act has consequences both for the other person and us. Jesus is saying to us “Don’t let your narrow understanding of discipleship, your own agenda cause another to stumble.” The kingdom of God invites us all.

This morning, Jesus seems to be saying to us, “Imagine something different!” What if the dividing lines aren’t written in stone? What if the kingdom of God is not so much about doors and walls and gates? What if the kingdom of God is organised by altogether different principles; whoever is not against us is in, whoever gives us a cup of water is in. It isn’t our job to be running around telling people who’s in and who’s out. It is our job to live love, that same boundless love of God made flesh in Jesus Christ and so to be the prophetic witnesses that the world so desperately needs to see.

 

 

 

 

 

Who wants to be first? It depends on what you might be first for, does it not? First in line for lunch, first for tickets to the concert, first for donuts, count me in! First in line for the dentist, first to take an examination, I’ll take a pass.

How little people have changed, because as we’ve just learnt from the readings, the disciples of Jesus and the Christians of the first century weren’t any better than we are today. How come?

No-one will deny that conflicts, disputes and insults; not to mention envy, that spiritual disease that stems from our selfish ambition, permeate our daily life.

In today’s Gospel an argument begins between Jesus’ disciples as to who was the greatest. To my mind this is most illuminating.

But look at the context.

Jesus instructs his disciples on what’s going to happen to him in Jerusalem during the days of his passion and resurrection. He says something of paramount importance: ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days later, he will rise again’: isn’t this a fundamental statement of our Christian faith?

This is not the first time the disciples heard from Jesus what was going to happen. Previously, as we heard last Sunday, the chief of the apostles, Peter, rebuked Jesus for saying these things and Jesus gave a stunning reply: ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but human things’. And he explains to all the disciples: ‘If anyone wants to become my follower, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (…) Because the one who loses their life for my sake, will save it’.

It couldn’t be any clearer. But, the disciples, who were seemingly so close to Jesus, understood very little, if anything. When Jesus repeats this most crucial assertion about his death and resurrection, they remained ignorant. Ignorance is the issue here. Jesus’ closest disciples couldn’t understand what their teacher was talking about.

But what is even worse, they are afraid to ask. They are scared. Why? Because their minds are still set on purely human things and what they hear is too much for them? Or perhaps they don’t want to come across as ignorant in front of someone they truly admire? Instead they start to fight among themselves. Jesus tells them the most astonishing truths about himself and what do the disciples do? In their total ignorance they argue as to who is the greatest.

The desire for knowledge of God is an important task for us today; not any kind of un-knowing, but striving for knowledge of the divine things is necessary. As disciples of Jesus we need to seek answers to the questions of our faith, particularly the most difficult ones. It is for us to be inquiring disciples of Jesus.

The great St. Augustine famously said: ‘We cannot love God if we don’t know Him’. If we truly love him, and I am sure that’s the case for everyone here, we’ll do our best to get this knowledge. By so doing we are well on our way to understanding Jesus’ words, because our minds are set firmly on the things of God and not on human things.

Do you know what will happen then? When all this ignorance is gone and knowledge arrives: envy, self-ambition, conflicts, disputes and insults will simply vanish. Because it won’t be ‘us’ acting anymore, but Jesus in his spiritual power acting in us and through us. And so we become his true disciples, those who love one another. Who wants to be first? There is only one who truly deserves to be first in our lives and that’s God!

 

 

 

 

 

 

In January 1740 Artic weather descended on the country. Temperatures plummeted so low that ports and harbours were blocked by ice. Livestock died and food stocks perished. To make matters worse the cold snap was followed by a period of prolonged drought. The harvest that autumn was pitiful and people went hungry. The weather didn’t improve and in December the terrible Artic conditions returned. Not surprisingly the following year saw famine and disease. Urgent help was needed.

If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

St James tells us that it isn’t what we say but what we do that most accurately reflects our faith. Back in the crisis of 1741 a tangible expression of faith took the form of raising funds and setting up relief schemes for the needy and the starving poor. But one very imaginative expression was to invite the famous composer George Frederic Handel to Dublin to give charity concerts. And so, it came about, that in response to the dire needs of the time, the first performance of one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music, the Messiah, took place in Dublin on April 13, 1742.

Who isn’t moved by the Hallelujah chorus from the Messiah? The feelings of joy you get from this exultant flourish of praise are second to none. No wonder people stand up for it. Handel pulls out all the stops: sound of trumpet, strings and pipes, resounding cymbals and every voice proclaim the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” By the end we are left no doubt that the Messiah “shall reign forever and ever!”

But then something unexpected happens. The excitement of joy gives way to stillness when the last strains of the final alleluia fade away. All sit down. The soprano stands up and the orchestra strings alone introduce the aria she sings, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” No fanfare of trumpets, no beating of timpani, not even another voice. Just the solo voice of the soprano proclaiming the core of our faith. “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” 

“But who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks his disciples in today’s gospel. The same question is asked of you and me.

It’s one thing to proclaim Jesus as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” when you’re in the chorus and everyone around you is singing jubilant alleluias, but when the music stops, the scores put away and the hall empties, and you’re left standing alone, what then do you sing? In the stillness let your song be “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” he, who for love for us “gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off His hair: [who] hid not His face from shame and spitting [and] was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

“But who do you say that I am?” At the end of the day our personal answer to that question is the only one that matters. Not what others think, believe, or say—but what you, what I, think, believe, and say about Jesus. And if you are lost for an answer then simply say “You are Jesus”, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.

Lovers often use a secret language which only they can  understand. We might, each of us, develop such a language, for holding conversations with our God.  How do we address the Trinity in prayer? Are we lost for words?

As Christians, we believe, we’ll be saying it in the Creed in just a few minutes time, that God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, became one of us, became a human being, and lived for thirty-three years, as we do now, here on earth. That is why we study him so deliberately, examine his every action, scrutinize his every word. Although there are some, mostly in France I imagine, who claim that the three persons of the Trinity speak French among themselves, we are pretty sure that Jesus Christ, even though he is the Word of God, did not speak any of our European languages. He hadn’t a word of Irish, not even the proverbial Cúpla Focal. He never wrote anything himself, except one time with his finger in the sand. Everything we know about him was written down later, by others, and in Greek, which was the most universal language of the time. Whether he spoke Greek himself is disputed. Strange that the Word of God should be so tongue-tied.

So, what language did he speak? The answer, we are told, is Aramaic, a Semitic language, no longer spoken in the same way, or with the same prevalence, as it was back then. The Gospel this morning tells us that Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. These were Aramaic speaking communities as this had become the lingua franca of most of Western Asia at this time.

  About ten times in the New Testament actual words in Aramaic are recorded. In prayer, Jesus used the word Abba to address his Father and our father.  We too can use this word when we go into our rooms and close the door  to pray to our father in secret [Matthew 6:6], as we have ben advised to do.

The moment Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus, after his resurrection, when he called  her by her name in the garden, she spoke to him in Aramaic:  Rabbouni, she said, which is something like a  pet name for ‘my Lord and my God.’

We can use the word ourselves,  to  address the Second Person of the Trinity, our brother, our maker, our master, our friend. The First Epistle to the Corinthians [16:22] gives us an Aramaic salutation to the Holy Spirit which as a word is almost a song in itself: Maranatha it sings. Try it out for yourself.

This  Gospel of Mark, which we heard this morning,  gives us three other phrases for our teach yourself Aramaic course.  Hosanna  (Mark 11:9) which the people sang for the triumphal entry to Jerusalem,  is useful for singing praise. Talitha cum (Mark 5:41) which Jesus spoke to the little girl that everyone thought was dead. It could means more or less “arra get up out of that!”  And finally, today, this word spoken to us this morning and to the man in the Gospel who was blind and deaf and dumb. Ephphatha! Be Open.

It could well be that Jesus Christ came on earth to say only this one word; it is certainly being said to each one of us who hear him this morning.  Its Aramaic but it’s also pretty obvious. Be open wide: open  to everything, with  everything, for everything. Don’t be blind, don’t be deaf,  don’t be dumb. Sharpen every one of your senses to experience the world as it is, in all its glory.’The glory of God is each one of us fully alive, fully open.’ And through our openness the world can enter in and the world can sing. 

Armed  with our little book of useful phrases in Aramaic, we can make our way through the land of the living:

Abba, Rabouni, Talitha cum; Ephphatha, Hosanna, Maranatha, Amen.

 

The subject of discussion between the Pharisees and Jesus, the notion of clean and unclean, is unfamiliar. It has nothing to do with hygiene. It has to do with an understanding of God’s holiness, where everything is ordered and in its place. Dirt on food utensils is out of place, but dirt in a field forms part of the fertile soil. Everything has its place. The people who follow God’s Law live within this system which orders all of life. Only those who are clean may participate in public worship.  This system served Israel well maintaining the people’s identity in the face of external pressures from the dominant pagan culture of the first century Roman Empire. Jesus by challenging the purity laws, threatens the protection and security provided by these Laws to Israel. The hostile reaction of the Pharisees is not unexpected.

Many might be tempted to see in this Gospel a simple criticism by Jesus of external observances of the Law, or of external observances of the faith, attendance at Mass, praying the Angelus or the rosary, attending novenas. Jesus’ challenge is much wider than this – it speaks to all who try to manage their relationship with God. A common example of such management are the oft quoted remarks, “I live a good life”; “I don’t need to pray, because I help others”; and “Avoiding offending others is enough.” The measure of goodness is not always clear. Jesus warns of what comes when we put ourselves front and centre – our hearts ultimately become sources of vice.

Jesus points to another way, a way already indicated by the Law. Moses speaks of how other nations will admire Israel – the greatest source of admiration is Israel’s closeness of God. This closeness is not a fixed possession but only becomes apparent when the people call to him. This potential closeness noted by Moses, comes to a new intensity with the arrival of Jesus, God made flesh, God among us. The letter of James speaks of this relationship in perhaps one of the most intimate ways in the whole Bible – the Word is planted in us. When we call to God, we discover that he is not merely close, but within us, speaking to us his Word which leads to salvation and life. 

This Word invites us into a living relationship. The Word is not a possession to be hoarded and ignored. As we call out to God, the Word responds and invites a response from us in turn. Jesus wants us to walk the road to salvation with him.  If we acknowledge our failings, he will speak words of consolation. If we lose our way, he will cry out to us and call us back. If we stumble, he will raise us up. In short, Jesus wants us to be close to him, so that he can be close to us. It is through prayer, that he comes close and invites us into an ever deeper living relationship with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY IS ALL-IRELAND HURLING FINAL DAY. ONE OF THE BIGGEST DAYS IN THE IRISH SPORTING CALANDER AND WITH LIMERICK’S INVOLVEMENT A GAME OF HUGE INTEREST TO EVERYONE IN THE COUNTY. LUIMNEACH ABU: WE WISH THEM – AND INDEED CORK – THE VERY BEST THIS AFTERNOON.

YOU MAY THINK THAT BECAUSE I AM WEARING GREEN VESTMENTS THAT I AM SUPPORTING LIMERICK.  NO, GREEN IS THE LITURGICAL COLOUR FOR THIS SUNDAY. AND ANYWAY, THERE ARE SOME RED ROSES BEHIND ME SO THAT CORK COLOURS ARE ALSO REPRESENTED!

BUT YOU KNOW SPORT CAN BE CRUEL AND FICKLE AT TIMES. THE HIGHER THE LEVEL OF SPORT, THE MORE FICKLE IT CAN GET. 

THERE IS NO DOUBTING THE MANY BENEFITS FOR ALL THOSE WHO PARTICIPATE IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. BUT THE DOWNSIDE IS THAT SPORT CAN SOMETIMES HARM PEOPLE – FROM YOUNG SPORTS PEOPLE TO PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES – SPORT CAN BE FICKLE.

UNDERAGE SPORT CAN BE FICKLE. AT A SCHOOLS HURLING SEMI FINAL A 15 -YEAR-OLD PLAYER HAD A FREE TO WIN THE GAME. 

THE FREE WAS THE LAST PLAY OF THE GAME. IT WAS BESIDE THE TOUCHLINE.

IT WAS AN ENORMOUS BURDEN TO PUT ON HIS YOUNG SHOULDERS.

WHAT A FRIGHTENING SITUATION FOR ANY 15-YEAR-OLD TO FIND HIMSELF IN!

HE STRUCK THE BALL AND IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS ON ITS WAY BUT AT THE LAST MOMENT A GUST OF WIND MOVED IT OFF COURSE. NOW IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS GOING WIDE BUT THE BALL THEN HIT THE UPRIGHT. IT WENT UP IN THE AIR AND ON ITS WAY DOWN IT HIT THE CROSSBAR – IT WENT UP IN THE AIR AGAIN – AND THEN LO-AND-BEHOLD – BOUNCED BACK OUT. GAME OVER. HIS TEAM LOST THE REPLAY

THAT 15-YEAR-OLD WAS OFTEN REMINDED IN LATER LIFE OF HIS MISSED FREE TO WIN THE GAME – AS IF THIS WAS AN INDICATION OF SOME KIND OF A FLAW IN HIS PERSONAL CHARACTER.

INTERNATIONAL SOCCER IS AT THE PINNCALE OF PROFESSIONAL SPORT.

MARKUS RASHFORD IS A BRILLIANT YOUNG SOCCER PLAYER FROM MANCHESTER. BY ALL ACCOUNTS HE IS A REMARKABLE YOUNG MAN: A COMMITTED CHRISTIAN WHO FUNDS A CHARITY WHICH GIVES FREE LUNCHES TO UNDERPRIVILIDGED CHILDREN IN THE MANCHESTER AREA. 

RECENTLY HE LEARNT HOW FICKLE SPORTS FANS CAN BE WHEN HE MISSED A PENALTY THAT MIGHT HAVE WON ENGLAND THE EUROPEAN CUP. AS A RESULT OF THE MISS ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE FOR MARKUS.

BEFORE THE EUROPEAN CUP HAD EVEN BEGUN A SHRINE HAD BEEN ERECTED TO MARCUS IN MANCHESTER WITH THOUSANDS OF NOTES WITH GOOD WISHES ATTACHED TO IT.

WITHIN HOURS OF HIS PENALTY-MISS THE SHRINE WAS DESECRATED WITH RACIST AND HATE-FILLED MESSAGES.  A FOOTBALL HERO WAS NOW SEEN BY SOME AS A VILLAIN.

MARCUS’ REACTION TO IT ALL WAS TO SAY “I WILL NEVER APOLOGISE TO ANYONE FOR WHO I AM OR WHERE I COME FROM”.

BY THE WAY, THE RESPONSE OF THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE OF MANCHESTER TO THE VITRIOL AGAINST MARKUS RASHFORD WAS TO SMOTHER THE ABUSE WITH EVEN MORE AND MORE MESSAGES OF SUPPORT.

IN TODAY’S GOSPEL WE SEE THAT SOME OF JESUS’ FOLLOWERS CAN BE QUITE FICKLE AS WE SEE THEY ABANDON HIM.

I SUSPECT THAT ANY OF US WHO FOUND OURSELVES IN A SIMILAR SITUATION WOULD PROBABLY WANT TO CALL THEM BACK. BUT JESUS LETS THEM GO. HE GIVES THEM THE FREEDOM TO WALK AWAY FROM HIM.

AFTER ALL THE MIRACLES, THE WONDERS AND SIGNS HE PERFORMED BEFORE THEIR VERY EYES – THEY DESERT JESUS. THEIR MESSIAH IS NO MORE FOR THEM.

AND TO BORROW A PHRASE FROM MARCUS RASHFORD JESUS COULD WELL HAVE SAID TO THEM: “I WILL NOT APOLOGISE FOR WHO I AM”.

PRIOR TO TODAY’S PASSAGE IN JOHN’S GOSPEL – AFTER THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES – THE SITUATION WAS REVERSED BETWEEN JESUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS:  JUST AFTER THAT MIRACLE HIS FOLLOWERS WERE SO ECSTATIC THEY WANTED TO MAKE HIM THEIR KING.  JESUS HAD TO GET AWAY FROM THE CROWD BEFORE THEY COULD DO SO.

IN TODAY’S GOSPEL MANY OF THE SAME ADORING CROWD WHO NOT SO LONG AGO WANTED TO CROWN HIM KING  – NOW ABANDON HIM.

SOME SPORTS FANS AND INDEED SOME OF JESUS’ FOLLOWERS CAN BE QUITE FICKLE FOR SURE.

SO, FROM THE START OF JESUS’ MINISTRY WE CAN SEE THAT PEOPLE ABANDONED HIM AND INDEED HIS CHURCH. 

IN THIS COUNTRY LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE HAVE TURNED THEIR BACKS ON THE CHURCH.  AND MANY HAVE HAD STRONG REASONS TO DO SO.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE OF US WHO HAVE DECIDED TO STAY WITH JESUS AND HIS CHURCH? LIKE PETER WE SAY TO JESUS: “MASTER TO WHOM ELSE SHALL WE GO? YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.

WE HAVE COME TO BELIEVE AND ARE CONVINCED THAT YOU ARE THE HOLY ONE OF GOD”.

DESPITE SOME OF THE DREADFUL THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN PERPETUATED IN JESUS’ NAME THROUGHOUT THE AGES – WE STILL BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS INDEED THE HOLY ONE OF GOD. 

WE CAN TAKE OUR LEAD FROM MARKUS RASHFORD WHEN WE SAY:

“WE WILL NOT APOLOGISE FOR WHO WE ARE OR WHERE WE COME FROM”.

ALONG WITH JOSHUA IN TODAY’S FIRST READING FROM DEUTERONOMY WE ALSO SAY:

“AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD WE WILL SERVE THE LORD”.

WE HAVE JESUS‘S WORDS OF ASSURANCE WHEN HE SAYS TO US:

“DO NOT BE AFRAID, I AM WITH YOU UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD”.

TO FINISH – NOW WE ALL KNOW THAT GOD HAS NO FAVOURITES WHEN IT COMES TO HURLING ALL-IRELAND FINALS. BUT IF HE DID…….

GOOD LUCK TO BOTH SIDES AND MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being a Catholic in Ireland right now is not particularly easy.  Revelations about abuse of various forms over the decades has brought waves of sadness and anger.  The number of Catholics who regularly go to Mass has gone down.  The number of priests and religious is falling.  Expressions of Catholic faith in Ireland evoke responses of benign indifference in some quarters and outright hostility in others.  We don’t seem to be able to spread the good news of our belief in Jesus Christ.

Let’s now turn the clock back to the end of the first century, around the time when today’s first reading was written.  What was it like back then?  The Church was very much a minority group.  Christians were on the edge of things.  There was outright persecution in some quarters.  There was also the seductive power of the Roman empire where, if you really wanted to get ahead, it was important to play along with the various pagan religious rituals.  Opting out of the ways of the empire was the road to nowhere.  And there was no lack of problems within the Church too: factions, divisions, disputes over doctrine and Church discipline.  Great fervour in some Church communities and very half-hearted faith in others.   Not a particularly rosy time either.  What image might one use to describe this state of affairs, this Church struggling to get on its feet, with pressures both from inside and outside? What image would you pick?

The image used by the author of the first reading is amazing:   a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, crowned with stars and crying aloud in childbirth. Awesome indeed.  Beautiful almost beyond description, yet bringing forth life in pain; under the constant threat of evil, yet kept safe by God.  The scholars tell us that this woman represents the people of God of both the Old and New Testaments.  God’s people as Mother.

It was from the people of the Old Testament that the Messiah was born.  We know that theirs was a painful history, of love and rebellion, of exile and loss. If Israel was the mother from whom the Messiah came, she was a mother in travail over many centuries.  Likewise the Church of the New Testament, the Church of which we are a part, is in constant travail giving birth to the life of Christ in its members. 

You might say:  I thought today’s feast was all about Mary!  It is indeed.  The faith of Israel reached its culmination in her.  The motherhood of Israel came to fruition in her, it burst into flower in an unprecedented way, and through the consent of her faith, the Messiah was born, the Son of God.  From the moment of his physical birth her birthpangs took on a new dimension as she watched him grow and begin to walk in paths that were strange to her, even in his childhood.  She struggled to understand.  She learnt that being his disciple was more important than being his mother.  Her journey of faith brought her to the foot of the cross.  There she took part in the birth, out of suffering, of the Church:  Jesus says to her, ‘Woman, behold your son,’ and to the beloved disciple, ‘behold your mother’. As Jesus hands over his Spirit, the Church is born, with Mary present as mother, and remaining as mother from then on. 

So this glorious woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, crowned with stars and crying out in childbirth is Mother Church.  But Mother Church is most of all Mother in the person of Mary.  That’s there the motherhood of the Church is in its purest and most radiant form.  Mary is, so to speak, Mother Church in person.

In the book of Revelation Jesus promises, ‘To the one who conquers I will gave a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  That’s where Mary is.  That is where Mother Church is. 

The Second Vatican Council said that ‘the Mother of Jesus in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come.  Likewise she shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.’

When it came to winning Olympic gold medals in boxing and rowing, it wasn’t just certain individuals who won.  Ireland won.  We all won.  When we look at Mary assumed into heaven, her glory is ours.

So, while the Church must also walk the path of reform and coversion,  it is an utter waste of time to start worrying about the Church. We have been promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.   Better to think about living the gospel together; not just think about it, but do it.  As we take our little steps to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit makes us part of something that reaches to the heavens, shining like the sun.  With Mary as Mother, our struggling Church shares already in the glory of Christ.