You were created in the image of your God
“You were created in the image of your God,
You were chosen for great things.
When your time on this earth came to an end,
Your God called you home again.”
These lyrics from the composer, Michael Mangan’s hymn, “O Queen of All”, express simply our understanding of Mary’s part in salvation history. Created in God’s image, she was chosen and responded fully to God in her life, enabling her ‘fiat’ to the news that she was to give birth to Jesus, the Son of the living God. And with her husband bring Jesus to maturity for him then to step forward into his ministry.
The Church came to recognise over time that when Mary died, her body, which with the movement of the Holy Spirit had conceived the Incarnate Word, was assumed into heaven, “called home again.”
In Aotearoa New Zealand we live under the patronage of ‘Our Lady, Assumed into Heaven’, dedicated by Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier when he celebrated the first mass in New Zealand at Totara Point in the Hokianga on the 13th of January 1838.
Our present New Zealand bishops wrote: “Bishop Pompallier placed our country under the protection of Mary as she is now – alive, body and soul, rejoicing in the happiness of God’s kingdom.”
Mary, as first disciple, shows all disciples the way to her son. She enables us, through her song, her words, and her actions to respond in our living and to recognise this truth:
“We were created in the image of our God,
We were chosen for great things.
When our time on the earth comes to an end,
Our God will call us home again.”
With prayers, Patrick
- Fri 14 AugustSaint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest, Martyr
