The church celebrated the feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Virgin Mary this Saturday. The readings for the Mass both highlighted the feet of Mary and of Christ. Mary is the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” She is also with child, when the evil one appears as a horrible red dragon. The dragon threatens her that it will devour her newborn son. But the dragon doesn’t know who it is dealing with: Christ, the Son of God. And easily according to the 2^nd reading, Christ puts the dragon under His feet. The evil dragon became weak, as it didn’t consider the joint power of Jesus and Mary to crush it. When we hear these readings, we might not really understand the significance of what they mean for our lives. True, they are poetic and symbolic, but the message is that the devil has no power over us unless we let him. We Catholics forget that Jesus runs the world and enlists the help of His mother, Our Lady, to crush evil. Let’s face it. Who can doubt the evil that is present in our world today: hunger, violence, wars, lack of empathy for the poor and homeless. Many have just about given up on governments, because they seem to do nothing to help people—other than to stuff their own pockets. Yes, evil looks like it has taken hold of our world. But evil only has power if we choose to give it that power. The readings on this feast of the Assumption are teaching us that it is only if we give power to evil, does it have power. But if we trust in Jesus and Mary, we will have the courage to confront evil and overcome it. The evil we see can either be personal or structural. Do you remember the story of the Wizard of Oz? The Wizard had a scary voice that rattled Dorothy and her team, who wanted to find how to get back home. And when they finally reached the Wizard’s place, Dorothy confronted him to have more kindness. Remember how his wall then fell open, showing the Wizard to be a weak, cowardly man. He was a coward, who hid behind walls to scare people. Much like the red dragon we meet in today’s reading, who is the weak devil in disguise. So my point is, when you feel afraid of any evil in the world, or in your life, don’t run out of fear. Speak to Jesus and Mary through prayer, and surely they will drive the evil away.  

~ Fr. John