ON THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION

Feast of the Assumption

We celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption means Mary is taken up by God body and soul into heaven. This is the fourth dogma on the Virgin Mary, proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in 1950, as he said: “We pronounce, declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

As defined, this dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son. Assumption is not Ascension, like Jesus, done by His own power, but Assumption is done by the power of God. It is something God did for her. It is a gift from God. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection. It is God’s way of finishing the job he started at Mary’s Immaculate Conception, redeeming her body from the effects of sin.

We know that it was from Mary that the Son of God took over human nature. It was from Mary that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity received His humanity. It was through Mary that Jesus Christ, who is God from all eternity, became man, and lived visibly on earth. It was not possible for Jesus to allow the hands that cared for Him and the heart that loved Him so much to be corrupted. That is why in the Catholic Church we believe that she was assumed into heaven.

What is this dogma for us today, why this dogma of the Assumption? We need to know that Mary is not a goddess, nor was she ever different form us. She was a human being like us. This doctrine of the Assumption teaches us about the sacredness and the eternal destiny of our human body. Our bodies are sacred and destined to heavenly life. The Assumption enables us to tell the full story of God’s intervention in our life, to tell the full gospel of our salvation. Just as the full story of our fall cannot be told without Eve, so also the full story of our Redemption cannot be told without Mary. So this feast concludes the story of our salvation. The Assumption of Mary is also for us the feast of hope. We are reminded that our bodies too will be redeemed. We will be in heaven body and soul. The Assumption of Mary anticipates the resurrection of all. This is a feast of Christian hope in the resurrection of the Body as we always say it in our Creed. We are most surely encouraged to have confidence and firm hope that if we prove to be faithful disciples of Jesus to the end, we can and we will eventually follow Our Lord heavenward and share in His glory, just as Mary, our dear sister and revered mother, has already done.

The Assumption of Mary is still for us, in this third millennium, a source of inspiration and of hope that God’s hands are not shortened, His mercy and love are still with us. What was given to Mary was given her uniquely indeed, but not exclusively, for it is intended also for us, ‘for those who fear Him from generation to generation’. May the Lord help us to cherish this faith and hope.