“MARY IS ASSUMED INTO HEAVEN, BODY, AND SOUL”
Rev 11:19,12:1-6,10; 1 Cor 15:20-26; and Lk 1:39-56.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, a holy day of obligation. “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1: 42-43). The Gospel text of today helps us a great deal in appreciating what exactly we are celebrating today. Summarily, today’s feast celebrates the greatness of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is manifested above all else in her Assumption into the glory of heaven, body, and soul, by her divine Son, Jesus Christ.
2. When Mary visited Elizabeth, moved by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth confessed what all nations and all peoples would come to confess about the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Why is Mary blessed? She is Blessed because of the fruit of her womb, Jesus. Mary was proclaimed by the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation as ‘full of Grace,’ meaning she was freed from every stain of Sin – a pure and spotless virgin, prepared before the foundation of the world to bear Jesus Christ our Savior. The second part of Elizabeth’s salutation to Mary reads, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” These words professed Jesus, Mary’s Son, as Lord and God, and thus, Mary as the mother of God.
3. Thirdly, Elizabeth spoke of Mary: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Lk 1:45). This tells us that Mary’s greatness is not solely about her being favored by God but most importantly, also because of her FREE COOPERATION with God’s grace – She heard God’s word, believed it and kept it. Without this, Mary would not have become the Mother of God.
4. Today’s first reading is a prophetic celebration, in dramatic style of the Great Event of the Incarnation, from which stems the greatness of Mary. The woman clothed with the sun is the Blessed Virgin pregnant with Jesus and about to give birth and under the threat of the huge red dragon, the devil. Yet, the birth is a safe one: the child is taken off to God’s throne, the woman is taken away to safety, the dragon is thus defeated, for the Child born of the woman comes to crush his head to the last. And then the shouts of victory are heard: “Now have salvation and power come, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed. For the accuser of our brethren is cast out, who accuses them before our God, day, and night.” (Rev 12:10).
5. In the second reading, St. Paul proclaims the good news of Christ’s coming: “just as death had come to all through one man, Adam, so too has salvation come through one man, Christ.” Jesus, Mary’s Son, is the victorious King who reigns until he has put all his enemies under his feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Cor 15:25). It is at this point that we can better appreciate the feast we celebrate today. Just as Mary was so closely associated with her Son’s life in a preeminent way, so too has her Son deigned to grant her so close an association with his victory over sin and death, in a preeminent way. This is the celebration of the Assumption: that Mary has joined her Son in the resurrection in a way that is already perfect. Mary’s Assumption into heaven proclaims her Son’s victory over death and remains a hope to us too of our future resurrection. Mary, a member of the Church, has gone ahead of her into glory as a sign that she too will be united with her in that glory at the close of the age.
6. A closer look at the formula of promulgation of the Dogma of the Assumption sheds greater light on today’s feast. In his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII on Nov. 01, 1950, about fifty years after the proclamation of the dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, solemnly defined the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in the following words: “By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, 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.” [Munificentissimus Deus, par. 44].
7. The phrase, “after she had completed the course of her earthly life…” suggests that the theological and historical question of whether Mary experienced death before being taken up into heaven remains open. The phrase, “she was assumed…” highlights the fact that “Mary, a mere creature redeemed by her Son, was ‘taken up’ into heaven by divine power and did not ‘ascend’ as Christ did through that power within him.” This differentiates Assumption from Ascension. Furthermore, the expression “assumed body and soul” means that Mary has been glorified in her total personhood and does not define a dualistic anthropology. Finally, the phrase “into heavenly glory” speaks of the mysterious mode of existence beyond space and time, in the intimate presence of the Triune God and the Risen Lord.
8. When one reads Scripture, one will find little or no mention of such a thing as Mary being assumed into heaven. So where does such a belief come from? What justifies it? The reasoning behind this Dogma is that “If bodily corruption is the wage of sin, and if Mary is Ever Virgin, Immaculate and spotless, therefore her body could not suffer the effects of sin which is corruption. Jesus could not leave his mother to suffer corruption.” Simply put, it is precisely because Mary, by divine grace is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, who is God himself, that she is honored with the title Mother of God (CCC, 509). And to become the mother of the Savior she was enriched by God for this role: she was redeemed from the moment of her conception – the Immaculate Conception (CCC, 490, 491). Thus redeemed, she could not suffer bodily corruption. And thus, her Assumption is a singular participation in her Son’s Redemption in an anticipation of the Redemption of other Christians (CCC, 966).
9. My dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate Mary’s Assumption, so too should we look forward to our own resurrection with watchful faith. When the world blasphemes against Mary, may we be ready soldiers of defense and may her prayers bring us all to the joy of heaven. She intercedes for us as we dutifully recite the Rosary daily, asking for intersession in all our needs. Happy feast of the Assumption! To God be the glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.
Fr. Anthony D. Lawir,
Pastor, St. Agnes and Our Lady of Snows Parishes, Pittsfield and Dexter.