ASSUMPTION OF MARY.-2012

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven was one of the last dogmas the Church formulated and declared. It was formally declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950, but the idea of it has been around for centuries.  As early as the 6th century we have writings of St. Gregory of Tours who spoke of Mary being taken up to heaven. It is one of those long-standing beliefs that has been codified into an essential teaching of the faith.

There is an ancient legend about today's feast. It seems that St. Thomas was not present at Mary's death. So when he finally arrived, possibly from far-off India, he asked to see her body one last time. But when her resting place was opened, there was nothing there - except beautiful, fresh flowers. One tradition tells that at the end of her earthly life, Mary was taken up body and soul into heaven, even before death.

Many popular paintings exist which portray the Assumption, often using the description in the Book of Revelations of the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars,” (12:1) which we read in the first reading today.

The Assumption of Mary can be adequately explained by only one word: love. Based on our experience, love is overpowering. It is a force that moves us towards the object of love and be united with it. People who love money are always running after money and grasping it so tightly. Those who love cars are always with their cars. And couples who are in love tend to be together all the time, longing for physical and spiritual intimacy. There is some irresistible force in love that pulls the person towards the beloved. In the case of Mary, her love of God is so great that her whole being is pulled closer to God. It practically lifted her up to heaven, body and soul.  In Mary, the true meaning of love is clearly shown – love always leads to God. This is what St. John wrote: “No one has ever seen God. Yet if we love one another, God remains in us and his love is brought to perfection in us…God is love, and whoever remains in love, remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:12,16).

Bishop Fulton Sheen expressed it beautifully: “If the distant moon moves all the surging tides of sea, then the love of Mary for Jesus and the love of Jesus for Mary should result in such an ecstasy as to ‘lift her out of this world’” (The World’s First Love, p. 134). He mentioned the example of the saints who, overfilled with love and deeply immersed in prayer, experienced the spiritual phenomenon of levitation, that is, they “are literally lifted off the earth.” This levitation would be very natural for Mary, for her whole being, body and soul, free from all sins and thereby free from all inner tensions and divisions caused by sin, has no opposing force that would pull her down. Everything in her is perfectly united and integrated, and moving only in one upward direction towards complete union with God. The Psalmist eloquently expressed this desire of the soul: “O God, you are my God – for you I long! For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts, like a land parched, lifeless and without water”(Ps 63:2).

The story of the Fall is not only the story of Adam but the story of Adam and Eve. If Jesus is the new Adam, Mary is the new Eve. 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. There are many revealing parallels between the old Adam and Eve on the one hand and the new Adam and Eve, Jesus and Mary, on the other.

In the old order, Eve came from the body of Adam, but in the new order Jesus comes from the body of Mary.

In the old order, Eve first disobeyed God and led Adam to do the same, in the new order Mary first said "Yes" to God (Luke 1:38) and raised her son Jesus to do likewise.

Adam and Eve had a good time together disobeying God, Jesus and Mary suffered together doing God's will. The sword of sorrow pierced their hearts equally (John 19:34; Luke 2:35b).

In the old order Adam and Eve shared immediately in the resulting consequences and punishments of the Fall. In the new order, similarly, both Jesus and Mary share immediately in the resulting consequences and blessings of the Redemption, the fullness of life with God; Jesus through the Ascension and Mary through the Assumption.

The Assumption is the ultimate proof of the equality of man and woman before God. It also shows the sacredness and eternal destiny of the human body. The Assumption enables us to tell the full story, the full gospel that salvation is for all Men, male and female, and for the whole Man, body and soul.

There is a perfect harmony of wills and hearts between Mary and Jesus which we see most clearly in the Wedding Feast at Cana where Mary commands us: "Do whatever he (Jesus) tells you" (John 2:5).

This is a great feast of hope. Mary entering triumphantly into heaven gives all of us hope in our eventual entry as well. As we celebrate Mary’s assumption let’s live our lives magnifying the Lord and rejoicing in the Lord our Savior as Mary did all her life.