ASSUMPTION OF MARY.-2014

The dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven was formally declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950, but the idea of it has been around for centuries.  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, how it was found out that Mary was assumed body and soul into Heaven. 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.

Everything that the Church teaches us about Mary, the Mother of God, is intended to help us grow closer to her son Jesus Christ, and lead us into a deeper understanding of who he is and what he has done for us. It is important, then, that we understand the feast of the Assumption against the horizon of this salvation offered to us in Jesus Christ.

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 was so great that her whole being 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…” (1 Jn 4:12,16).

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, the new Eve. There are many revealing parallels between the old Adam and Eve on the one hand and the new Adam Jesus and new Eve, 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.

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.

It is entirely appropriate that our Mother Mary, she who was without sin and the means through which salvation entered the world, should be the first to be taken body and soul into the presence of God. Let us ask her to pray for us, that we too might share that destiny through her son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

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.