Solemnity of the Assumption
August 15
Luke 1:39-56
Many years ago, I was reading an article on Catholic Digest. The title was “Why do I believe in the Assumption of Mary?” The author whom I can’t recall was a Protestant. His premise was that in the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah at the end of his life went to heaven body and soul in a chariot of fire while he left Elisha to carry on his ministry. So, he concluded that if this happened to Elijah, then why not to Mary who is the mother of Jesus.
Today we celebrate a feast which was declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950 as this article of faith: “We believe that the Virgin Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of heaven.” This dogma was a culmination of what we believe in tradition for hundreds of years, that Mary went to Ephesus to be taken cared of by the apostle John as Jesus has instructed John while dying on the cross. Then as being untouched by sin, at the end of her life she went to heaven body and soul to be with her son once again.
The gospel for today, while it is not about the assumption of Mary, tells of an important episode in Mary’s life when she visited Elizabeth after receiving the message from the angel Gabriel that she was going to be the mother of the Most High. We see how Mary and Elizabeth were filled with the Holy Spirit and Elizabeth cried out, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Which is the second part of the “Hail Mary” that we pray often. Then Mary sang a song, the Magnificat, which is part of the Evening Prayer. This song is full of praise to God for what He has done to Mary and how Mary was extremely blessed because of this. Mary also praised God for how he has looked and helped the lowly, the poor and the hungry while showing disdain to the arrogant, to the unjust rulers and the rich. Also, Mary gave thanks to God for remembering his promise that he made to Abraham and his descendants.
The Assumption of Mary shows us the original plan of God for all of us if sin didn’t come into our world. The original plan of God is that when we have lived a beautiful life on earth, we’ll just go to heaven body and soul to be with God forever. However, because of sin, it has corrupted our being and that led us to die after life on earth with our body returning to dust. However, for Mary because she was made sinless from the moment of her conception, she was spared from the corruption of sin and death which we all experience. That is why, after her death, she went up to heaven, body and soul.
So, what is the importance of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to all of us? For me, Mary is again showing us the way and giving us an example. What happened to Mary will one day happen to all of us. If she went to heaven body and soul, we will also have our turn at the resurrection of the dead. Even if we are all going to die and our remains will turn to dust, on that day when we are resurrected, we will have our new bodies and be raised and enter the kingdom of heaven to be with Jesus, Mary and all whom we love.
So let us continue to persevere to live a life following the example of Mary of being obedient to the will of God and serving our neighbour. By doing this, what happened to Mary will also happen to us. Let us remember that our eternal destiny is not to be in this earth at the end of time but to be with our creator like where Mary is where there will be no more tears, sadness and death instead to be joyful in the presence of our heavenly Father.