|
|
Aug 15th
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
This Sunday we celebrate the Assumption of Mary, a dogma of the Church defined by Pope Pius XII in 1950, after consultation with the world's bishops. In this feast, we commemorate that Mary, at her death, was assumed bodily into heaven, foreshadowing the resurrection of the rest of the members of Christ's body. Although relatively new as a defined dogma, the belief in the Assumption is very ancient, going back into the earliest church. No account of this event is given in sacred scripture, but it is mentioned by numerous early Church fathers and we note that Mary was not the first to be assumed. The prophet Elijah, Enoch and those who came out of their tombs at Christ's death were all received bodily into heaven before the general resurrection (see Gn 5:24. Heb. 11:5, 2 Kings 2:1,11; Mt. 27:50-53.) Mary was closer to Christ than any of the saints, to the extent of sharing her human DNA with God's Son. Her humanity was raised by her physical intercommunion with Divinity, as she carried Christ in her womb. Although some early accounts of Mary's passing are filled with somewhat legendary details, the stories were too widespread among the early Christians to be simply dismissed. Two cities claim Mary's empty tomb, but no one has claimed her bones or relics, a regular practice among Christians from the earliest years. As a resurrection people, we can ponder the fact that Jesus does not sit enthroned in Heaven, pointing at Mary, saying, "She used to be my mother." She remains his mother. John Cardinal Henry Newman said, "…we confidently say that our Lord, having preserved her from sin and the consequences of sin by His Passion, lost no time in pouring out the full merits of that Passion upon her body as well as her soul." For Catholic & Orthodox Christians, both Sacred Scripture and Tradition are sources of Divine revelation. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an example of a dogma that has antecedents in Old Testament scriptural events and through the passing on of sacred tradition throughout the Christian ages. (some parts taken from Al Kresta's Why Do Catholics Genuflect) |