The Assumption

Fr. Roman Vanasse, O. Praem.

The event that we celebrate today was defined as a dogma of the Church only 39 years ago, in 1954, by Pope Pius XII. What we commemorate is simply the belief of the Church that after her death, Mary was assumed into heaven, body and soul. Jesus was the first to rise from the dead, and Mary was the second. As far as we know, no one else has been granted this extraordinary privilege before or since, although we believe that all of us will also rise from the dead at some point in the future, after the last judgment.

This singular privilege was granted to Mary through the merits of her Son Jesus in view of his own infinite merits as Son of God who died for us. It is significant that there is never any mention of the tomb of Mary during the first four hundred years of Church History. That in itself is an indication that belief in her Assumption goes back to the very early church. Surely, if she had died and been buried in the normal way, her tomb would have become a place of pilgrimage and honor, just as the tombs of the martyrs were.

That Mary should be granted this privilege before anyone else is logical, in view of her very close relationship with the life of Jesus Himself. At the moment of the Annunciation, Mary held the future of the world in her hands. She could have said "no" to the strange and mysterious words of the angel, but she was a woman of great faith and love for God. Surely, no one could have had a more intimate relationship with God than to bear him in her womb for nine months. Then there were the many years when Jesus was subject to his parents. She knew him well enough not to hesitate to ask for his help at the wedding feast of Cana. She travelled with him, at least part of the time, during his public ministry. Finally, there was the pain of the trial, crucifixion and death of her son, all of which she witnessed and shared intimately. She was present and received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost with the Apostles.

Today's Gospel shows us the kind of woman she was, full of faith and concern for others. Although she herself has just been told she would be the mother of God, she journeyed on foot to help her cousin Elizabeth, who was also pregnant. Her hymn to God's goodness, the Magnificat, shows us that her own view of divine justice was not a passive one, with its talk of exalting the lowly and pulling princes down from their thrones. Mary was a strong woman who was concerned, like her Son, not so much with what she could get, or what she had coming to her, but how she could serve. In her own life, she followed the example of a God whose very essence is the self-giving love embodied by Jesus Himself.