Assumption of Mary - Aug. 15th

 

Today, we join the angels and saints in heaven who are rejoicing as Mary’s body and soul was assumed into heaven.

On Nov. 1st, 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary into heaven as a dogma of the faith-- because it has been the constant tradition of the Church from the very beginning. He said, “With the course of Her earthly life brought to completion, the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, was taken body and soul into celestial glory.”

St. Alphonsus Ligouri in one of his homilies, describes what many Catholics believed in the 1700’s. He said, “The apostles had gathered around the bed of Our Lady because She had informed them that Her earthly time had ended and that She was going to heaven. When all the apostles had arrived, She died--- and then was assumed in heaven before their eyes.”

St. Alphonsus then describes what happened. He said, “Then the host of angels came in choirs, to meet Her, as if to be ready for the great triumph with which they were to accompany Her to paradise. That great soul, that beautiful dove of the Lord, was then loosened from the bands of this life; and She entered into the glory of the blessed”.

Perhaps, we can add to the words of St. Alphonsus Ligouri by imagining--- that when Mary died, She immediately beheld Her Son, who came down from heaven, took Her by the hand to escort His Mother to Her glorious throne and then crowned Her as Queen of Heaven and earth.

When Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven, Her Son, Jesus, immediately glorified her body, like that of His own at the resurrection.

When we die, our soul is separated from our body and it goes to its judgment. Our body remains here on earth to decay. The reason why our soul and body are separated at the moment of death, is because we suffer from original sin due to Adam and Eve and because we are sinners. At the end of the world, our soul will be reunited with our body and it will be glorified---- as Mary’s body was glorified--- when Her body and soul entered heaven at the moment of Her Assumption.

Mary’s Assumption is a reminder to us, what we will receive in the future. Mary received the beautiful grace of Her Assumption for many reasons. First and foremost was because She was the Mother of Jesus, but also because Mary never suffered from original sin and never once committed any sin in Her life.

If we want to receive our glory in heaven, we need to be like Mary, we need to do our best to avoid sin and have nothing to do with sin.

On this Glorious Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we turn to Mary, and ask her to help us to seek the glory of the kingdom of heaven.