DORMITION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
BACKGROUND
The Feast of the Assumption is the oldest Marian feast of the Catholic Church, celebrated universally by the sixth century. The feast was originally celebrated in the East, where it was known as the Feast of the Dormition, a word which means “the falling asleep.”
For two centuries after the death of Christ, under pagan rule, every memory of Jesus was obliterated from the city of Jerusalem. The sites made holy by His life, death and Resurrection became pagan temples. It wasn’t until the time of Roman Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337) that Jerusalem began to be restored as a sacred city.
One of the memories about his Mother Mary centered around the “Tomb of Mary,” where she was buried, close to Mount Zion, the highest point in ancient Jerusalem.
Also on the Mount was the “Place of Dormition,” the spot of Mary’s “falling asleep,” (where she had “died.) These two sites do suggest in tradition that Mary apparently died and was buried,
| At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Emperor Marcian asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople to be enshrined in the capitol. The patriarch explained to the emperor that there were no relics of Mary in Jerusalem that “Mary had died in the presence of the apostles; but her tomb, when opened later, was found empty and so the apostles concluded that the body was taken up into heaven.”
Did Mary actually die or was she assumed into heaven alive? We don’t have a definitive answer to that question but as Catholics we are free to believe either. What we must believe according to the teaching authority of the Church (Magisterium) is: Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven, without seeing corruption. CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHING The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which we celebrate on August 15, is a defined Church dogma. In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption ex cathedra—that is, an authoritative teaching “from the chair” of Peter. Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma in these words, “The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven, without seeing corruption. REFLECTION |
Mary did not ascend into heaven like her Son did under His own power, but was taken up to heaven by God. The Assumption completes God’s work in Mary since it was not fitting that the flesh that had given life to God himself should ever undergo corruption.
On this feast of Assumption, we celebrate Mary’s entrance into heaven, body and soul. Though our bodies are corrupted in death unlike Mary, one day our bodies will be restored. Our bodies, created by God, are sacred and are essential to our human nature. “….
In The Feast of the Assumption, we look to eternity. This life on earth is temporal and for the most part filled with suffering and grief. We look forward to life after death. Thank God that this is not all there is! This feast gives us hope that we, too will follow Our Lady when our life here on earth ends.
Wherever there is an out-stretched hand in labor for others we are participating in the grace and mystery of Mary’s Assumption. As God lifted Mary up, God awaits those we lift in our labors. and we, the lifters as well. Our heavenly home awaits!
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. I Corinthians 13:9-13 We have made it home!
Mary’s assumption is proof of how we will be rewarded for the sacrifices we make here on earth- By giving up now on earth what we like but what is sinful, and enduring what is painful to us but pleasing to God, we shall enjoy Heaven with Jesus and Mary – body and soul – in the world to come.
PRAYER
“All-powerful and ever-living God:
You raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul, to the glory of heaven.
May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory.”
In Jesus’ name we pray.
The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary,
having completed the course of her earthly life,
was assumed body and soul into heaven,
without seeing corruption.
POPE PIUS XII