The Assumption And The Promise Of Things To Come


Reflecting on today's Solemnity, I kept returning to one thought~that Mary's Assumption into Heaven is a promise of what awaits us. I don't mean necessarily in the way she "died", but that she resides now in heaven body and soul, as does her Son. While there are many souls in heaven, there are only two who are there body and soul, and those are Jesus and Mary.
I like to think and reflect on this sometimes. God loved humanity so much that he took on a human body through that of another human body, thereby sanctifying humanity. God loves humanity so much that He has promised to return our bodies to us, glorified, at the end of time.
The Assumption of Mary is a beautiful reminder of what God has in store for those who love Him.

Prayer To Our Lady Assumed Into Heaven
Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, we believe in your triumphant assumption into heaven where the angels and saints acclaim you as Queen. We join them in praising you and bless the Lord who raised you above all creatures. With them we offer you our devotion and love. We are confident that you watch over our daily efforts and needs, and we take comfort from the faith in the coming resurrection. We look to you, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. After this earthly life, show us Jesus, the blest fruit of your womb, O kind, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.
(Prayer courtesy of Catholic Online)

Comments

Mary N. said…
I have often wondered what are glorified bodies will be like :) Great prayer to Our Lady!
Judy Dudich said…
What a lovely reflection of this beautiful feast day:)
I'm writing to you because you're so knowledgeable.

I searched a bit about the Assumption. The doctrine that Mary was raised to Heaven body and soul was declared on 1 November 1950 by Pope Pius XII teaching in "infallibility". Only twice a Pope taught in "infalibility". The other time was in 1854 when another Pope Pius IX declared that Mary was born an Immaculate Conception - without sin.

What I'm not too clear about is whether Mary died or not. I found a Catholic website that said she died in Jerusalem (or Ephesus) and when her tomb was opened at the insistence of St Thomas it was found empty. Hence the belief that she was raised to Heaven body and soul.

Can you shed any light on this? Thanx.

God bless.
Daily Grace said…
Very beautiful! Thank you..
Unknown said…
Thanks Judy and Daily Grace-glad you liked the reflection.

Victor, In response to your question, I don't really have a definitive answer, but I will offer this: Many times, in place of the word "died", you will hear the word "dormition" which literally means falling asleep. Many of the Orthodox and Catholic Orthodox rites use this term. In fact they call the Feast of the Assumption, The Dormition of Mary.
I don't think there is any dogma/doctrine as to whether we say Mary died, or went into a dormition. Mary as we all know was born without sin therefore death is not something she would need to suffer. (Which is why I think the term dormition is often used.)So called legend has it that when the Apostles went to where Mary was buried, they found flower petals where her body had been. This is why in many places you will hear about flowers or herbs being blessed on this feast day.
Fr. Joseph Homick has a wonderful article on his blog about this. He is a Catholic Byzantine priest and may shed better light on this than I have. here is the link to his article.
http://wordincarnate.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/the-falling-asleep-of-the-mother-of-god/
Thanks for the great question-hope my answer helped somewhat.
God bless.
Thanx Karinann. This is very helpful. I'll also check the link.

God bless.
Now I'm really confused ... I understand that apart from Jesus and Mary being in Heaven with their bodies and souls, there's also Enoch or Henoch.

"And he walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took him" (Genesis 5:24). The inspired writer of Hebrews 11:5 adds: "By faith Henoch was translated, that he should not see death."

And Elijah or Elias too:

Like Enoch, he was "translated", so that he should not taste death. As he was conversing with his spiritual son Eliseus on the hills of Moab, "a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder, and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings 2:11)

Can you help again please? Both these individuals appear NOT to have died.

God bless.
Unknown said…
Oh Victor, You are really giving my spiritual brain a workout :) I am afraid this part really is beyond my knowledge, but if to speculate (which in my case can be scary) I would say that while we know for sure that Jesus and Mary are in heaven body and soul because of their sinless states, with Enoch and Elijah, there may be some interpretation differences based on which translation you read. I did a little research on some commentary for the verses you cited. Go to this link and I think it might shed some light on your question.
http://haydock1859.tripod.com/id332.html
(Read the section for ver.24) I entered the Genesis 5:24 verse you cited and the commentary referred to the others you mentioned. This is fun. I love a good spiritual workout!Hope this helps.
God bless.
Thanx Karinann.

I'll look up your link.

I got my information from the Catholic Encyclopedia. I don't know if you've got one. Here's the link: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/

Being Catholic is really hard work!

God bless.
Unknown said…
Thanks Victor. New Advent is a great resource-don't know why I didn't think to consult them first.