Why Catholics Believe in the Assumption of Mary

Catholic Exchange.com ^ | 08-15-05 | Heidi Hess Saxton

[Salvation]

by Heidi Hess Saxton

Other Articles by Heidi Hess Saxton

Why Catholics Believe in the Assumption of Mary

08/15/05

My friend Margie, who teaches two- to three-year-olds in our parish religious education program, says that the secret to teaching this age group is a healthy prayer life. The week she taught her class about the Assumption of Mary, Margie spent a long time on her knees.

She was stumped. “How is it possible to explain this to a two-year-old?”

Fortunately, our Lord always answers the prayers of those who want to honor His Mother. “As I prayed, the idea came to me — a helium balloon! I tied a string on the balloon and taped a picture of Jesus to the front. I let one of the children release the string in class to illustrate how Jesus was taken into heaven. Then I tied a picture of Mary to the end of the string and released the balloon a second time to show how Jesus ‘pulled’ His Mother up to heaven to be with Him. It was a simple thing — but it worked!”

This simple truth, that Mary was taken body and soul into heaven, is difficult for some Christians to grasp. Why is this dogma an important part of the Catholic faith?

The Assumption of Mary is one of four dogmas to be infallibly defined by the Magisterium. In 1950, Pope Pius XII promulgated this dogma in a letter entitled Munificentissimus Deus:

Immaculate in her conception, a spotless virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble companion of the divine Redeemer Who won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, she finally obtained as the crowning glory of her privileges to be preserved from the corruption of the tomb and like her Son before her, to conquer death and to be raised body and soul to the glory of heaven, to shine refulgent as Queen at the right hand of the Son, the immortal King of ages [cf. 1 Tm 1:17].

Although this was the first time the doctrine was formally defined, it should be noted that belief in the Assumption of Mary has long been a part of our faith tradition. There are three strong arguments for this tradition: Scripture, the devotional practices of the early Church, and the writings of the Church Fathers.

The concept of the Assumption is not unprecedented in Scripture. The Bible gives three examples of people who did not experience death the normal way: Enoch (Gn 5:25), Elijah (2 Kgs 2:9-11), and Moses (Dt 34:5-7, Jude 1:9). Both Moses and Elijah are visible at Christ’s Transfiguration (see Mk 9:4-5; Mt 17:3).

Even so, the Assumption of Mary has a unique place in the redemption story: Her purity and dignity as the Mother of God has accorded her a unique place in heaven, in anticipation of the heavenly glory that we will one day receive ourselves: “In teaching her doctrine about the human person’s destination after death, the Church excludes any explanation that would deprive the assumption of the Virgin Mary of its unique meaning, namely the fact that the bodily glorification of the virgin is an anticipation of the glorification that is the destiny of all the other elect.”

It is from this heavenly place of glory that she intercedes for us, as the “woman clothed with the sun” whose descendents are “all those who obey God’s commandments and are faithful to the truth revealed by Jesus” (Rv 12:17).

Why would Mary receive such special graces from God? In the Revelation of John, we find one clue. In Revelation 11:19, John reports seeing “the ark of his covenant within his temple,” just before he sees “a woman clothed with the sun” (Rv 12:1). The proximity of these two images suggested to some Church Fathers that the two are actually one — that is, that Mary is herself the Ark of the New Covenant.

As you may recall, the Ark of the Covenant was a sacred box that contained three reminders of God’s presence among His people Israel: a jar of the manna God fed His people in the desert; the flowering rod of Aaron, a sign of his priestly office; and the tablets of stone containing the Law, which Moses received from God. The Ark was kept in the Holy of Holies, where the high priest entered once a year to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people.

As the Ark of the New Covenant, Mary held within her the Bread of Life, the great High Priest, and the one who came “not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it” (Mt 5:17). And so, just as the first Ark remained within the Holy of Holies, where the priest offered God sacrifices on behalf of the people, so the Ark of the New Covenant has a cherished place in heaven, near the one Who offers up the perfect offering (Heb 12:22-24).

There is no explicit statement in Scripture about Mary’s death, any more than it gives us details about the end of Joseph’s life or the deaths of most of the Apostles. These things have been preserved for us through Church Tradition, and particularly through her liturgical and devotional practices.

For example, the Church has always preserved and revered the relics of her saints — that is, the bodies and personal effects of those who have gone before us to heaven. However, no relics of Jesus’s mother exist, or are even mentioned in the writings of the early Church. Had Mary’s body remained in the tomb, her relics would certainly have been given the highest place of honor — like the bits of the Apostles’ relics that are cherished in altars of Catholic churches all over the world.

We need not be alarmed at Scripture’s silence. Much of the New Testament was likely written within Mary’s lifetime. It is also likely that the full implications of Mary’s unique role in the salvation story took some time to develop. This is true in many areas of Catholic teaching.

How can this be? While the full revelation of the Gospel was completely transmitted by the Apostles, the implications of this revelation have fully developed over the course of centuries. This is why the Holy Spirit was sent, to guide us “to all truth” (Jn 16:13). And this is why we draw from Tradition, the Magisterium, and the Scriptures for our storehouse of spiritual truth.

Since Mary was kept from the stain of original sin, and remained holy throughout her life (CCC 966), Mary may not have experienced physical death. For this reason, the Eastern Church Fathers speak of the “dormition” or “falling asleep” of Mary. As St. John of Damascus observed: “The earth could not bear her divine body and dissolve it, as with other mortals. Nay, though necessary that it be delivered to death, three days thereafter, her relics were delivered incorruptible into angelic hands. She becomes incorruptible, rises, and is translated to heaven. There she stands before her Son and God in a living body.”

The Roman Catholic Church affirms only that Mary was taken into heavenly glory “when the course of her earthly life was finished...” (CCC 966). Some sources suggest that all Apostles except Thomas (even those who had already died) were present at Mary’s bedside, and carried her to her tomb where three days later her body disappeared, leaving only a few grave clothes and the strong aroma of roses in her wake.

In his apostolic letter Redemptoris Mater, Pope John Paul II reminds us of the most important aspect of Mary’s Assumption — she is our roadmap to that blessed state of grace, the string that guides us ever heavenward: “It can be said that ‘in the Most Holy Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle.’ Hence, as Christians raise their eyes with faith to Mary in the course of their earthly pilgrimage, they "strive to increase in holiness." Mary, the exalted Daughter of Sion, helps all her children, wherever they may be and whatever their condition, to find in Christ the path to the Father's house.


Raised in the Evangelical Protestant tradition, Heidi Saxton was confirmed Catholic in 1993. She is the author of With Mary in Prayer (Loyola) and is a graduate student (theology) at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. You may contact Heidi at hsaxton@christianword.com.

[asformeandformyhouse]

why wouldn't Mary be assumed like Moses?

Huh?

Joshua 1:1  Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
2  Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

[biblewonk]

I think the RCC is a house of cards, what does that have to do with Gen 1:1?

[Rutles4Ever]

Why do you think the RCC is a house of cards? When are you expecting it to fall? A "house of cards" would indicate something "precarious" when, in fact, the Church is going on 2000-plus years of existence...

[Rutles4Ever]

If you think the Catholic Church is a house of cards built on one verse of the Bible, so it follows that monotheism a house of cards built on the first chapter, first verse of Genesis.

[redgolum]

OT guy, was counted as a friend of God and taken up to heaven. Shortly before the Deluge if I remember right.

[Petrosius]

Enoch and Elijah were both taken up to heaven. Do you really think that our Lord would grant them greater privilege and honor than he would to his own mother?

[annalex]

The Assumption of Mary does not negate the fact that she, like Moses and Elijah, experienced death. Moses and Elijah, however, were seen with Jesus, all three very much alive, by the apostles. This is evidence of the assumption of Moses and Elijah.

[wagglebee]

As you said, Luther removed several books from the Bible (he also tried to remove the Epistle of James, but couldn't find a way to justify it), he primarily removed portions of the Bible in order to remove possible references to Purgatory (to counter the selling of indulgences). Remarkably enough, the Church stopped the sale of indulgences anyways, in no large part due to the fact that Luther's opposition to them was very widespread. However, Luther never had anything negative to say about Marian devotion or dogma. In fact, to this day, Lutherans hold beliefs about the Immaculate Conception that are nearly identical to Catholic's. For what its worth, John Calvin and John Wesley also held Marian beliefs that are in keeping with Catholic tradition.
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ95.HTM
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ460.HTM

What is very clear to me is that anti-Catholic bigotry is the driving force behind opposition to Marian beliefs. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Protestant Reformation. Luther, Calvin and the others were mainly protesting Vatican corruption, and if what was going on in the Vatican was happening today, there would probably be an even larger revolt. Most of the anti-Catholic bigots rely on other bigots as their sources. These people claim to be intense studiers of scripture, yet what they seem to enjoy reading the most are Jack Chick's comic books.

[wagglebee]

You are both overlooking one very important fact:
Jack Chick has yet to write a comic book defaming Moses or Elijah, so this is not yet one of the "talking points" of anti-Catholic bigotry.

[annalex]

anti-Catholic bigotry is the driving force behind opposition to Marian beliefs

May be some, but there is also a fundamental theological reason: Protestant notion of depravity of man is refuted by sanctity of Mary and the saints.

[wagglebee]

Jack Chick is the main source of anti-Catholicism in America. Most of his ideas are put into comic book form, I guess he has determined that his readers are most comfortable with this medium.
http://www.chick.com/default.asp

[Invincibly Ignorant]

you assume moses was assumed just as you assume mary was assumed.

[wagglebee]

I think the bigger reason is the fact that out of ignorance many Protestants think that the Reformation had something to do with hatred of Catholicism rather than widespread corruption at the highest levels of the Church. I have done extensive research about the Vatican in the 15th century and it is amazing the level of hypocrisy and greed; I wrote a very in-depth paper on the Borgia family (Rodrigo Borgia was Pope Alexander VI and father of Cesar and Lucrezia Borgia; if you want to be truly appalled, do a search of the term "Banquet of Chestnuts") when I was in college and they were truly despicable people. There is no point in denying that there was corruption in the Church at that time; however, the Counter-Reformation corrected these problems. Popes no longer have mistresses, children and armies, they no longer sell indulgences in order to build palaces for themselves and their families. However, it is also important to recognize that but for these men's lavishness, the world would not have much of the great Renaissance artwork that we have today.

But back to my main point, I believe that these bigots simply believe that hatred of Catholics is somehow critical to their religious beliefs.

[biblewonk]

Why do you think the RCC is a house of cards? When are you expecting it to fall? A "house of cards" would indicate something "precarious" when, in fact, the Church is going on 2000-plus years of existence...

It falls when you die and fine out your faith was in the wrong thing. It falls when Jesus returns and reveals it to have been false.

[biblewonk]

The RCC is a house of cards built of an obviously wrong interpretation of a perfectly good verse. OK, not so obvious to a billion RC's.

[asformeandformyhouse]

The Assumption of Mary does not negate the fact that she, like Moses and Elijah, experienced death. Moses and Elijah,

Then what does 'assumption' mean?