Solemnity of the Assumption

CatholicExchange.com ^ | 08-15-06 | Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

[Salvation]

by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

Other Articles by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

Solemnity of the Assumption

08/15/06

		I once asked a college theology class if anyone could explain the doctrine of the Assumption. A student replied, “Yeah, that’s the teaching whereby the Catholic Church ‘assumes’ that Mary is in heaven.”
In This Article... Greatest of Marian Feasts Something Unique about Mary No Decay, No Delay

Greatest of Marian Feasts

There’s a bit more to it than that. The Church does not just “assume” that any canonized saint in is in heaven. Rather, it authoritatively declares that a person is in glory and should therefore be honored in liturgy and imitated in life. Our church calendar is filled with saints’ days.

But why a particular day for each saint? The first evidence for this goes back to 155 AD, to a bishop named Polycarp. The account of his martyrdom notes that after his execution, the faithful collected his bones, more precious than gold, and put them in a place of honor where every year they gathered to celebrate the anniversary of his death as a sort of “birthday” into eternal life. Celebrating Mass in the catacombs over the relics of the martyrs led to the practice of putting relics in the main altar of every church. Eventually saints who did not die a martyr’s death were also commemorated on their heavenly “birthday” and their relics were accorded great honor.

From very early times, August 15 has been observed as the “birthday” of our Blessed Lady. On this greatest of all Marian feasts we celebrate the greatest moment of her life — being permanently reunited with her son and sharing His glory.

Something Unique about Mary

All the saints experience the “beatific vision” upon their entry into heaven, and we celebrate this on every saint’s day. But there is something unique about Mary’s day. The Catholic Church teaches authoritatively that it is not just Mary’s soul that was admitted to God’s glory, but that at the end of her earthly life, Mary’s body as well as her soul was assumed into heaven by the loving power of God.

There is no eyewitness account of this actual event recorded in the Bible. Come to think of it, though, no one witnessed the actual resurrection of Jesus, either. The evidence was an empty tomb and eyewitness reports that the Risen Lord had appeared to them.

Interesting parallel here. There is a tomb at the foot of the Mount of Olives where ancient tradition says that Mary's body was placed. But there is nothing inside. There are no relics, as with other saints. And credible apparitions of Mary, though not recorded in the New Testament, have been recorded from the 3rd century till today.

Mary is not equal to Christ, of course. Jesus, though possessing a complete human nature, is the Eternal Word made flesh. Mary is only a creature.

But she is a unique creature, the highest of all creatures. This is not just because she was born without the handicap of original sin. Eve and Adam were born free of sin as well, but it did not stop them from sinning as soon as they had the chance. Mary instead chose, with the help of God’s grace, to preserve her God-given purity throughout the whole of her life.

No Decay, No Delay

The bodily corruption of death was not God’s original plan. It came into the world through sin, as St. Paul says “the sting of death is sin” (I Cor 15:56). So it is fitting that she who knew no sin should know no decay and no delay in enjoying the full fruits of her son’s work. It is fitting that she who stood by Christ under the Cross should stand by Him bodily at the right hand of the Father. “The Queen stands at your right hand, in gold of Ophir” (Ps 45). Enoch and Elijah, who the Old Testament says were assumed into heaven, were surely great in God’s eyes. But they do not begin to compare with the immaculate mother of His Son.

We too, one day, insofar as we accept God’s grace, will stand at His right hand. But Paul says that “all will come to life again, but each one in proper order” (I Cor 15:23). The Redeemer, of course, blazes the resurrection trail. But who is to be first among His disciples? The one who is last is first: the Lord’s humble handmaid who did no more than say yes, and kept saying yes, and whose soul magnified not herself, but the Lord.


Dr. D'Ambrosio studied under Avery Cardinal Dulles for his Ph.D. in historical theology and taught for many years at the University of Dallas. He now directs www.crossroadsinitiative.com, which offers Catholic resources for RCIA, adult faith formation, and teens, with a special emphasis on the Year of the Eucharist, the Theology of the Body, the early Church Fathers, and the sacrament of confirmation.

[Campion]

Burying a statue of St. Joseph upside down in your front yard to expedite the sale of your home.

The "burying the statue of St. Joseph" is some sort of strange Italian folk-custom. Personally, I'd call it superstitious, not idolatrous. (You don't normally bury objects of worship, do you? And upside-down, at that!)

It's hardly been the subject of any sort of formal church approval. It has roughly the same sort of relationship to Catholicism that "prayer-cloths" and snake-handling have to Protestantism: an oddity on the fringe.

[pjr12345]

If you can separate superstition from idolatry, then I see your point. But it really is an odd custom!

I thought of another one while driving to dinner tonight. The age-old custom of wearing a St. Christopher's medal while traveling. I've even seen St. Christopher bobble-heads in taxis!

I guess you can lump all this stuff into the same category of idolatry: Worshiping dead people as gods.

[Campion]

If someone prays to dead people, he's made them gods.

There are no "gods," there is only one God, and people can't make "gods" no matter how hard they try.

If you think there are "dead people" in heaven, you have bigger problems than worrying about my alleged idolatries. Specifically, you aren't a Christian anymore.

And the claim is ridiculous on its face. If I ask someone for something, I've made them a god? I'll remember that next time my wife asks me for something. "Hey, honey, thanks for deifying me!"

If someone burns a candle in front of a statue, he's worshiping an idol.

You might as well claim that putting flowers in front of someone's picture, or flowers in front of their tombstone, is worshipping an idol as well.

[Campion]

If you can separate superstition from idolatry

Superstition and idolatry aren't the same thing.

Worshiping dead people as gods.

That's just silly. By that logic, wearing a t-shirt with the name of a school on it is worshipping that school as a god. No faithful Catholic "worships dead people as gods". Get over it.

[pjr12345]

wearing a t-shirt with the name of a school on it is worshipping that school as a god

No, that's called free advertising. As a staunch capitalist, I am dead set against giving value without getting value in return.

[Iscool]

2Ti 4:2-4 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Great verse...Reprove them if they don't line up with the written word...Rebuke them...Encourage them to follow the scripture...

And if they don't like it, tell 'em to take it up with God...It was His idea...

[Lil Flower]

so many have a disdain for "learned men"

For the record, I never said people need to go to "learned men"