Monday, August 15, 2016

For the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy explains the importance of today's feast day:
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

180. The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary clearly stands out in Ordinary Time because of its theological importance. This is an ancient memorial of the Mother of God, which signifies and synthesises many of the truths of the faith. Our Lady assumed into Heaven:

  • is "the highest fruit of the redemption"196, and a supreme testimony to the breath and efficacy of Christ's salvific work (soteriological significance);
  • is a pledge of the future participation of the members of the mystical Body of Christ in the paschal glory of the Risen Christ (Christological aspect);
  • is for all mankind "the consoling assurance of the coming of our final hope: that full glorification which is Christ's will also be that of his brethren, since He is of the "same flesh and blood" (Heb 2, 14; cf. Gal 4,49)197 (anthropological aspect);
  • is the eschatological icon in which the Church joyfully contemplates "that which she herself desires and hopes wholly to be"198 (ecclesiological aspect);
  • is the guarantee of the Lord's fidelity to his promise: he reserves a munificent reward for his humble Servant because of her faithful cooperation with the divine plan, which is a destiny of fulness, happiness, glorification of her immaculate soul, her virginal body, perfect configuration to her Risen Son (mariological aspect)199.

181. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15 August) is deeply imbedded in popular piety. In many places the feast is synonymous with the person of Our Lady, and is simply referred to as "Our Lady's Day" or as the "Immacolada" in Spain and Latin America.



This is really a wonderful feast day, but the dogma of the Assumption can be somewhat difficult to defend if you don't know where to look. See my debate on the Assumption of Mary, in three Parts: Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3. I hope it helps.

What a lot of people don't realize is that the Assumption of Mary, like all of the Marian dogmas, is Christocentric. In other words, at the heart of each Marian dogma is a statement of faith about Christ. The Marian dogmas glorify Christ. Just as Mary, throughout her life, did and continues to do nothing but draw people to her Son, so do the Church's teachings on Mary draw us to some profound truth about Christ.

The Assumption of Mary is Christocentric in the following ways:
  1. The fact that we use the word "assumption" instead of "ascension" is important. "Ascension" implies raising by one's own power, as Jesus did. However, to be "assumed" is to be raised by the power of someone else. This is what happened to Mary. And so we see that it is because Jesus ascended into heaven first and willed that Mary be with Him that she was assumed into heaven. The Assumption implies belief in the Ascension.
  2. The Assumption is also the fruit of a life of grace. Mary did not die (or, at least, her body was not allowed to decay in the ground) because she was preserved from the stain of original sin and committed no sins throughout her life. She rose, body and soul, into heavenly glory. We will too, when Jesus comes again ... but only if we persevere in grace. The Assumption of Mary is the fulfillment, the first fruits, of the promise made to every man so long as he cleaves to Christ and dies in righteous relationship with Him. The Assumption compels us to turn towards the Lord, and it strengthens our belief and hope in the Resurrection.
  3. Finally, one of the effects of the Assumption is the crowning of Mary as the Queen of Heaven. Yet, there can be no Queen without a King. It is only because Jesus is the King of heaven and earth that Mary now reigns as Queen. The Assumption and subsequent Queenship of Mary implies belief in the Kingship of Christ. We will learn more about this next week, on the Memorial of the Queenship of Mary.
There are probably other Christocentric elements of the dogma of the Assumption as well, but that should suffice. If anyone says that the Marian dogmas of the Church somehow take our focus away from Christ, you can be sure that he really doesn't understand our beliefs about Mary as well as he should.

For more on the Assumption of Mary, see the following articles:
Still don't know what to think? I'll let Scott Hahn tell it:

Pax Christi,


japhy said...

My parish is "Queenship of Mary", and Mary is the patron of my diocese of Metuchen, NJ.

I've slowly been developing a new respect and understanding of Mary and the Marian faith of the Church. As a member of my parish's pastoral council and the coordinator of the prayer in our council meetings, I am diving deep into the treasury of Mary for this upcoming meeting, in between the feast of her Assumption and the memorial of her Queenship.

Thanks for these excellent resources. I lurk here often, and you've got a lot of time and a lot of enthusiasm for our Catholic faith.

God bless.

Taylor Marshall said...

For a treatment of the historical date of the Assumption:

Anonymous said...

This is in regards to "My FAther's House..." You could take a different approach to proving Mary's queenship. Revelation 12:1-5 talks about a woman giving birth to child who will rule the nations with a rod of iron. First, one must admitt that the child is the christ; the heaading of this Protestand Bible that i am currently using even refers to the child as Christ. Also, the child is "caught up to God and to his throne." Christ Jesus is the only person birthed from a woman who also has a throne in in heaven. Second, the mother of Jesus is Mary, therefore the woman has to be Mary. Lastly, Mary is said to have a crown of 12 stars. You can speculate that each star is for an apostle or a tribe of Israel which would essential be the same thing, but the fact remains that she has a crown. Last I checked, the kinds of people that wore crowns were royalty. It would make sense that Mary would be the Queen or Queen Mother, because in 1 Kings 2:19,20 Solomon, places a throne next to his for his mother, Bathsheba. Therefore MAry is the Queen of Heaven.

phatcatholic said...


Are you referring to this post?:

If so, the reason I didn't use the arguments you provided (even though they are valid) is because I was respondeding to the specific objection that Mary can't be the Queen of Heaven b/c "a saint is a saint is a saint." If one can show that there are levels of dignity in heaven, then that objection fails.

See what I mean?

Thanks for the comment!

Pax Christi,

Lothar Lorraine said...

As a non-denominational Christian, I wonder who the Catholic Church can keep the normal people from worshiping Mary like a Goddess?

In conservative Protestantism, the temptation is to worship the Bible which is allegedly free from errors.

Lovely greetings from Germany
Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland

Lothars Sohn - Lothar's son

Nicholas Hardesty said...

Catholics are never taught to worship Mary as a Goddess. Everything that Catholics do within the context of worship is devoted to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, we don't really have the impulse to worship Mary.

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