A blessed and glorious solemnity of the Assumption to one and all! A day commemorating the taking up of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven at the end of her earthly journey. As Pius XII declared in his 1950 Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, in which this perennial truth was solemnly defined:
by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory
The resurrection of the body is a real and vivid truth, that we will enjoy beatitude in these very bodies, transformed somehow spiritually, so they can bear the ‘weight’ of the glory of God in eternity. As Saint Thomas says, the glory of the beatified soul will redound upon the body, with a beauty and joy that we cannot even begin to imagine. And all we have to do, as Christ answers the rich, young man, is keep the commandments! A better deal has never been struck! Yet so many are blinded to this promise, and follow after Esau’s bowl of pottage.
Of course, we cannot see this ‘real and vivid’ truth in this life, one of obscurity and darkness, veiled behind sin and death. But there are glimpses behind the veil, as we see in the various visions of the Blessed Mother, invariably described as ineffably beautiful. We should keep our eyes fixed on Holy Mary; whether we ‘see’ her or not, she guides her children, those devoted to Christ through her, through the labyrinth of this life.
Hence, to the Mass, the Eucharist – the Bread of Eternal Life, which makes us like unto Christ – the Rosary, prayer and supplication, which will give us ‘eyes to see, and ears to hear’, and hope in our hearts to persevere to the end.
O Mary, Assumed into heaven, ora pro nobis! +