By Judie Brown
Today commemorates the feast of the Assumption of Mary, the mother of God. The feast day came about when “Pope Pius XII confirmed this belief about the Virgin Mary as the perennial teaching of the Church. . . . He defined it formally as a dogma of Catholic faith in 1950, invoking papal infallibility to proclaim, ‘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.’”
One historian explains:
The feast of the Assumption is closely connected to the other Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Mary was conceived without Original Sin, which we celebrate on December 8. She remained stainless from sin, and so the Assumption is the reward of being sinless. Her body was too pure to remain on earth to decompose, so it was taken up by God to be united with her soul.
The main legend which led to the tradition of the Assumption is that the Blessed Mother died in the presence of most of the Apostles (St. Thomas was missing) and her body was laid in a tomb. Later the apostles brought St. Thomas to see the tomb. It was then they discovered that Mary’s body was gone and the tomb was filled with beautiful and fragrant flowers.
The feast of the Assumption is a reminder of the reason why we seek Mary’s help by praying the rosary and other prayers, especially when we are seeking eternal joy for our loved ones. This is so because, as Father John Hardon wrote,
Mary’s assumption is the proof of how profitable it is to make sacrifices. Not the least of these sacrifices is the surrender of our bodily pleasures that are contrary to the will of God. The eternal reward is worth the temporal price we have to pay in self-control. . . .
Mary’s Assumption is a call to penance. Pope Pius XII expressed the hope that this new honor to Mary would introduce “a spirit of penance to replace the prevalent love of pleasure, and a renewal of family life stabilized where divorce was common and made fruitful where birth control was practiced.”
Father Hardon’s words oblige us to reflect on the fundamental reasons why we focus our life’s work on defending the innocent and on promoting the values that serve as a foundation for ending the slavery to sexual pleasure that results in abortion and all manner of offenses to the Lord.
Our work is not easy, but it is a blessing beyond measure to speak for those who cannot do so themselves.
The Blessed Mother is our mother, our inspiration, and our guide. So on this beautiful feast day we honor her, we thank her for her example, and we pray:
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help,
or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence
I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of virgins, my Mother.
To thee do I come,
before thee I stand,
sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.