Assumption 2017

Christ is the first fruits, then shall be brought to life, but in the proper order. (From the
Epistle reading from this Mass)

Although we are celebrating the Assumption of the Virgin Mary today, there are really three aspects
of this feast contained within it. First there is Her holy death; then Her rising from the dead; and
finally Her assumption into heaven (with, we might add, Her coronation in heaven). This strong
focus on Our Lady gives the credit and glory to God who made Her who She is and it makes us more
aware of our potential as Christians to have a part in a glorious future life, one that is previewed by
the way Christ and Holy Mary concluded their lives on earth and now dwell in eternity.

If the Assumption of Mary is a happy recollection and prospect for us, we should think what it is to
Christ who set the pattern of a glorified death and afterlife Himself and who enabled His Mother to
follow in it. If we congratulate Mary on this triumph, we must also thank Christ for establishing
the pattern for Her and, by extension, for all of us who have hope for that future life.

Unlike our own case, the death of the Virgin Mary was not due to sickness, old age, or the just
penalty of sin. On the contrary, if we can imagine it, Her death was an effect of the incomparable
love that inflamed Her Heart. This is difficult for us to appreciate because our love for God is a also
love for this life, and we try mightily to make our life comfortable and to prolong it. But since
Marys mind was not blinded by the vain attractions of this life or of the world, Her Heart was free
to see divine realities as they truly are and to embrace God fully, even from the very beginning of
Her life. And especially after Our Lord had ascended into heaven, there was nothing to detain Her
on earthexcept to do Gods will in helping to steady the apostolic Church in its infancy. One would
have to say that living on after Christs ascension was a kind of martyrdom for Her. But finally the
day did come when She would be set free from what we refer to as this exile from God and gain
the great desire of Her blessed life: the unending vision and possession of God. Here already Marys
Assumption has a moral lesson for us: to keep focused on a holy death by a loving desire for eternal
life.

Our Christian doctrine reminds us that death and the corruption of the human body is part of the
punishment humanity was due for original sin. The death of Mary (as I indicated) was not due to this
cause, and so Her body did not suffer corruption after She died. The soul must have left Her body
only for the briefest time for Her to experience death (a thing She would have desired, since Her Son
had also died, though innocent of any sin), and Her soul must have soon returned to Her body to keep
it from decaying. This reuniting of soul with body would have constituted the resurrection of Her
bodya thing that is going to happen to all of us on the Last Day if we will have died in a state of
grace. (Recall the Epistle: Christ the first, then each on in the proper order.) The risen body is the
same body as before death but in a new condition, a state of perfection and glory. While we must
await that time, it was anticipated for Holy Mary in view of Her singular privilege, being the Mother
of God. And so, we discover a moral lesson here as well: keeping ourselves from the foulness of sin,
which is a corrupting of our nature, we ready ourselves for resurrection day.

Once the body of the Virgin Mary had risen from death, there was nothing more to hold Her body
to cling to this earth. She was thus taken up into heaven, glorified body and soul. The principle of
Christ was in put into effect for the everyone to see: the humble are exalted, and in the case of Mary,
the most humble of all the human race was the most exalted by Her ascending into heaven. Since
heaven is the place where God, His angels and saints reside, all the dwellers of heaven must have
greed the arrival of Blessed Mary there in a way that we can only faintly imagine by way of analogy.
Her high place there must agree with Her perfection, a place next to Christ the King. And so we
speak of Her coronation, depicting Her special reward in terms of a most splendid coronation
ceremony. The truth is that we cant really grasp all that must have taken place there but we speak
of it in terms of the pomp and ceremony which our imaginations can create. Crowns and haloes
adorn the heads of our saints as a representation of the reward due to their virtue but also as visible
signs to everyone there of their achievements. Heavenly ceremonies and the crowing and vesture of
the saints are ways of indicating that we will have in heaven, over and above the immense joy of
beholding God, the delightsome company of the angels and saints, a kind of heavenly bonus that is
a good secondary motivator to want to go to heaven.

I have been emphasizing here some of the benefits we can hope for in eternity. But I would not want
these to overpower the principal purpose of this feast day which is to raise our love for Our Lady to
a higher pitch. It is Christs wish that we should show this Her honor, and we should not refuse it.
The honor we give Her rebounds to His greater glory. Let us be happy this day for this opportunity
to give new signs of our devoted love for the Queen of heaven.