Why we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This weekend, we have a rare occurrence, that in which a Solemnity overrides a regular Sunday. This Sunday we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The idea of someone being assumed body and soul is not a Christian invention, two people in Scripture were assumed, Enoch and Elijah, so why not the mother of Jesus. Within the Church, this Solemnity is pretty young, officially in our Church calendar it is only about 70 years old, but it has been a tradition within the Catholic Faith since the early days of the Church. There was a celebration in the early Church called the “Memory of Mary” and it was only locally celebrated in the area of Palestine, but was later extended by the Emperor Constantine after his conversion.

There are really two different traditions that are held about the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one is called the Dormition, or the falling asleep of Mary. This tradition holds that Mary never actually died, but just at the point of her death, she fell asleep and was assumed body and soul into Heaven by the Father.

The second tradition holds that Mary died, and then was buried, but her body was saved from the decay that our bodies normally go through when we die. In the eighth century St. John Damascene was giving a sermon at the Tomb of Mary, (which is obviously empty) he states that “It was fitting that the body of her, who preserved her virginity unsullied in her motherhood, should be kept from corruption even after death. She who nursed her Creator as an infant at her breast, had a right to be in the divine tabernacles. The place of the bride whom the Father had espoused, was in the heavenly courts. It was fitting that she who saw her Son die on the cross, and received in her heart the sword of pain which she had not felt in childbirth, should gaze upon Him seated next to the Father.”

Either of these two theories are acceptable for us, as they both have merit, and there are no written accounts left after the destruction of Jerusalem by Hadrian around the year 135, but the Memory of Mary was known as being celebrated prior to that time, so it is in many ways a very old feast that we celebrate.

So why is it important? It is important because the one who was born without sin, the first and most blessed tabernacle that carried God himself in her womb is important. She is the vessel in which the Father chose to bring about the Savior of the World, and this is why we honor her so much.

Mary’s role is still the same, bring Jesus to us and us to Jesus, so use her intercession to help us to love and worship her son.

God bless,
Fr. Ken