Hope in Heaven

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(August 15)

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven was not just "made up" in 1950, but is the ancient belief of the Church. In the East they call it the "Dormition of Mary," the falling asleep of Mary. Was she conscious when drawn into heaven? Did she fall into a deep sleep and thus was drawn into heaven? Did she die painlessly and instantaneously experience the resurrection of her body and its union with Our Lord in heaven? It is not clear exactly what happened to her, but what is the clear and constant teaching of the Church that her flesh never knew corruption and that she was taken up to our Lord.

One of the prime bits of historical evidence is actually a gap in knowledge. With all the saints whose relics and tombs are venerated, even relatively little known saints, it seems odd that Mary, most beloved of them all, should have neither relic nor tomb ascribed to her anywhere on earth.

Why is it so important that Mary should have thus been drawn into heaven? Because in Mary, Christ, the first fruits of the dead, has already begun to gather in the rest of the harvest, the rest of his fruit of the seeds he scattered. He has brought her with Him, and He will not forget us. She truly is then our great reason for hoping in Christ.