HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (August 15)

Rev. 11:19;12:1-6,10; 1Cor 15:20-26; Luke 1:39-56

Good morning dearest brothers and sister in Christ, today the Holy Mother Church celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. 

Historically, the belief that after her earthly life, the blessed virgin Mary assumed into heaven body and soul had always been part of the faith of the Christian people and was widespread from the East to the West in the 14th century. Progressively, with the encyclical, “Deiparae Virginis Mariae”, Pope Pius XII consulted the Bishops, clergy and the people of God on the defining possibility of the bodily assumption of Mary as a dogma of Faith. Receiving a plausible response, the Holy Father, Pope Pius XII on 1 November 1950, solemnly declared and defined as a dogma of faith revealed by God: the taken up body and soul of the immaculate mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, when her earthly life was finished.

In the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII declared in the following words: “After we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honour of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; 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.”

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, one may ask what exactly is a dogma which the Assumption of the Blessed virgin Mary is? What is the substantial difference between the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Ascencion of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven.?

Dogmas are revealed truths of God, formally defined and proposed by the church's Magisterium. According to the catechism of the catholic church, “dogmas are lights along the path of faith”, and that by compelling followers to accept these immutable, irrevocable, definitive and absolute truths, the church's Magisterium is exercising the full authority imparted to it by God; thereby reducing confusion and uncertainty directed at the catholic faith. 

Ascension is the elevation of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven by his own power in the presence of his disciples, on the fortieth day after his resurrection (Mk 16:19; Lk 24:51). While Assumption is the taken up of body and soul of the blessed virgin Mary into heaven after her earthly existence.

Friends in Christ, assumption of the blessed vigin Mary can be said to be the crowning of Mary's lifetime and her vocation which was special among all mankind: to be the Mother of God. It is a fulfilment of the “Magnificat” rendered by Mary: “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour...for the might One has done great things for me and Holy is his name (Lk1: 46-49). Hence, it is the crowning of the faith which Mary “full of grace” showed during the Annunciation (behold I am the handmade of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word) and the visitiation to Elizabeth. Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is fitting to say that Mary as the Ark of the covenant (Rev. 11:19),  stands in the first place among all who are on pilgrimage towards the sanctuary where God is all in all (1cor 15:28).

The celebration of the solemnity of the assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary into heaven reawakens in us the truth that we shall also be assumed into heaven one day. The difference between us and Mary is that Mary does not have to wait till the end of the world for her resurrection. While at death our bodies disintegrate as a consequence of original sin and other sins which infected us and so we  await the return of Jesus by whom we will be raised up. Mary, being sinless, has no reason to wait until the restoration of all things for the re-integration of her body. The solemnity of today helps us to solidify our profession of faith in the Apostles' Creed: “I believe ...in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting”

People of God, the solemnity of today reminds us that death is not the end of everything. There is life after death. However, we are called to fill this early life with good works just like the Blessed Virgin Mary whose life was an epitome of charity. For on the last day, everything will pass away and the only thing left is love of God and love of neighbour.

We pray this day that God through the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary will continually strengthen our faith in the ressurection of the dead and life everlasting 

Happy solemnity to you

Fr Remi osj