Tuesday August 15th: Letting Go
August 15, 2023
A spirit of inclusivity
August 15, 2023

Solemnity of the Assumption explained

The Catholic Church teaches that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory when her earthly life was over. This belief is based on the dogma of the Assumption, which affirms that Mary’s body was glorified after her death.

Unlike other human beings who will experience the resurrection of the body at the end of the world, Mary’s body was glorified before the general resurrection, as a special privilege. This teaching was affirmed by the Second Vatican Council and is expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 12.

The Assumption of Mary is a sign of her victory over sin and death, just as Jesus, her Son, conquered sin, and death through His Resurrection. Mary’s assumption into Heaven is a manifestation of her complete association with the victory of Jesus Christ.

She is free from the power of death and fully filled with life. Her assumption also signifies her role as the Queen of the Universe, exalted by the Lord to be more thoroughly conformed to her Son, who is the conqueror of sin and death.

The Assumption of Mary is closely related to the resurrection of the Son, Jesus Christ. In the divine act of reuniting Mary with the Risen Christ, the normal bodily corruption of human death is not simply transcended, but the bodily assumption of the life of God is anticipated.

Mary’s assumption anticipates the destiny of the resurrection that pertains to all believers. Just as Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers and sisters, the Risen Lord who rose before everyone else, so believers will also rise again and be born into heaven, still themselves, with their humanity and lived experience .

In summary, the Assumption of Mary means that she was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory after her earthly life was over. It signifies her victory over sin and death, her association with the victory of Jesus Christ, and her role as Queen of the Universe.

Mary’s assumption also anticipates the destiny of the resurrection for all believers, as she is reunited with the Risen Christ and shares in the bodily assumption of the life of God

—Magisterium.AI

  • REFERENCES
    General Audience of 2 July 1997 1
  • CCC 974
  • Act of Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8, 2011)
  • Redemptoris Mater 41
  • General Audience of 24 August 2022 – Catechesis on Old Age: 18. The labour pains of creation. The story of the creature as a mystery of gestation