The Assumption of Mary is deeply connected to her Immaculate Conception. Why? It is all about the fruit of her blessed womb, to complete God's salvific and redemptive plan for us.
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Mary’s life is characterized with full of grace as pronounced by Gabriel at Annunciation (Luke 1:28). It means that Mary’s life has been preserved completely free from any stains of the Original Sin, from the very beginning of her life at her conception in Anna’s womb on. Thus, she is the Immaculate Conception, meaning that God has kept her Immaculate since her conception in order her to serve as the mother for the Word to be incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus (John 1:1, 14), as he must be unblemished to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29; Exodus 12:5). If his mother’s flesh were not Immaculate, free from any stain of the Original Sin, Jesus would be blemished.
So, how Mary, who is full of grace, kept Immaculate,
from her conception on, complete her life on earth?
The answer to this question is her Assumption into
heaven. And this is celebrated on August 15.
Like the Immaculate Conception of Mary, her
Assumption is not explicitly described in the canonical scriptures. However, this important Marian event was officially
made into the official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Pius XII in
1950 with these words:
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.
Munificentissimus
Deus,
paragraph 44
As made it clear in these defining words, Assumption
of Mary is associated with her Immaculate Conception.
So, Pope Pius XII describes how Assumption is connected
to Immaculate Conception in paragraph 21 of Munificentissimus
Deus (1950), citing St. John Damascene’s homily:
St.
John Damascene, an outstanding herald of this traditional truth, spoke out with
powerful eloquence when he compared the bodily Assumption of the loving Mother
of God with her other prerogatives and privileges. "It was fitting that
she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body
free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had
carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine
tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to
himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had
seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the
sword of sorrow which she had escaped in the act of giving birth to him, should
look upon him as he sits with the Father. It was fitting that God's Mother
should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every
creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God."
Thanks to Pope Pius XII’s teaching in Munificentissimus Deus, Assumption of
Mary into heaven can be understood together with her Immaculate Conception
because she has been meant to serve as the mother of the Son of God, who is the
Christ, to redeem offspring of Adam and Eve, tainted with the Original Sin. For
this, throughout her life, Mary has been privileged to be full of grace, the
Immaculate, as her Son, Jesus, is kept unblemished from the moment of his
incarnation in her womb. By being
assumed into heaven upon completion of her earthly life, Mary’s body was not
subjected to corruption – though bodies of all other offspring of Adam and Eve
are corruptible, until the Parousia
of Christ.
As the Immaculate Conception of Mary, marking the
beginning of her life, is to reflect her status of being full of grace, her
Assumption into heaven at the completion of her earthly life also an
implication of being full of grace. And this is because Mary was made fit by
God the Father to share her flesh when the Word was incarnated in the human
flesh of Jesus in her womb through the Holy Spirit (John 1:1, 14; Luke 1:35;
Matthew 1:20). Because of her such a
unique relation to Christ, in celebrating her Assumption, we regard her as the
New Ark of the New Covenant, reflected in the readings for the Vigil (1 Chronicles
15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2; Psalm 132:6-7, 9-10, 13-14 :1 Corinthians 15:54b-57; Luke11:27-28),
and as the blessed bearer of the firstfruit from the dead to be honored as the
heavenly Queen, reflecte4d in the readings for the Solemnity (Revelation
11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Psalm 45:10, 11, 12, 16; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke
1:39-56).
Mary was made into the Immaculate Conception to
serve as the New Ark of the New Covenant, the blessed bearer of the firstfruit
from the dead, as God’s handmaid to give birth to Christ to overcome death,
which has been waged by sin (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:56) and to destroy
Satan (Revelation 20:10), fulfilling the prophecy made by God the Father to
Satan for making Adam and Eve fall that he would be defeated by the Son of Mary
(Genesis 3:15).
In the First Reading for the Vigil (1 Chronicles
15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2), we see how King David prepared the Ark of the Covenant
to be brought to Jerusalem, commanding the Levites. Then, the First Reading for
the Solemnity (Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab), we see Mary as the New Ark of
the New Covenant, bearer of Christ, representing the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-13;
9:15; cf. Jeremiah 31:31-40; cf. Matthew 26:27–28), in a heavenly sign.
So, this is how Mary is seen in a heavenly sign as
the bearer of Christ, as the New Ark of the New Covenant, in God’s plan to conquer
Satan through Michael and Christ, born of her.
God’s temple in heaven, in which the Ark of God’s covenant was seen, was opened, with lightening, rumbling, pearls of thunder, great hail storm, and earthquake, following the sounding of the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:19; cf 8:5) to bring a great heavenly sign: a woman of late term pregnancy, clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head (Revelation 12:1-2). The appearance of the woman in this heavenly sign clearly implicates her as a heavenly queen.
Miguel Sanchez, an early 17th-century theologian, interprets this woman in the heavenly sign (Revelation 21:1) as Mary, in particular, as Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, who appeared to San Juan Diego on the Typeyac hill, Mexico, in December 1531, while this pregnant woman in the heavenly sign can be also interpreted as the daughter of Zion, collectively referring to the faithful.
And another sign appeared in heaven, the gigantic red dragon with seven heads, seven crowns, and ten horns (Revelation 12:3), and this red dragon wanted to destroy the fruit growing in her womb as soon as she bring the fruit forth (Revelation 12:4).
As the red dragon symbolically represents Satan, eager to destroy the child in the woman's womb (Revelation 12:4), and given the description of the child (Revelation 12:5), it is fitting to interpret the woman in this heavenly sign is Mary, as the heavenly queen, as the mother of Christ, the Son.
Facing this great danger, the woman in the heavenly sign, Mary, gave birth to her Son,
who is the Chris to rule the world with his iron scepter (Revelation 12:5a; cf. Luke 2:7; cf.
2:27; 19:15; cf. Psalm 2:9).
The Son was snatched up to God and His throne
(Revelation 12:5b), reflecting the Ascension of the risen Christ (Luke 24:51), while Mary
was brought to safety (Revelation 12:6), until her Assumption, as John took
care of her (John 19:27).
Then, there is a vision for Revelation 20-21, the
complete destruction of the dragon, Satan, the consummation of Christ’s
salvific mission at the eschaton (Revelation 12:10).
In the Gospel Reading for the Solemnity (Luke
1:39-56), we see the New Ark of the New Covenant in the First Reading (Revelation
11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab) as the bearer of the firstfruit of God’s mighty salvific
plan in her womb, blessed by Elizabeth during the Visitation, following the incarnation
at the Annunciation and her fiat to be God’s handmaid (Luke 1:26-38).
As Mary arrived, Elizabeth greeted her with her
benediction:
Most
blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how
does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at
the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb
leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by
the Lord would be fulfilled
(Luke 1:42-45).
In response, Mary sung her canticle, glorifying God,
known as the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).
In this doxological canticle, Mary juxtaposes
almighty God the Father to the strength of her Son in her womb, as the ultimate
powerful ruler the world with his iron
scepter, striking down all those who are antagonistic to the almighty God (
Luke 1:49-55; cf. Revelation 12:5b, 10).
Before the Son, the fruit of Mary’s womb, was
snatched up to God the Father and His throne in heaven through Ascension
(Revelation 12:6), he has conquered death, which was brought by the Original
Sin (1 Corinthians 15:56a; Romans 5:12) (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 54b-57), making
our resurrection and assumption into heaven to follow Mary to be eternally
united with Christ possible (1 Corinthians 15:12-57).
Because of her role in God’s salvation and
redemption scheme as the New Ark of the New Covenant, the bearer of the
firstfruit from the dead, God rewarded her as the Queen of the Universe, as
reflected in the Responsorial Psalm for the Solemnity (45:10, 11, 12, 16).
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Mary has been preserved free from any stain of the
Original Sin, thus, being kept Immaculate, since her conception in the womb of
her mother, Anna. It was evident that God the Father had already chosen Mary to
be the Immaculate Conception to serve as His handmaid to carry His only
begotten Son in her womb and to nurse him with her breast. Such Mary’s role is
reflected in the readings for the Vigil as the New Ark of the New Covenant, and
in the readings for the Feast as the bearer of the firstfruit from the dead in
her womb.
Together with her husband, Joseph, Mary raised
Christ in Jesus, who is the Word incarnate.
As evidenced in her presence at the foot of the
Cross, Mary followed her Son (John 19:26). There, Jesus proclaimed her also as
our Mother, entrusting John to look after her (John 19:27).
As explained by St. John Paul II in his general
audience of Wednesday, 21 May 1997, the risen Christ first appeared to Mary,
before appearing to Mary Magdalene. It is to remind of Jesus’ bodily closeness
to his Mother, Mary, who bore him in her blessed and immaculate womb, as the
firstfruit.
Upon his Ascension, Mary remained with John and the
rest of the disciples, and was infused with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, as
reflected in Lumen Gentium, paragraph 53:
The Virgin Mary, who at the message of
the angel received the Word of God in her heart and in her body and gave Life
to the world, is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and
Mother of the Redeemer. Redeemed by reason of the merits of her Son and united
to Him by a close and indissoluble tie, she is endowed with the high office and
dignity of being the Mother of the Son of God, by which account she is also the
beloved daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because of
this gift of sublime grace she far surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and
on earth. At the same time, however, because she belongs to the offspring of
Adam she is one with all those who are to be saved. She is "the mother of
the members of Christ . . . having cooperated by charity that faithful might be
born in the Church, who are members of that Head." Wherefore she is hailed
as a pre-eminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and
excellent exemplar in faith and charity. The Catholic Church, taught by the
Holy Spirit, honors her with filial affection and piety as a most beloved
mother.
When her earthly life was completed, God assumed her
into heaven to reward her with a heavenly crown, as the Queen of the Universe,
as he is the King. Upon her Assumption, Mary was once again together with her
Son, the New Covenant, as well as, the firstfruit.
So, what does this mean to us?
The Assumption of Mary into heaven upon her
completion of life gives an eschatological implication of our bodily
resurrection with new incorruptible bodies to be taken into heaven upon Jesus’
Parousia (1 Corinthians 15:29-58).
As implicated in the First Reading for the Solemnity
(Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab), Satan in the figure of Dragon, has tried to
destroy the fruit of Mary’s womb but failed because of God’s protection.
Therefore, she was able to give birth to Christ the Son, bringing forth the
fruit of her womb. And this fruit of her womb was placed on the manger, wrapped
with swaddling clothes, with Joseph’s help (Luke 2:7). This reading narrative
reflects that God preserved Mary free from any stain of the Original Sin, as
she is the Immaculate Conception, as put into the official dogma by Pope Pius
IX in Ineffablis Deus (1854), based
on John Duns Scotus’ theological concept on the beginning of Mary’s life. And,
the condition in which Mary gave birth was far from ideal, as she had to give
birth in an animal stable (Luke 2:1-7).
Despite all these adversarial condition, the fruit of Mary’s womb was
brought, thus making the New Covenant of God available to us. Then, Herod the
Great, representing the Satan, tried to destroy him (Matthew 2:16-18), but God
protected both him and his mother, as Mary and Jesus were taken to safety in
Egypt by Joseph, representing God the Father (Matthew 2:13-15).
As God prophesized (Genesis 3:15), the fruit of
Mary’s womb is to destroy Satan, who let the humans, fell, making subject to
death. This is why Paul reminds us that the wage of sin is death (Romans 6:23) but
this is overcome by the victory of the fruit of Mary’s womb, Jesus, as the fritfruit
from the dead, in his Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:50-58).
Yes, Mary served as God’s handmaid (Luke 1:38) to
make all of this stream of salvific events possible as the bearer of Christ,
the New Covenant, as the fruit of her womb, which is the New Ark of the New
Covenant.
Now, her Assumption into heaven gives us
eschatological hope, assured by the Resurrection her Son, as the firstfruit
from the dead – as the hope for our resurrection with incorruptible bodies and assumption
into heaven to follow her to be with him in heaven, where he reigns as the
King, and where she resides as the Queen.
And in Lumen
Gentium, we can see why Mary has been preserved full of grace from the moment of her Immaculate Conception to Assumption
into heaven at the end of her earthly life in its implication to us:
Placed
by the grace of God, as God's Mother, next to her Son, and exalted above all
angels and men, Mary intervened in the mysteries of Christ and is justly honored
by a special cult in the Church. Clearly from earliest times the Blessed Virgin
is honored under the title of Mother of God, under whose protection the
faithful took refuge in all their dangers and necessities. Hence after the
Synod of Ephesus the cult of the people of God toward Mary wonderfully
increased in veneration and love, in invocation and imitation, according to her
own prophetic words: "All generations shall call me blessed, because He
that is mighty hath done great things to me". This cult, as it always
existed, although it is altogether singular, differs essentially from the cult
of adoration which is offered to the Incarnate Word, as well to the Father and
the Holy Spirit, and it is most favorable to it. The various forms of piety toward
the Mother of God, which the Church within the limits of sound and orthodox
doctrine, according to the conditions of time and place, and the nature and
ingenuity of the faithful has approved, bring it about that while the Mother is
honored, the Son, through whom all things have their being and in whom it has
pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell, is rightly known, loved and
glorified and that all His commands are observed. Paragraph 66
It
gives great joy and comfort to this holy and general Synod that even among the
separated brethren there are some who give due honor to the Mother of our Lord
and Saviour, especially among the Orientals, who with devout mind and fervent
impulse give honor to the Mother of God, ever virgin. The entire body of the
faithful pours forth instant supplications to the Mother of God and Mother of
men that she, who aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers, may now,
exalted as she is above all the angels and saints, intercede before her Son in
the fellowship of all the saints, until all families of people, whether they
are honored with the title of Christian or whether they still do not know the
Saviour, may be happily gathered together in peace and harmony into one people
of God, for the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. Paragraph 69
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