Solemnity Of Assumption

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (ABC)
AUGUST 15, CYCLE B

 This is a major feast of the Catholic Church which replaces even the
usual Sunday in Ordinary Time. It has its own Vigil celebration, one of
Only six feasts in the Church which include a distinct Vigil liturgy.
 There is no account of Mary’s death in the New Testament. The New
Testament writers were convinced that all believers would share in the
Resurrection of Christ. Catholics, however, believe that the Bible is in
part a record of traditions, (first among the Hebrews and then among
the Christians) as well as the written word in Scripture. They hold fast
to God’s guiding revelation through ‘Tradition’ as well as through the
written word in ‘Scripture’.
 The Assumption of Mary into heaven is one of the oldest
celebrations of Mary. The belief in the Assumption had its origin in the
popular faith of the people. Some legends had also grown up
describing the miraculous events surrounding her death, including how
the remaining apostles, having been summoned to her deathbed and
to perform her burial, found the tomb empty some days later.
 Popular devotion is easily traced back to the 5th century when many local churches were celebrating a feast in honour of Mary’s ‘falling asleep’ and some historians say it was celebrated as far back as the 3rd century. Christian piety from the fourth or fifth century imagined Mary as sharing in the fullness of the Resurrection of her Son. Christians could not believe that Mary’s body would disintegrate after the unique role she played in sacred history.
 Honouring Mary, however, had a late start in the life of the Catholic Church. In the first four centuries, there was no devotion to her and little reflection on her place in sacred history. At that time, the pressing question was the true identity of Jesus, finding an answer to complex questions surrounding the humanity and divinity of Jesus. Only after the divinity of Christ was proclaimed, did attention then turn to Mary.
 It was at the Council of Ephesus in 431 that the Church gave Mary one of the oldest titles ‘theotokos’, which means ‘God-bearing’, affirming that Mary bore the Son of God in her womb and gave birth to him like any mother. Although it was only proclaimed a dogma in 1950, the Assumption had been taught for centuries as a truth that emerged from the faith of the people, and the Catholic Church celebrated it as an official feast since about the tenth century.
 Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching on 1st November 1950 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.” But it wasn’t until Vatican II in 1964 that a Council of the Church referred to Mary as ‘Mother of God.’ This teaching says nothing about the manner of her death, but that as his mother, it is appropriate that she share in the victory of Jesus, her Son.
 Since there is no account of the Assumption in Scripture; the Church invites us to re-read some other texts in the light of this feast.
Happy feast day