The Dormition

     The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven ... the Falling Asleep of Mary ... Mary Assumed into Glory ... this is the feast that the Church celebrates today, on this August 15th.  It is a dogma of the Faith that was defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950: "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 to heavenly glory."

     This "new" declaration was rooted in "long standing" traditions that go back to homilies on the assumption of Mary found in the sixth century and celebrations dating to the fifth century.  Why this feast?  What is it that we believe?

     When God created humanity, we were destined for eternal happiness and eternal life.  Death, and with it the corruption of the body, came through sin.  Not a part of the original plan of God.  In the process of restoration brought about by the Sacrifice of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, eternal life was restored for those washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb.  The effects of sin, though - death and corruption of the body - remain until the final judgement at the end of time, when we will be reunited, body and soul, and stand before the throne of the Father for all eternity to sing the praise of God.  That is our destiny as children of the New Covenant, washed clean in the waters of baptism and made pure by the love of Christ.

     The Church acknowledges that Mary, at the time of her death, shared in what we all will one day share, to stand before the throne of God, body and soul united in grace, and sing the praises of God.  The Preface for the feast today says it well:

Today the virgin Mother of God was taken up to heaven

to be the beginning and the pattern of the Church

in its perfection,

and a sign of hope and comfort for your people

on their pilgrim way.

You would not allow decay to touch her body,

for she had given birth to your Son, the Lord of all life,

in the glory of the incarnation.

    We long with great anticipation for the moment when we can join the angels and saints, with Mary our mother, and sing God's praise for all eternity.  And we thank God for allowing her to show us the way.