The Assumption of Mary into Heaven
by Fr. Joseph Evinger
On August 15th the Church celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. On this day all Christians are to celebrate what God has done for our Mother by attending Mass and other prayers. We are to celebrate with joy God raising her body and soul into heaven next to her Son, our Lord Jesus.
Some may ask why do Catholics say that Mary assumed body and soul into heaven? This is a good question. Besides the historical tradition that Mary’s tomb was empty when Jesus’ disciples came to visit her tomb, there are no known relics of her. The Church kept tract of all of the apostles’ remains, but there is nothing in regards to Mary. Let me explain.
Now if you and I were early Christians, and we heard that the mother of our Lord was still alive, we would certainly want to meet her. After all she was the one who reared Jesus. We would ask her many questions about Him, have her tell us stories about Him, and ask her to pray for us. Furthermore, we would make sure that she was in a safe place and well taken care of during her dying days. After her burial, we would visit her grave often, for she would be the holiest person we would have ever known next to her Son; she gave birth to Him after all. Certainly we would not be the only ones who would do this; there would be hundreds of other Christians who would do the same. We would tell those Christians who came after us where she was buried. No one would forget, for she was the most blessed among all women. Overtime, Christians would uncover her grave to take another look at her remains. Some clergy would request a relic of her for their church’s altars, something very common in the early church till today in regards to deceased saintly persons. Christians would venerate her remains, as they do for the apostles’, for the wood of the cross, the crown of thorns, and Shroud of Turin, etc.
But as we all know, there are none of our Blessed Mother’s remains to be found. The word passed down to us is that Mary’s body was nowhere to be found after she died. Having witnessed Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the early Christians made the immediate supposition that Mary was assumed into heaven by our God. This of course has been confirmed by the multiple Marian apparitions that have taken place since. May we all look forward to the day when we too will rise from the dead and assume into heaven at the right hand of our God.