Assumption

Yesterday, the Church celebrated the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is the moment when our Lady was taken, body and soul, up into heaven. As with many of the feasts that we celebrate in the Church, this is not only a significant occasion in the past, but it is also something that is significant for us here and now in the present. 

What the Assumption represents for us is the first fulfillment of God’s promises for us. We can sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that the Passion, death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus were just things He did Himself. The Assumption gives us a clear picture that what we see taking place in Jesus will also take place in us. Just as Jesus died, was raised from the dead and rose up into heaven; so too Mary passes through death into the new life of the Resurrection and is taken up into heaven. Just as these things happened to Mary, so too will they also happen to us. Mary serves as a final assurance, a final giving of hope, that God’s promises of salvation will come to pass in due time. 

We can look forward to our own salvation with hope and confidence because we have seen the beginning stages of that salvation already take place. We look forward to the great Day when our Lord will return because, inasmuch as we remain faithful to Him, that Day will be when we too will be taken up into heaven to live and reign with our Lord for all eternity. May we take comfort in our Lady’s Assumption, may it be a source of hope for us, that as has happened to her so will happen to us as well!