A Pretty Big Assumption

In honor of the Aug. 15 feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, we bring you this excerpt from Dr. Mark Miravalle's Meet Your Mother:

The fourth Marian dogma ... Mary's Assumption, proclaimed by Venerable Pope Pius XII on Nov. 1, 1950, states: "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."

In many ways, the Assumption of Mary ... just makes sense - if you understand her Immaculate Conception and its positive consequences.

... Remember that because Mary was free from Original Sin, she would not experience any of the negative effects of Original Sin. Well, one big effect of Original Sin is death by the "corruption" or physical breakdown of the body. Yes, death and disease enter the world because of sin. ... The immaculate mother of Jesus would end her life on earth not because of cancer, heart attack, or simply old age - but only when her Son wanted her home with Him in heaven.

From the Bible, we can see how Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven comes as a common sense result of being without Original Sin (see Gen 3:15). The same holds true when we consider the greeting of the Angel, "Hail, full of grace" (Lk 1:28), because a creature with a fullness of grace and no sin would not experience the effects of sin in the body - for example, a physical decay, leading to death. We also have the lovely reference to both Jesus' Ascension (something He does by His own divine power) and Mary's Assumption (something she passively receives from God) in Psalm 132:8, where the Psalmist says, "Arise, O Lord, into your resting place, you and the Ark which you have sanctified." As Mary is the "New Ark" who carried Jesus inside of her, this passage also foreshadows her bodily Assumption into heaven.

Still more biblical support for Mary's Assumption comes from Revelation 11:19, with the vision of the Ark of the Covenant now in heaven (Mary being the fulfillment of the Old Testament Ark that contained the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, a jar of manna, and Aaron's rod because Jesus is even holier than these signs of God's presence). The vision of the Ark of the Covenant in heaven is immediately followed by a vision of a "woman clothed with the sun" (Rev 12:1) who gives birth to the "male child," the ruler of all nations. This means that this "woman" must be Mary. Who else gave birth to the "male child," ruler of all nations? Also, she is already seen in heaven, both as the New Ark and as the Woman united with her Son and crowned with 12 stars as Queen in the Kingdom of her Son, the King. ...

Mary's Assumption is a sign of hope for us all.

To order Meet Your Mother (Product Code TH-MYM), call 1-800-462-7426 or visit shopmercy.org.

If you consecrated to Jesus through Mary or completed the Consoling the Heart of Jesus retreat, we'd love to hear your story. Please take a moment and share your journey below. If you have pictures, we'd love to see them, too. Just email them to HAPP@Marian.org!

MYM

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