During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greetings, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
And Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness;
behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him,
He has shown might with his arm,
dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones
but lifted up the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things;
the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped Israel his servant,
remembering his mercy,
according to his promise to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
The Word in other words
Last August 8, we celebrated the feast of St. Dominic, the father and founder of the Dominican order. The book entitled "Mysteries, Marvels and Miracles in the life of the Saints" lists him as one of the holy men in the Church blessed with extraordinary gifts, of which one is the ability to know future things and occurrences. One day, St. Dominic told his companions that he would leave the world before the celebration of the Assumption of Mary. He did. He died on August 6, 1221.
What has St. Dominic to do with our celebration today? Nothing. The dogma on the Assumption of Mary was defined by Pope Pius XII only on November 1, 1950. But I mentioned St. Dominic in order to show that even as early as during his time, that is the 13th century, this doctrine was already par of the faith confession of Christians, and one of the celebrations of the Church. More than this, however, the Assumption was already within the faith consciousness of the early Church. Records show that it was already believed in as early as the 6th century. What Pius XII did in 1950 was simply to formally establish this as a truth for the universal Church.
There is a certain controversy about this dogma that needs to be resolved. Did Mary die? The answer is affirmative. According to the theologians Ian Knoxx(1994), although the definition of the dogma given by Pius XII only states her "having completed the course of her earthly life" without any explicit mention of her "death", theologians commonly hold, or at least presume, that "since Jesus her son suffered death it would be most fitting that Mary should have had the same experience. "Mary died, but she had the privilege of having been taken into heaven both body and soul, a special favor not unthinkable for the mother of the Son of God.
The dogma means a lot to us.
1. It is a sign and a pledge of our final glorification. It is an affirmation of the human destiny; we can look forward to heaven. What was granted to Mary will also be granted to us.
2. It opens to us the possibility of being transformed even in the present. Should we choose to live our lives now in the tune with God's will, we thereby already participate in the final reward promised by Jesus so that, even today, we are saved already.
3. Mary was taken up body and soul; this means that the whole person and not merely the spiritual part of us will share in the glory of the resurrection.
4. Finally, this dogma reminds us that death is not an end but a beginning, the beginning of a new and fuller existence, at home with the Creator. (Anthony Tambasco in Knox, 1994)
In the Assumption we celebrate Mary's life in the hands of the Father. But we are celebrating that same life that is ours too as God's gift. Let us therefore pray, not only today but every day, for the intercession of the Blessed Mother, that where she is now, we will all be.
- Fr. Dudz F. Lero, SVD (HNU, Tagbilaran City, Bohol)
