Friday, April 25, 2014

The Assumption of Mary into Heaven

“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...We rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Romans 5:1-5
I believe this Scripture verse sums up what we experienced during Lent, following the Sorrowful Mother through the events of her Son’s life.  I hope that you held Mary in your heart during the events of Holy Week, wondering what she was experiencing it through it all.  I myself was left wondering what she was experiencing after His burial.  When she finally sat down to digest everything that had happened.  Had she experienced any hope?
Her hope was made complete, her joy was complete when she encountered Her Risen Son.  He had come back!  He came back for her; He came back for us all!
We know that Mary is referred to as “The Mother of God.”  She IS the Mother of God, for we know that Jesus is God, and she is the mother of Jesus, so she is the mother of God Himself.  

We have dwelled on the beautiful union that this mother and son experienced.  Those of us who are mothers understand the deep bond that a mother and child experience.  But Mary’s child wasn’t just ANY child; her child was the Son of God, the Incarnation of God, God made flesh.  So their union isn’t like just ANY mother/child union.  It is a very deep, supernatural union, that words cannot even come close to explaining.  

St. Paul tells us in the Letter to the Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Christ’s work of Salvation, the work that he performed through the events of Holy Week, was all a free gift bestowed to the whole human race.  Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve and the possibility of heaven had been closed to humans.  Sin brought death; so Christ comes to give us the GIFT of himself so to conquer sin and death, making it possible for us to be united back to the Father.  

If Christ wants to bestow gifts upon us, how much more does he wish to bestow gifts on His Most Blessed Mother?  That is the nature of being a son - to honor your parents and gift them with your love and affection.  
Like I said, this union between Christ and Mary is similar, but also very different from the average mother/son union.  Christ, being God, dwelling in existence in the Trinity before He became flesh, had the unique ability to CHOOSE his Mother; to choose the woman who would bear Him to the world.  

You see, the Son existed before His mother and he was able to choose the mother that would be best for him.  Further, he was able to bestow on this woman all the gifts he would wish as well; there is no limit to God’s giving power.  

One of the gifts that Christ gave to his Mother was at her conception: it is known as the Immaculate Conception.  Many people think this refers to Christ’s conception in the Virginal womb of Mary; but indeed it refers to MARY who was conceived naturally by her parents, Anne and Joachim.  Christ chose to give his gift of salvation to His mother at the moment of her conception - she was “conceived without sin”.  When her soul was created, Christ, in union with His Heavenly Father, kept her free from Original Sin (the sin that we inherit from Adam and Eve; all humans are born with this sin on our soul).  

This teaching of the Church, that Mary was conceived without sin, also applies to her whole life.  She was sin-less.  In the gospel account of the Angel appearing to Mary and announcing that she would conceive a son , the Angel first greets Mary as “full of grace.”  “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28).  These words refer to an abundance of grace that is apart of Mary’s very nature.  A theologian and professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Mark Miravalle, says, “It is true that no person with a fallen nature could possess a fullness of grace, a perfection of grace appropriate only for the woman who was to give God the son an identical, immaculate human nature” (emphasis added).  

With the Original sin by Adam and Eve, our human nature tends toward sin. That first sin also lost grace, which was then won for us on the Cross by Jesus.  He opened up the floodgates of grace, which is help from God to be like Him.  Sin and grace do not exist with each other; when we sin, we lose grace.  St. Paul says, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue to sin that grace may abound? By no means!...For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:1-2, 14).  So if Mary is full of grace, then there is no room in her soul for sin.  This points to, really, the great mercy of God!  In her Magnificat, Mary’s says, “My soul rejoices in God my Savior”.  “To save men from their sins is a great mercy, but to save one woman from ever sinning is an even greater mercy.  Not only that, sinless as she was...she was still a member of a fallen race, a race to which heaven was closed.  The Savior’ redeeming act opened heaven up for her as well.” (F.J. Sheed).  

All of this is background for the Assumption.  Have you ever wondered what happened to Mary at the end of her life.  Did she die?  Was she buried somewhere?  Why don’t we know about HER tomb, like most of the tombs or places of death of many saints and martyrs?

Along with the teaching of the Immaculate Conception, that declares that Mary was conceived without sin and lived a sinless life, the Church declares that she was “assumed into heaven.”  
“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.” Pope Pius XII in an Infallible Statement, making this teaching a Dogma.  

Let’s go back to what St. Paul said, “The wages of sin is death…”  If Mary’s soul was not touched by sin, then it makes sense that her earthly body would not suffer the same consequences: death and corruption of the body.  Yet, another gift given to her from her Son - that her body would not suffer the corruption and pain of death.  We don’t know the details about HOW the assumption actually happened, but we DO know that Mary is in heaven - BODY AND SOUL.  


One of the scripture accounts that is used to back up this teaching is Genesis 3:15.  Actually, much about what we understand about Mary comes from this account! It says, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."  Adam and Eve have just committed the first sin and God is pronouncing judgment and punishment upon them.  But then he turns to the Serpent, who we know is Satan, and declared that there will be a woman who will basically be his enemy (that is what "enmity" implies) and that her "seed" aka "offspring" will also have victory over the Serpent.  This "woman and her seed" is Mary and Jesus.
Again, here is Dr. Miravalle’s wisdom on Mary’s Assumption (he is a Marian theologian, so he devotes his life’s work to studying all things related to Mary): “Genesis 3:15 foreshadows (looks forward toward) Mary as intimately sharing in the same absolute victory of her Son over Satan: ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed’...The consequences of Satan’s seed, evil, are twofold: sin and death (which specifically refers to bodily corruption).  Therefore the Mother of Jesus, who shared in her Son’s victory over Satan and his seed, would also have to be saved from the two consequences of sin and death (bodily corruption).  She did triumph over sin in her Immaculate Conception, and triumphed over death in her glorious Assumption at the end of her earthly life.”  

Let’s again go back to this union between Christ and Mary.  We know that Christ loved Mary so deeply, that even during his greatest agony, he turned to console his mother at the foot of the cross by giving her to St. John.  Along those lines, once Christ Resurrected and Ascended to the Father to take his place at His Right Hand, do you think Christ would want His mother with him?  And not just her soul, but her WHOLE SELF, body and soul united?  Yes, this is what Christ wanted, to have his most beautiful mother next to Him in heaven.
”For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the Love of Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38).  Jesus willed that SIN COULD NOT separate him from the love he had for his own mother.  And the GOOD NEWS is that he also wills that sin would not keep Him from US.  That one day we will also be united with Christ, body and soul.

Now Mary is in heaven, alive, fully alive, to love her Son and to continue to give her Son to those of us on earth.  Jesus and Mary do not exist in order to keep each other for themselves.  They are not selfish.  Yes, Christ wants Mary to be with Him in heaven, but he wills this so that Mary would continue to be united with Him in His work of salvation.  Their mission is the same: to win souls over for the Father.  

The fact that Mary is alive in heaven, body and soul, means that she has all the faculties, all the tools she needs to keep fighting for us in prayer before the Throne of God.  Mary is our ADVOCATE.  She is standing before the King of Kings, right now, at this very moment, waiting for us to ask for her help.  She is waiting for us, physically waiting for us, to give her our hearts so that she can take our hands and lead us to her most adorable son, Jesus.  
Is it possible to attain Salvation and union with Christ without Mary?  Yes, it is possible.  But it is quicker, it is much more enjoyable to do so with Mary by our side.  Christ wanted his mother close to him throughout his entire life, including his life now in heaven.  If we seek to be like Christ, we should seek the same thing - to remember Our Mother at all moments of our life.  She is the most sweetest, most loving, most caring, most gentle of all mothers.  It wasn’t until college, when I really began to have a personal relationship with Mary and to begin to learn these great things about her.  It has caused me to have so much AWE AND WONDER at the work of God.  His plan for Mary’s role in our salvation is so detailed, so intricate.  

Any “season” of my life that I devote myself to Mary is ALWAYS blessed; it is always a time where I experience great intimacy with Christ.  I find so much solace and consolation in knowing that Mary’s maternal heart understands MY maternal and feminine heart.  There are so many times, in the midst of suffering and heartache, that I cry out to Our Lady to be with me and to mother me. I am in need of so much healing from God.  I often envision myself with Mary.  She is seated upon a throne, and we are in a dark, quiet, cozy room.  I approach her and put my head on her lap and she strokes my hair.  She is my mother.  

Some of us here have maybe felt abandoned by loved ones; I myself have felt abandoned by people in my life at various times in my life.   Jesus and Mary, though, do not abandon us.  They are BOTH alive, both are readily available to us.  Neither of them is affected by sin, so we know FOR CERTAIN that they will not let us down, THEY WILL NOT BREAK OUR TRUST.  

The 6th and 7th Sorrow of Mary

The 6th sorrow of Mary is Jesus is pierced with the lance and taken down from the Cross. John 19:31-38 says, ”When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished." And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.  An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he know that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may (come to) believe. For this happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled: "Not a bone of it will be broken." And again another passage says: "They will look upon him whom they have pierced." After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body.”
Scientists, historians, anthropologists and theologians have studied the phenomena of blood and water flowing from Christ’s side and they have discovered, that because of the nature of the crucifixion, this IS possible, so it is very probable that this really did happen.  
 
The Church sees the blood and water flowing from Christ’s side as a symbol of Baptism and the Eucharist.  These two sacraments initiate us into the Christian life and it is fitting that it is in these two sacraments we receive the Salvation which Christ won for us on that Cross, the Salvation that Mary also actively participated in. In Baptism, we are plunged under the water so that we may “die with Christ” in order that we may also rise with Him.  This image of Christ being pierced should also conjur up for us the image of Divine Mercy.  From Christ’s death comes so much mercy.
 
At the Last Supper, scripture says, ”Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed, and broke it, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them saying, “Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you; for this is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” If we rewind back to the Jewish customs and traditions,any time the Jewish community was guilty of sin, there was a ritual that the Jewish priests had to perform in order to attain forgiveness of sins.  This is all laid out in Leviticus chapter 4.  The priest must take a bull, sacrifice it, sprinkle its blood on the altar, then “pour out” the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar. Leviticus 4:18 “...and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar.”  Then, forgiveness of sins was attained.  
I wanted to make this point that CHRIST’S blood (and water) is being “poured out” here at the Cross, for the forgiveness of OUR sins!  Christ is the paschal lamb who sacrifices himself in order to win our salvation and forgiveness of sins.  And Mary was there, witnessing this all.
We have wondered, Mary, did you know?  Did she know that it would be HER Son’s own blood and water that would mark every Christian throughout the centuries?  The lance “poured out” the precious blood and tears of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Was Mary herself the lance, going straight into Christ’s heart, offering salvation for the whole world? Was this lance the physical blow, the physical representation of what her heart had been going through the past 24 hours?  The blow was to Jesus’ body, but it was felt by Mary.  
 
And if we think about it, really, this act of the soldier piercing the heart of Christ to issue forth blood and water, can we see ourselves here?  It is our infirmities which break His heart, and it is His most precious heart that we seek to be in union with.  Oh Lord, that WE would be the lance, rushing straight to the Sacred Heart to receive His love and mercy, to be bathed and covered with His Most Precious Blood, to wash away our sins! And in uniting ourselves with the Sacred Heart, we must remember Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart as well.
 
Then, Jesus is brought down from the Cross. He is handed to Mary.  She is finally able to hold him, to caress him, to console him, to speak to  Him.  We have imagined the suffering and separation she must have felt while watching her Son’s Passion and Death; we have ached with her as she so desperately wished she could end all the suffering or at least to console him.  
 
If Mary held back any display of her emotions up to this point in hopes to be that support and consolation for her son, then I can only imagine the scene of her holding her dead Son.  A quiet, but deep cry.  A sob.  In that moment, as the mockery, the violence was over, did Mary sense the mockery her Son would CONTINUE to endure throughout the upcoming centuries?  He would continue to be cursed, ignored, spat upon, stomped on, blatantly despised and rejected.  She wept for her son.
 
As Jesus, laying on the Cross, cried out, “My god, My god, why have you forsaken me?”, I wonder if this moment, when Mary finally gets to hold her son’s lifeless body, if she felt that same distance from the Father.  If she felt the darkness and ugliness of sin in her own body now, as she holds the heavy, blood soaked body of her son.  She continues to weep.
 
And she wept for us.  WE are the ones who ignore Jesus, who forget him.  Our sins pierce His most innocent, pure, loving heart.  In this moment, she is holding the death, the bloody physical death which sin causes, and she weeps for us.  She knows that we will not stop to see her Son.  We will not care.  We will be broken apart from her son; WE WILL BE LOST. And she weeps.  
 
Lamentations 1:12 says, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?  Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted…”
 
Again, does Mary remember some of Jesus’ last words, “I thirst”? She knows.  He thirsts for love; He thirsts for OUR LOVE.  He thirsts to be united with His children.  Does she vow to “quench” His thirst?  To bring His beloved children back to the Father?  Does she vow to work aimlessly to bring souls to Him? Her son’s death will not be in vain.  She will quench His thirst.  
 
Let’s go back to the Gospel of John: “Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by.”
 
Now it is time to prepare Jesus’ body for burial.  It is time to wrap his body with white linen, and with spices and oils.  I wonder, where is Mary?  Is she watching, is she helping?  Is she reminded of the white linen which she “swaddled” her pure innocent newborn son with?  Does she recall the gifts the wise men brought to Him as she smells the fragrance of myrrh?  
 
I myself have never had to bury my own son.  But I saw my Grandmother do so.  My uncle passed away in his early 40s, my grandmother in her early 70s.  My Grandma is a very faithful Catholic woman.  She is a rock; THE ROCK of our family.  I remember, whether I thought it, or my Grandma spoke it, or my mom told me that Grandma said it, but I know that my Grandmother wished SHE did not outlive her own son.  What parent wants to do that?  And, as an adult, I now know, that along with burying her own son, she suffered the torment of not having buried him as she saw fit.  He was born and raised Catholic and she wished that he would have a Catholic funeral Mass and burial.  But it did not happen.  Her son’s death pierced her heart, and the sword was dug deeper when his burial was not according to her customs and beliefs.
 
I imagine that is somewhat similar to what Mary is experiencing here.  This burial was rushed and hushed because of the Pharisees.  It was technically now the Sabbath, and according to Jewish laws, NOTHING could happen on the Sabbath, no work, no miracles performed, no burials.  Even in His burial, Jesus was sought after.  Mary knew this.  Her broken heart did not have much time to say good bye to Jesus.  Did she know?  Did she know she would see him again?  
 
As Mary and the others buried Jesus, did Mary continue to feel sorrow for the many times that we would bury Jesus in our own hearts?  When we would rush through Mass?  When we would keep Jesus a secret?  
 
As the stone was rolled away, did she turn to the others, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, to comfort them?  Does she turn to us, as we mourn our own sins, our own wretchedness, to comfort us?  Yes, I believe so.  I believe Mary, in her sorrow, gives us her attention.  She comforts us as we realize our need for Salvation; as we lose hope sometimes in the face of death, she comforts us.  
 
Jesus’ tomb was in a garden, the gospel of John tells us.  It all started in a garden, it is finishing in a garden.  Jesus, who took on sin, is dead, laying in a garden.  Mary remembers his words, “Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it cannot produce new life”.  “In the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had been laid”.  No one has died a death like Jesus’.  No one has taken on sin and punishment and the wrath of God itself in order to purchase salvation.  
Did Mary know that he would rise on the third day?  We know she “pondered” everything in her heart.  Jesus had hinted about His Resurrection many times in his public ministry.  She knew that he spoke about destroying the temple and rebuilding it in 3 days; this story that he told upset the Pharisees very much.  She knew he would rise, but in this moment, after burying her Son?  She didn’t think about it.  Her heart was still sorrowful.  I can only imagine that when the crying stopped, she was just empty.  She was an empty, pure vessel.  Empty of her own will; empty of self love.  Empty without Jesus.  Only to be filled up again, her “cup overflowing” on the 3rd day.