August 15 is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s a Holy Day of Obligation on which we attend Mass and celebrate our Blessed Mother, but why is the day so important? What does it mean that Mary was assumed into heaven, and what does her assumption mean for us? Noted Marian expert Dr. Mark Miravalle spoke about the solemnity on The Drew Mariani Show.
Dr. Miravalle described the glory of the Assumption, saying, “Today is a day to celebrate. Today we’re celebrating the only perfect human life in human history—that was the Mother of Jesus, the Immaculate Mother of God. Mary was conceived full of grace and she spent her entire earthly life in total obedience to the will of God. I mean, I can’t keep from venial sin for fifteen minutes, I can’t imagine for sixty years! And the Council of Trent, by the way, says not even venial sin did the mother commit.”
Pope Francis said of Mary in his August 15, 2018, Angelus address: “She did every daily action in total union with Jesus. And this union reached its apex on Calvary in love, in compassion and in the suffering of the heart. Therefore, God gave her full participation in Jesus’ Resurrection. The Holy Mother’s body, as that of the Son, was preserved from corruption.”
By sharing her Son’s suffering at Calvary, the Mother of God also shares in his Resurrection. “Her version of sharing in the Resurrection is the Assumption. Jesus ascends by his own power into heaven; Mary is passively brought into heaven, body and soul,” explains Miravalle.
What does this mean for us? Well, we also look forward to the Resurrection. “What’s true of Jesus in the first sense is true of Mary in a second sense. It’s true of you and me in a third sense. We too await the Resurrection of our bodies … at the end of time if we’re in grace,” said Miravalle.
Today isn’t just the celebration of the end of Mary’s earthly life, it’s a celebration of “her victory of life.” Miravalle says that it’s “a feast that screams hope!”
Blessed Virgin Mary, assumed body and soul into heaven, pray for us!
Listen to the segment:
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