In the Nicene Creed which we recite today, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Holyday of Obligation, we end with the words, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.”  Christians have been saying those words for seventeen centuries and today they have special meaning for us.

Saints are usually honored with a feast on the day they pass from this life to the next.  It is considered their “birthday” in heaven, their arrival at the place which Jesus told the apostles He was going to prepare for them and for us (see John 14: 2-4).  Jesus is the first of the human race to arrive there and today we remember that, after her passing from this life, Jesus took His Mother, body as well as soul, into heaven.

The Catholic Church has not definitively declared whether Mary died before this happened.  In the Eastern Churches, both Orthodox and Catholic, the name of today’s feast is “The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” a word that means the “falling asleep.”  Whether it was simply losing consciousness or actually dying, our belief is that Jesus would not allow any speck of corruption to touch the body of His Mother.

That makes total sense.  With the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, we believe that in anticipation of the merits Jesus won for humanity on the Cross when he took away the sins of the world, Jesus prevented any stain of sin to touch the soul and body of His Mother.  Since she was to conceive Him in her womb, Jesus did not allow Original Sin to touch her.  And with her Assumption, we believe that this holy body, which became a dwelling place for Jesus during the nine months of His development in her womb, did not experience the corruption that is one of the consequences of the Original Sin of Adam and Eve.

In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote that Jesus is “the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (15: 20).  Now, with Mary’s Assumption into heaven, we celebrate, as it were, the second fruits.  Mother and Son were reunited, body and soul, in heaven.  The Resurrection of Jesus and the Assumption of Mary are our hope.

On this great feast during the Jubilee Year of Hope, let us turn confidently to Our Blessed Mother and, in the words of the Salve Regina which we repeat at the end of the Rosary and at the end of Night Prayer, let us say: “Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.”