15/08/2025
✝️📖 THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY 📖✝️
On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII solemnly declared the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary as dogma of faith:
> “We pronounce, declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” (Munificentissimus Deus, 1950)
But take note: this was not an invention of 1950. The declaration was simply the confirmation of a truth already believed and celebrated for centuries in the Church, both East and West.
📖 BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS
While Scripture does not describe the Assumption directly, it contains the seeds of this truth:
1. Revelation 12:1 – “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”
This “woman” represents Israel, the Church, and preeminently Mary, the Mother of the Messiah (Rev. 12:5). She is seen in heaven, body and soul, glorified.
2. Psalm 132:8 – “Arise, O Lord, into your resting place, you and the ark of your might.”
The Ark of the Covenant carried the presence of God. In the New Covenant, Mary is the New Ark (cf. Luke 1:43; Rev. 11:19–12:1). Just as the Old Ark was taken into the heavenly temple (Rev. 11:19), so too the New Ark, Mary, is taken body and soul into heaven.
3. 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 – “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
Mary, being the first and closest disciple of Christ, perfectly united to Him and preserved from sin, shares in Christ’s victory over death ahead of the general resurrection.
4. Genesis 3:15 – The woman’s seed will crush the serpent.
Mary, the “New Eve,” is inseparably linked to Christ’s victory. The Assumption manifests her complete triumph over sin and death.
📜 HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
5th–6th century: Early homilies on the Dormition (falling asleep) and Assumption of Mary appear in the East.
7th century: Pope Sergius I introduced the feast of the Dormition/Assumption in Rome.
By the 13th century: Universal acceptance of the Assumption as a truth of faith.
The doctrine was held in both Eastern and Western Christianity long before it was defined dogma in 1950.
This shows the organic growth of Tradition—what the faithful already celebrated and believed was later formally defined by the Magisterium.
📖 CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
CCC 966:
> “Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things.”
CCC 974:
> “The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven…”
🙏 WHY IT MATTERS
The Assumption of Mary is a sign of hope for all Christians. What God has done for Mary—bringing her, body and soul, into heavenly glory—He promises also to do for us at the final resurrection. Mary’s Assumption reminds us that heaven is not just a spiritual destiny, but a bodily resurrection in glory with Christ.
🔥 The Assumption of Mary is not a “new invention,” but a truth deeply rooted in Scripture, lived in Tradition, and safeguarded by the Church’s Magisterium. As the New Eve and New Ark of the Covenant, Mary’s Assumption is a foretaste of our own resurrection in Christ!
