Mary
Catholics annually celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary on
August 15. One of the several special feasts associated with Mary, the
mother of Jesus, the Feast of the Assumption calls upon Catholics world
wide to recall the role of Mary in Salvation History and to attend a
celebration of Holy Mass . For faithful Catholics the Feast of the
Assumption is a day to connect in prayer to the life of Mary but also to
recall that in her life, death and assumption into heaven we all can
find hope for the resurrection of our own bodies into eternal life.
The Many Feasts of Mary
More than any other Christian Church, the Roman Catholic Church holds
Mary in special regard and accords to her several special days of
commemoration during its liturgical year. On Dec. 8 the Church
celebrates the Immaculate Conception of Mary. On this day Catholics
celebrate their belief that Mary entered the world free from what the
Church calls the "stain of Original Sin". The Catholic Church holds that
because Mary would become the Mother of Jesus she was allowed the
special privilege of being born as an immaculate or thoroughly pure
human being, free of all sin.
On Jan. 1, the Catholics do not
gather together to celebrate a mass to begin the new year. The mass
celebration on that day instead is centered on "The Solemnity of Mary,
Mother of God". On this day , attention is turned to the role Mary
played in the life of Jesus from the time of his infancy, through his
public ministry until his death of the cross. Catholics are called upon
to both honor and take as a model the qualities of humility and
obedience they believe Mary demonstrated throughout her life.
Mary's Birthday is celebrated by the Church on September 8 and the
entire month of May is dedicated to Mary as well. More than any other
human being associated with Jesus, Mary has survived in Catholic
tradition as the first and best example of what it means to be a
follower of Christ .
The Feast of the Assumption
Among the Feast Days and remembrances of Mary, one that has caused
considerable conflict between Catholics and non-Catholics is the Feast
of the Assumption. On August 15 Catholics will recall and celebrate
their belief that Mary's death was very different than that suffered by
all other human beings. It is the Church's belief that while Mary passed
from this earthly life, she never suffered the natural corruption of
the body to which we are all liable. Instead after her early life was
finished she was, in the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "
taken up" body and soul into heavenly glory. In a sense this was Mary's
heavenly birthday, the day in which she was received into heaven.
The Feast has two significant aspects for Catholics. First Mary's
Assumption is a gift from God. She did not raise herself from the dead.
She is not a female Jesus. She did not experience a resurrection in the
same way that believers say Christ arose from the dead. She was not seen
after burial walking among the living. The belief is that she ended her
earthly existence but was then taken from this world into the next.
Secondly this feast is of special importance to human beings because
it can be seen as an example of what awaits all faithful believers after
death. Those who have lived the Christian lifestyle can expect that
beyond death waits life. What was given to Mary after death awaits us
all. Mary then becomes a sign of hope for those who have faith.
A Few Questions.
For Catholics, the Assumption is simply another mystery of the Catholic
faith. While they may not be able to apply the rules of science to the
event they nonetheless accept it with the eyes of faith. Is it likely
that Jesus would provide this special gift for the woman who bore him
and cared for him and mourned him but remained faithful throughout? The
answer for Catholics is resoundingly yes.
But for those outside
the Catholic Church the Assumption can cause a whole raft of issues. To
begin with, for those Christian faiths that rely totally on what is in
the Bible, the Assumption lacks scriptural validity. You can look, but
you won't find the Feast of the Assumption anywhere in anyone's Bible.
In fact there is very little mention of Mary after her death in any
Christian sources until around the year 500 A. D. For many Christian
churches, Apostolic Tradition which Catholics depend upon, is simply not
sufficient to validate such a major event.
Doubters are also
troubled by what little they can find to read about the death of Mary.
There are different schools of thought about where the actual physical
burial of Mary took place with some insisting on
Jerusalem
while others holding on to Ephesus . There are differing opinions about
when she died. Best guesses place the death of Mary sometime between 3
and 15 years after the death of her son Jesus, but there is no real
consensus. If no one knows for sure when or where Mary was buried, it
becomes increasingly more difficult to prove or for that matter disprove
anything about Mary's death other than that she did at some time die.
The Infallibility of the Catholic Church.
This is where the doctrine of the infallibility of the Catholic Church
comes into play. The Church promulgated the Assumption of Mary on Nov.
1, 1950. But at that time the Church did not say they thought this is
what happened, or it was their best guess that the Assumption was a
valid belief. The Catholic Church declared that the doctrine of the
Assumption of Mary was being infallibly defined by Pope Pius XII. This
means that in the mind of the Church the Pope's statement on this dogma
is preserved by the Holy Spirit from the possibility of error.
As difficult as the concept of the Assumption may be for non-Catholics
to accept or even understand, papal infallibility is a concept that
clearly separates the Catholic Church from other Christian Churches. The
concept was approved by the First Vatican Council in 1870. While it is
used with great forbearance, the doctrine of papal infallibility seems
to put the Catholic hierarchy beyond question and give it an ascendancy
which non-Catholics find in many ways repugnant or at least arrogant.
Every August 15, Catholics dutifully recall the Assumption of Mary,
body and soul, into heaven. They celebrate Mary's life and they see in
her death and new life in heaven, hope for their own future eternal
salvation. The rest of Christianity doubts the authority but ponders the
possibilities.
