On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII issued a Papal Bull, MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS, declaring infallibly that the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was a dogma of the Catholic Faith. His holiness wrote:
“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.”
This dogma is one of the four dogmas stating Our Lady’s personal relationship with God and her role in human salvation. The other three dogmas are:
- Divine Motherhood
- Perpetual Virginity
- Immaculate Conception
As we honor Our Lady on August 15, Solemnity of the Assumption, we need to keep in mind the distinction between Ascension and Assumption. Jesus Christ, Son of God and Risen Lord, ascended into Heaven, a sign of His divine power. Mary, however, was elevated or assumed into Heaven by the power and grace of God.
There are many aspects of Our Lady to meditate upon. But, I found the following thoughts from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s 2005 homily tender and encouraging.
We have a mother in Heaven. And the Mother of God, the Mother of the Son of God, is our Mother. He himself has said so. He made her our Mother when he said to the disciple and to all of us: ‘Behold, your Mother!’. We have a Mother in Heaven. Heaven is open, Heaven has a heart… While she lived on this earth she could only be close to a few people….Being in God and with God, she is close to each one of us, knows our hearts, can hear our prayers, can help us with her motherly kindness and has been given to us, as the Lord said, precisely as a ‘mother’ to whom we can turn at every moment. She always listens to us, she is always close to us, and being Mother of the Son, participates in the power of the Son and in his goodness. We can always entrust the whole of our lives to this Mother, who is not far from any one of us.
Whenever we feel alone in this world, let us remember that we have a Mother in Heaven who knows our cares and listens to our cries. Let us place our trust in our Mother in Heaven and ask her to pray for us.