Jacqueline Kelly –
On August 15, we celebrate in India, two significant and related events. They are the Assumption of our Blessed Mother Mary and Independence Day. The reason being they are both about freedom. Independence Day is celebrated as freedom from foreign rule and domination, to self-rule and governance of our country, and the Feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother Mary may be seen as freedom from this limited and incomplete life, to a bliss of eternal and perpetual life.
During the month of October, we recite the Rosary every day for the great intentions of the Church. Of the days of the week, Saturday is specially dedicated to Our Lady. In our joys and sorrows we may also make pilgrimages to Shrines of Our Lady, of which God has shown his approval by giving many graces.
Mary is a beginning and a pattern of the Church in His perfection. Mary, the new Eve, is the Mother of all who have received new life in Christ. Blue is the colour associated with Mary and it symbolizes truth and clarity. It is the colour of the sky, which symbolizes heaven. Beneath Mary’s feet is a Crescent Moon, her symbol, for she receives all her splendour from Christ, just as the moon gets it brightness from the sun. The cosmic role involves Mary in the struggle against evil in the world. Mary is portrayed standing on the moon, her head crowned with stars, and her foot crushing the serpent’s head. The ‘woman’ represents the Church who has been kept safe from the evil one by God because of her eternal ‘yes’. The Pear symbolizes the fruit of her womb and the Almond is a symbol of Divine favour, prefiguring Our Lady. Numbers 18:1-8
For hundreds of years, Catholics observed the two chief feasts of Mary, her Immaculate Conception [December 8] and her Assumption [August 15]-Revelation 12:1.Among all the saints the most Holy Virgin Mary stands in the first place. God raised Mary to a dignity above that of all angels and saints and filled her soul with grace. She is the mother of His Son and the Holiest of all women. She is also our mother and continually prays to God for us. That is why we honour Mary, in an altogether special way. It was her privilege to give her help to God at the incarnation of His Son. As Jesus was offering Himself for us on the Cross, Mary stood near Him and took part in His sacrifice.
Because Mary was so closely bound up with her Son in His passion and death, she was to be like Him also in His Heavenly Glory. Her body was preserved from corruption because she remained always free from sin. At the end of her life on earth, Mary was glorified by being taken up body and soul into heaven. This is called the “Assumption”. The word “Assumption” derives from the Latin word “assūmptiōn”, meaning “taking up”. Mary‘s Assumption into heaven was not through her own power, but she was lifted up by the Power of God. Through the Assumption, she is redeemed by God that is, her body and soul, share in the glory of God.
Hippolytus of Thebes, a 7th or 8th century author, claims in his partially preserved chronology to the New Testament that Mary lived for 11 years after the death of Jesus. According to Saint John of Damascus, the Roman Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria requested the body of Mary, Mother of God at the Council of Chalcedon, in 451. Saint Juvenal, who was the Bishop of Jerusalem told the Emperor “that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened upon the request of Saint Thomas, was found empty, the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven” . The Feast of the Assumption of Mary became widespread across the Christian world, having been celebrated as early as the 5th century and having been established in the East by Byzantine Emperor Maurice around 600 A.D.
The Latin Catholic Feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15 and the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics celebrate the Dormition of the Mother of God or Repose [or Dormition of the Theotokos, the falling asleep of the Mother of God] on the same date, preceded by a fourteen day fasting period. According, to an ancient tradition, attested by Saint John of Damascus and many others, when Mary’s earthly life was to come to a close not by death, but by a sort of dormition [originally termed Shunoyo by Saint John of Damascus, which translated properly from Syriac means departure, not death].
The Feast of the Dormition from the East arrived in the West in the early 7th century, its name changing to Assumption in some 9th century liturgical calendars. Pope Leo IV [847-855] gave the Feast a vigil and an octave to solemnize it and Pope Nicholas I [858-867] placed it on par with Christmas and Easter. In 1568, Pope Pius V declared the Feast of the Assumption a Holy day for the entire Church. Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, in an Apostolic Constitution [Munificentissimus Deus] declared the Assumption to be a dogma [a teaching which the Church declares is true and which must be accepted in faith by all Roman Catholics]. On November1, 1954, Pope Pius XII proclaimed a Feast of the Queenship of Mary, to be celebrated on May 31.
The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that three other persons were taken bodily into heaven: Enoch, Elijah [Elias] and the Theotokos [Virgin Mary]. The Coronation of the Virgin Mary was celebrated until 1968 on May 3.
As a Christian, the Feasts of Ascension and the Assumption are important reminders for us, that death is not the meaningless end of our existence.
Jesus, by His suffering and death, redeemed mankind. His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven gives Christians new hope. Mary’s Assumption into heaven gives us an assurance that what God did for Mary, He will do for each of us. The Feast of Mary’s Assumption therefore is the Feast of Hope, where we believe that we will also be redeemed, with our bodies and souls and will enjoy forever the Eternal Glory of God.