The Solemnity of the Assumption

Vigil Lectionary: 621

When that which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about:
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.



The citation above from 1 Corinthians 15 is the second reading for the vigil of today's solemnity. It comes at the end of Saint Paul's reflections on Jesus's resurrection. He has met resistance from certain quarters; some people have challenged the Christian teaching about eternal life, saying there is no afterlife. He replies,

But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

If Jesus were not a human being; if he were an apparition or an angel; if he had come to teach us how to be saved rather than to save us, he might not have been raised from the dead. In fact, there would be no point to his suffering and death.
But the eyewitnesses of his life and resurrection unanimously declared he was as human as anyone else. He ate and drank with us! There was no faking his death. And his resurrection was as real as I'm standing here! The gospel accounts of his resurrection, despite his passing through walls and appearing in many unexpected places, insist upon his physical resurrection.
Besides that, common sense tells us we cannot save ourselves with good advice. God knows we've tried! How many religions and philosophies have tried to teach us how it's done? And yet we fail persistently, consistently; our best efforts are futile.
His death and resurrection and gift of the Holy Spirit are effective; his teachings are not especially original and only helpful. 

He saved us by being human with us, in his flesh. And we are saved not by our efforts but by being baptized into his body, by eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The proof of our salvation is the good life we live; it appears through our generosity, courage, compassion, and patience under adversity. These virtues don't save us but they reveal the Real Presence of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father. They abide with us in our hearts.

Our hope of physical resurrection is more than reasonable; it is common sense. Not for nothing do we declare in the Apostles Creed, "I believe in... the resurrection of the body!"

And so we celebrate the Assumption of Mary into heaven at the end of her life. First we're confident that she who first heard the Good News from the Angel Gabriel is as risen as the Lord himself; secondly, we're convinced no one could deserve it more than she. Mary was conceived without sin and grew in grace from day to day throughout her life, even when she was tried by the most horrible trial, the crucifixion of her son which she personally witnessed. Even in her agony she waited for she-knew-not-what. 

No doubt she had the Spirit of the Maccabean widow who witnessed the death of her seven sons. Undaunted by their pain, she encouraged them to remain faithful to God. She broke her tormentor who begged her to command her surviving sons to eat pork! She only mocked them as she commanded her last remaining son -- in Hebrew -- to remain faithful. Finally, they murdered her too. 

Clearly, Mary had the widow's courage as she stood by the foot of the cross. No one could deserve a glorious and deathless transition into heaven more, for she had given her all on Calvary. Her assumption into heaven was only a single step through the veil that is draped between time and eternity. 

Certainly, on that first Easter Sunday, she could say with Saint Paul, 

Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?