by Fr. Tommy Lane
Earlier this year (2001) we were privileged when the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux visited our diocese. St Thérèse is an example of someone who looked on Mary as a mother to her in a special way. Thérèse lost her mother before she reached ten years of age. Then she was fighting for her life during a grave illness and was miraculously cured through the intercession of Mary. Thérèse looked on herself as nestling in the arms of Mary. The child Jesus found protection in the arms of Mary and so also did Thérèse. The reason for our great joy today as we celebrate Mary’s Assumption into heaven is because we are celebrating a great privilege given to our heavenly mother.
One of the ways in which we can understand that rather strange first reading (Rev 12:1-6) is Mary in heaven helping to give birth to the Church on the earth, the Body of Christ. Just as one she gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, now in heaven she intercedes before God for the Church, helping to give birth to the Church. That is why God sends her to places like Lourdes and Fatima to remind us how to live as members of the Church. That is why sometimes Mary is called the New Eve or the Second Eve. In the garden Adam and Eve gave way to temptation and went against God’s plan for us. But Jesus came to put right God’s plan for us and so he is sometimes called the Second Adam or New Adam, and as Mary helped in God’s plan she is sometimes called the New Eve or Second Eve. As the New Eve it is no wonder that from heaven she is helping to give birth to the Church.
It is fitting that Mary who cooperated with God’s plan for our salvation by saying yes to God and giving birth to Jesus would be honored at the end of her life by no decay touching her body. But it was not just a reward granted her by God for giving birth to Jesus rearing him; decay could not touch Mary’s body because she did not sin. In Rom 6:23 Paul says the “the wages of sin is death.” Because Mary was immaculate, and never sinned, it is only natural and logical that she would not suffer the consequences of sin, that decay would not touch her body. Instead she was assumed body and soul to the glory of heaven. When Jesus ascended into heaven there were many witnesses. Although no one witnessed Mary being assumed into heaven and it is not stated in Scripture it has been the constant belief of the Church since the first century. When Pope Pius XII officially proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption in 1950 he did not clarify whether or not Mary died. He stated that at the end of her life she was assumed body and soul to the glory of heaven. However according to tradition she died but her body disappeared from her tomb because she was assumed into heaven.
There were more
Gospels written than the four in the New Testament by Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John but the other Gospels were not accepted into the New Testament by the early
Church. Some of those other Gospels
state that Mary died and was buried near Gethsemane. Today there is a Greek Orthodox Church
near Gethsemane in which there is a tomb where it is claimed Mary was placed
after she died. However there is a
stronger tradition that Mary spent the last part of her life in Ephesus in
Turkey and died and was assumed into heaven from there. Two centuries ago the German mystic and
stigmatist, Sr Catherine Anne Emmerich, in visions which she received between
1818-1824, saw an image of Mary’s house on a hill near Ephesus. The zeal of a
French nun,
Sr. Marie DeMandat-Grancey, resulted in the expedition that located the
remains of the house in 1891, on Mt. Nightingale very near ancient Ephesus,
exactly where St. Catherine Anne Emmerich said it was. (Fr. Eugene Poulin was
also on the expedition but desires that posterity give the gratitude to
Sr. Marie) The shape of the
house
and all other details exactly matched the description of Sr Catherine Anne
Emmerich, and it was the only stone house on the hill. Now that house on Mt Nightingale very
near ancient Ephesus is restored and venerated as the house where Mary came to
spend the last years of her life to avoid the persecution of the Church in
Jerusalem. It is in the care of the
Franciscans and each year receives one and a half million visitors. The first church ever dedicated to Our
Lady was built in Ephesus in the second century and Christians had a principle
in the early Church that they only built a church in someone’s honor if that
person lived and died or was martyred there. When Jesus was dying on the cross he asked his close friend and disciple
John to look after his mother, and John also spent time in Ephesus and is buried
there. In 431 AD a big council of
the Church was held in Ephesus which declared Mary to be the Mother of God. Naturally the council declaring Mary as
Mother of God would not have taken place there if they did not believe Mary had
been there. Those who visit the
house of Mary say they feel the presence of Our Lady there very strongly. Many graces and healings are received
there and you can see many crutches left there by people who were miraculously
healed there. The house is also
visited by many Muslims because Muslims also have a strong devotion to Our Lady. In it excerpts from the Muslim holy
book, the Koran, about Our Lady are plainly seen. It is the only place in the world where Muslims and Christians pray
together peacefully. That is what
Our Lady as a mother and the New Eve would want, all peoples praying together
peacefully. On 26 July 1967 Pope Paul VI visited the house, on 30 November 1979
Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass beside the house and in 1991 he called it “the
material home of Mary.” Mary’s assumption into heaven reminds
us that the next life is only a wave of the hand away from this life, that there
is only a veil between this life and the next. Our second reading today referred to all being brought to life in Christ
in their proper order. It is
fitting that Mary was the first to be brought to life in Christ sharing the
glory of his resurrection being assumed body and soul to heaven. It is a reminder to us of the glory that
awaits each of us since we are all sons and daughters of God since our baptism. In his first letter John wrote, “My
dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the
future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we
shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.” Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us. This homily was delivered when I was engaged in parish ministry in Ireland
before joining the faculty of
Mount St. Mary’s Seminary,
Emmitsburg, Maryland. More homilies for August 15th - The Assumption
of Our Lady
Assumption of Our
Lady and her humility Assumption of Our
Lady and the Rosary Mary the Ark of the Covenant
Assumed into Heaven intercedes for us
2007 Related:
Four Marian Dogmas First Reading Revelation 12 and Our
Lady of Guadalupe
Stories:
Jesus in the womb of Mary, strange light in form of embryo in Guadalupe