Reflection on Today's Readings, the Solemnity of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sunday 15th August, 2021
Texts: Rev. 11:19a:12:1-6a.10ab; Ps. 45:10.11.12.16; I Cor. 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56
Today, we recall and meditate on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary assures us that by holiness we can conquer death. We see in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary how holiness triumph over death. As we celebrate the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we celebrate the triumph of holiness over death and also we are called to continue on the path of holiness, that we might also triumph over death.
Today's first reading depicts the triumph of holiness over the forces of death. We are often confronted with the forces of death such as hatred, malice, anger, bitterness, injustice, immorality, lies, corruption, meanness, pride, greed, etc. It is by holiness that we conquer the forces of death and we hear said to us, “Now the salvation and the power and kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.” St. Paul, in today's second reading, reminds us that it was Jesus Christ who conquered death, not we or by our holiness. In his words: "For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." We do not destroy death by holiness, Christ did; we only participate in His victory over death by our holiness. In destroying the death we contribute nothing but we do something to participate in the victory over death. The obedience of Christ won us the victory.
Today's gospel reading reminds us that assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was the wonder of God in her life, a wonder that reveals the favour of God in her life and that will make all generations to call her blessed. The Assumption is not an act attained by the Blessed Virgin Mary herself, it was the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes. God took her to heaven body and soul. Pope Pius XII defines the doctrine of Assumption thus: "By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, 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 into heavenly glory."
The idea of Assumption is not strange to the Scripture. Considering under the circumstances it occurred in the scriptures, one cannot doubt the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Enoch was the first to be recorded in the scriptures to have been taken to heaven. It is said, "Enoch walked with God, then was no more, because God took him" (Gen. 5:24). His holiness won him Assumption into heaven. In the letter to the Hebrews, it is put thus: "It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not experience death: he was no more, because God took him; because before his Assumption he was acknowledged to have pleased God" (11:5).
Elijah was also another person who was taken up to heaven. It is said, "Now as they walked on, talking as they went, a chariot of fire appeared and horses of fire coming between two of them; and Elijah went up to heaven in the whirlwind" (2kgs. 2:11). Elijah was a prophet of God who stood with God against all odds. He was fearless and did put his life at risk for God. He laboured to reconcile his people with God. He was a righteous man. It is said, "So confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another to be cured; the heartfelt prayer of someone upright works very powerfully. Elijah was a human being as frail as ourselves -- he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell for three and a half years" (James 5:16-17). It was by righteousness that Elijah was taken up to heaven and triumphed over death.
A look at the instances of Assumption in the scriptures shows that holiness is a condition for Assumption. The Scripture shows that Blessed Virgin Mary was not wanting of holiness; she dedicated herself to God body and soul. This is clear in the greeting of Angel Gabriel. He says, "Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28). This greeting is more that enough to banish in our hearts the doubt about Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Though it might not be explicitly stated in the Scripture that she was taken up to heaven, the Scripture has the proof that she was taken up to heaven.
The stories of Assumption in the Scripture also shows that faith in Immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary will be in jeopardy without assumption. Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the final proof of her Immaculate conception and Immaculate Heart. The Immaculate conception speaks of the preservation of the Blessed Virgin Mary from original sin. Being free from original sin, she is also free from the consequences of original sin, which are sin and death. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary logically flows from Immaculate conception. We cannot believe one without the other. Believing one without the other is to damage the faith.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the triumph of holiness over death. Hence, in today's office of the reading, St. Augustine says, "In their sermons and speeches on the feast day of the Assumption of the Mother of God, the holy fathers and the great doctors of the church were speaking of something that the faithful already knew and accepted: all they did was to bring it out into the open, to explain its meaning and substance in other terms. Above all, they made it most clear that this feast commemorated not merely the fact that the blessed Virgin Mary did not experience bodily decay, but also her triumph over death and her heavenly glory, following the example of her only Son, Jesus Christ" (copied from Universalis).
Lord our God, we thank You for the gift of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant that we may walk the path of holiness after her example, that we may share in the victory over death. Amen.
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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