THE TABLET
August 16, 2008

The Feast of the Assumption

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently continued its United States Religious Landscape Survey. One of the more interesting questions asked of those surveyed was, “Do you believe in life after death?”  A variety of answers were possible:  absolutely certain, fairly certain, not certain, do not believe in life after death, do not know. The survey showed that 81 percent of Protestants believe in life after death, while only 77 percent of Catholics have the same belief. 

This survey has come under some criticism by Catholic sociologists regarding the undercount of Hispanic Catholics.  I agree with this criticism, however, there is some validity to what was reported.  If we included more Hispanics, as there were only three percent included in this survey (they are certainly more than three percent of our Catholic population), perhaps we would find some variance. 

The fact of the matter is, our belief in life after death has weakened over the years.  Perhaps there are some reasons for this.  Clearly, many of the issues brought up in the Landscape Survey call for increased religious education and preaching on various issues that perhaps are misunderstood today.  Life after death is one of them. 

The Feast of the Assumption gives us a wonderful opportunity to reflect on our Catholic understanding of life after death.  The fact is that the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary grounds our hope for Heaven because Mary becomes the first to experience Heaven in a way that her Son also experienced it, through a bodily assumption into Heaven. 

In 1974, Pope Paul VI, in his apostolic exhortation, “Marialis Cultus,” said, “Mary shows forth the victory of hope over anguish, of fellowship over solicitude, of peace over anxiety, of joy and beauty over boredom and disgust, of eternal visions over earthly ones, of life over death.”

John Paul II, an eminent Mariologist, continued to build on this theme.  He told us that Mary’s assumption into Heaven is an eloquent sign of God’s fidelity to the universal plan of salvation aimed at the redemption of every woman and man. 

Our present Holy Father, Benedict XVI, reminds us clearly that we have a mother in Heaven. In his homily on the occasion of the Feast of the Assumption in 2005, he said, “Heaven is open, Heaven has a heart.” When we confront the reality of death in a world that tries desperately to postpone it, we realize that we cannot live without pain and suffering, and we see that death has not become truly integrated into life.  Life and death are part of one reality, a reality that seems to be less understood today since humanity seems to flee from any type of pain and suffering, they having lost their eternal meaning. 

The mystery of life after death will always remain just that, a mystery.  The Feast of the Assumption, however, gives us a preview of what we can expect.  The saving power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees our own access to eternal life.  This is shown clearly in the assumption of Mary. We may need to speak more about what were called the “last things,” Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, realities which perhaps have been misunderstood over the centuries as if they were physical places and not states of being.  Theology is something that we all need to understand in order to give substance to our being.  Perhaps in subsequent articles I will directly address these eternal realities.

Today, however, the mystery of the Assumption truly is an encouragement to all who look forward to the saving power of God in their own lives.  Only recently did I notice that all the depictions of the Assumption of Our Lady, whether on canvas or in statues, depict a young woman being assumed into Heaven.  Mary, however, must have been at least 60 years old at the time of her death.  Although the Scriptures give us no indication of this, we believe the youngest she would have been at this time was middle age.  Why do all the artists depict her as a very young woman?  Perhaps it tells us something about the mystery of the Assumption itself.  Mary was the first human to experience the full power of the Resurrection of her Son.  The Resurrection is our promise of future immortality.  It will be the complete renewal of ourselves physically and spiritually.

The youthfulness of Mary, characterized in art, can be seen as a sign that we, too, will be rejuvenated at our own personal resurrection.  All the pains of life, the sicknesses we bear, the sufferings that discourage us will all be left behind when we are called to future glory and participation in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Mary is our model and guide, allowing us to see the glory that will come.

As we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption, let us invoke Mary as our special protectress enabling us to plumb the depths of the meaning of life.  Truly we must put out into the deep mystery of life after death.  Only by understanding our future life does our life in this world make sense.

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