Every August 15, the Church celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Typically, it is a Holy Day of Obligation, but not this year, since it falls on a Saturday. In the United States, when certain feast days that would ordinarily be holy days of obligation fall on a Saturday or a Monday, they are not obligatory. However, this does not lessen its importance.
In 1950, Pope Pius XII announced that he was now able to proclaim infallibly that Mary, after she had finished her earthly life, was assumed into heaven, body and soul. This truth flows from Mary’s singular holiness. But her Assumption also beautifully foretells what awaits those who follow Christ at the resurrection. As we pray every Sunday: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead.” The Solemnity of the Assumption is as much about us as it is about Mary.
Through Christ’s death and resurrection death has finally been conquered. In essence, death is the rupture of our soul from our body. Despite the trends toward dualism in our culture today, a soul separated from its body is not complete. A person is a composite of both body and soul. Hence, we will only be truly complete, completely happy, when body and soul are reunited at the resurrection. As Catholics we look forward to having our bodies again. We do not treat the body as simply an instrument—as something to be used and then thrown away at death. As St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor 5:10). Mary’s Assumption prefigures that to which we all look forward.
