Assumption of the BVM into Heaven
Revelation 11:19-12:1-6
1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Luke 1:39-56

A. Text and Context
• As Catholics there are 3 sources where we derived our faith: 1st is the bible or the scriptures, 2nd the traditions and the Church, and the 3rd is the Magisterium or the teachings of the Church
• Today we talk a lot about the traditions in the Church that speaks of the Assumption of Mary into heaven
• We cannot do away with traditions, because the traditions existed even before the writing of the gospel
• Just remember this, where the bible is so silent, the Catholic traditions overflow with answers
• We in the Franciscan tradition, the Franciscans pray the Franciscan rosary known as the 7 Joys of Mary or the Franciscan Crown. It is the 7 decades of Hail Mary’s
• At the end of the rosary we recite 2 extra Hail Mary’s to commemorate the 72 years of life that Mary spent in this world
• Tradition says that Mary died and was buried in Ephesus (now modern Turkey) and it was St. John the Evangelist who took care of her until she died
• This is the same John who was still a very young teenager when Jesus was crucified on the cross whom Jesus said: Mother behold thy Son, Son, behold thy Mother
• Catherine Anne Emmerich a German mystic describes John the Evangelist as a very handsome young man, beautiful skin, he has a long hair that is parted in the middle and she would say that John is almost effeminate
• Mary would not put her veil even when together with John. But when other disciples like Peter would talk to her, she would put her veil as Catherine would describe
• The writing of Blessed Catherine is really a very nice reading. God showed her the entire lives of the Lord Jesus, Mary, the saints and the apostles in her entire life, even prophesied about the popes in the Church
• Tradition says that the apostles visited Mary’s tomb but the body was no longer there, only flowers remained at the tomb and they heard the voice of the angels singing
• Devotions developed and in fact because of the belief that Mary ascended into heaven body and soul the original name of the feast is actually the Feast of the Dormition of Mary or the Sleeping of Mary
• From the Spanish root word dormir which means to sleep. The belief that Mary simply slept and did not really die until the time that she is assumed into heaven by God himself
• And so, we, the Franciscans believed that Mary spent 72 years of her earthly life and slept or assumed into heaven body and soul
• At the same time theology also developed that Mary as the Mother of God, and it cannot happen that she be corrupted in body, otherwise, Jesus who took the flesh and blood from his very human mother cannot be preserved from corruption if his mother who died will simply turn to ashes forever
• It cannot happen that the body of Mary will decay because Jesus resurrected body and soul and ascended into heaven body and soul. Jesus is free from the corruption of death
• You see if Jesus is free from sin then God has also made Mary as the Immaculate Conception
• If Jesus resurrected from death and freed from decay and corruption then God has also made Mary whole and entire and assumed her into heaven
• That is a very beautiful reasoning for that. God himself has really prepared Mary from the very beginning to become the Mother of God
• So, we now understand that Mary is really assumed into heaven body and soul because it is a consequence of Jesus who is free from bodily corruption
• And so, to concretize the faith in the tradition that has been practiced since the 6th century, on November 1, 1950 Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary as a dogma of the Church
• When it is a dogma, all Catholics must believe, if not, we will be called heretics so it becomes part of the Magisterium of the Church
• And before the dogma of the Assumption, almost a hundred years before in the year 1854 the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was declared, the precursor of the dogma of the assumption
• There is a connection between the two. If a body is immaculate, automatically it is saved from corruption and so the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was declared and the dogma of the Assumption followed a hundred years after
• The Assumption of Mary is a very sound and healthy in its theological aspect because Mariology is basically Christology. The Mother and the Son can never be separated

C. Challenge
• So today we have already entered the 12th year anniversary when the Book of Truth was published in August 15, 2012
• Jesus said that it is no accident that the BOT comes out on the day of the Assumption of Mary
• So today we continue with our patience in our prayers because the Lord only requested us to pray the Crusade prayers
• He did not say that you argue, you debate, you engage with the unbelievers
• Why? Because the unbelievers are also children of God. They are our brothers and sisters. Jesus said that we will not fight with them because He is the one to touch and soften their hearts
• Even those who really hate the BOT with so much vitriol and anger. We will not fight with them because Jesus said: I will strike them

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Luke 1 verse 39-56 Assumption