Mary's Assumption Is a Promise to Us

Aug. 10, 2025

Friday, Aug. 15, is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a Holy Day of Obligation. We will have Mass at 12:05 pm and 6:30 pm. Please make plans to attend Mass that day.
   
Many, many years ago, I was asked to say Mass in a parish other than my own on the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I was told that I did not need to preach, as the parish deacon was going to do so. I was surprised as I listened to his sermon, as he told the congregation that it was all very fine that Mary experienced the Assumption, but that it had absolutely nothing to do with our own lives. I was saddened by the absolute poverty of his theological understanding and the absolute ridiculousness of his preaching.
   
What does the Church teach about Mary’s Assumption, and about the value and meaning for our own lives as Christians?

When Mary reached the end of her life, word was sent out to all of the Apostles that the Mother of Jesus, and their Mother, was dying. They made their way to her bedside to be with her as she passed. The Apostle Thomas was the farthest away, in India, and arrived a few days late. She had already been placed in the tomb. He asked that it be opened so that he could see her one more time. When it was opened, her body was gone, and the tomb was filled with flowers. The Apostles came to understand that she had been taken, both body and soul, into heaven.
   
Mary’s Assumption, body and soul, took place because her body had been the Ark of the New Covenant, which had borne the child of God. It was fitting that God would not allow her body to undergo the decay and corruption of death. Her Assumption is a promise that we too will experience not only a resurrection of the soul but also a resurrection of the body.
   
The great west window in Mother of God Church portrays Mary being assumed into heaven, and below her, the Apostles gathered around her tomb, which is filled with flowers.
—Fr. Mike Comer