MARY MOTHER OF JESUS, MOTHER OF GOD

1. MARY MOTHER OF JESUS, MOTHER OF GOD Part V: Mary’s Assumption “Arise, O Lord, into your resting place; you are the ark which you have sanctified, the ark of the Covenant made from incorruptible wood.” Psalms 131: 8

2. The Assumption of Mary For Catholic Christians, the belief in the Assumption of Mary flows immediately from the belief in her Immaculate Conception. Catholic Christians believe that if Mary was preserved from original sin by the free gift of God, she would not be bound to experience the consequences of sin--corruption of death--in the same way we do. Mary's assumption shows the result of this freedom from sin--the immediate union of her whole being with her Son Jesus Christ with God at the end of her life. Catholic Christians believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was assumed both body and soul into heavenly glory. Catholics simply mean that Mary’s body and soul was assumed into eternal glory just as all saved Christians will be resurrected into eternal glory at the end of time. It is simply taught that Mary was the first after Her Son to be taken into heaven.

3. The Catholic Catechism 2853 Victory over the "prince of this world" was won once for all at the hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is "cast out." "He pursued the woman" but had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring." Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus," since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One.

4. The Catholic Catechism 966 "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death." The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians: In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.

5. The Bodily Assumption of Mary into Heaven Mary's Death Dogma: Mary suffered a temporal death. (Sententia communior; the more common theological opinion) Even if reliable historical reports as to the place (Ephesus, Jerusalem), the time, and the circumstances of Mary's death are lacking, still the fact of her death is almost generally accepted by the Fathers and Theologians, and is expressly affirmed in the Liturgy of the Church.

6. The Sacramentarium Gregorianum (of Pope Gregory the • Great to Charles the Great (784-791), contains the prayer: • “Grant us, O Lord, on this festival day, on which the • Holy Mother of God, from whom your Son our Lord • became flesh, under went a temporal death and yet was • not suppressed by the grasp of death.” • The “Oratio super oblata " of the same Sacramentary reads: “May the prayer • for your people by the Mother of God, whom we know departed from this • carnal condition, intercede for us before your heavenly glory.” • Origen (In loan 2, 12; fragm. 31); • St. Ephrem (Hymnus IS, 2); • Severian of Gabala (De mundi creatione or. 6, 10); • St. Jerome (Adv. Rut. II, S); • St. Augustine (In loan tr. 8, 9), • mention the fact of her death incidentally .

7. St. Epiphanius (c.310–403) instituted research into the close of Mary's life. “ Nobody knows how she departed this world." He leaves undecided whether she died a natural death, or whether (according to Luke 2:35) she died by violence, or whether she (Revelation 12:14) still lives on immortal in some place unknown to us. (Haer 78, II. 24) Luke 2:34-35 . . . Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

8. Revelation 12:14 When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half-year. The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth. Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus.

9. The unknown author of a sermon which has come down to us under the name of the Presbyter Timotheus of Jerusalem (6th-8th cent.) is of the opinion that “the virgin is up to now immortal (that is, did not die), as He who (in her) lived, translated her into the place of reception (that is, into the Heavenly Paradise).“ (Or. in Symeonem) For Mary, death, in consequence of her freedom from original sin and from personal sin, was not a consequence of punishment of sin. Pope St. Pius V, 1566-1572 Errors of Michael du Bay: “No one except Christ is free from original sin; hence, the Blessed Virgin died because of sin contracted from Adam, and all of her afflictions in this life as well as those of other just persons were the punishment for actual sin, or original sin.” D 1073) However, it seems fitting that Mary's body, which was by nature mortal, should be, in conformity with that of her Divine Son, subject to the general law of death.

10. Catholic Christians also know from the Bible that Mary is not the only one to be in heaven, body and soul. Genesis 5: 22-24 Enoch lived three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. The whole lifetime of Enoch was three hundred and sixty-five years. Then Enoch walked with God, and he was no longer here, for God took him.

11. 2 Kings 2:1, 11 When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, he and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. . . As they walked on conversing, a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

12. The Bodily Assumption of Mary into Heaven Dogma: Mary was assumed body and soul into Heaven. (De fide; must be believed to be a Catholic and to remain a Catholic) After Pope Pius XII, on May 1, 1946, had addressed to all bishops in the world the official query whether the bodily assumption of Mary into Heaven could be defined as a proposition of faith, and whether they with their clergy and people desired the definition, and when almost all the bishops had replied in the affirmative, on November 1, 1950, he promulgated by the Apostolic Constitution “ Munificentissimus Deus “ as a dogma revealed by God. “Mary, the immaculate perpetually Virgin Mother of God, after the completion of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of Heaven."

13. In the Marian Epilogue to the Encyclical “ Mystici Corporis,“1943,Pope Pius XII had already taught that Mary “Resplendent in glory in body and soul reigns in heaven with her Son." (D 2291) Proof from Scripture Direct and express scriptural proofs are not to be had. The possibility of the bodily assumption before the second coming of Christ is not excluded by St. Paul’s words. I Corinthians 15: 23 For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power.

14. Thus the objective Redemption was completed with the sacrificial death of Christ, and the beginning of the final era foretold by the prophets commenced. Its probability is suggested by St. Matthew’s words. Matthew 27: 52-53 And the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints that had slept arose, and coming out of the tombs after His Resurrection came into the holy city and appeared to many.

15. Proof from Tradition According to the more probable explanation, which was already expounded by the Fathers, the awakening of the " saints" was a final resurrection and transfiguration. If, however, the justified of the Old Covenant were called to the perfection of salvation immediately after the conclusion of the redemptive work of Christ, then it is possible and probable that the Mother of the Lord was called to it also.

16. From her fullness of grace spoken of in Luke 1:28, Scholastic theology derives the doctrine of the bodily assumption and glorification of Mary. Because she was full of grace she remained preserved from the three-fold curse of sin (Genesis 3:16--19), as well as from her return to dust. (cf. S. Thomas, Expos. salut. ang). Genesis 3:16-19 To the woman he said: "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall be your master.“ To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, "Cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.”

17. In the woman of the Book of Revelation clothed with the sun (12: I), which in its literal sense, must be taken to mean the Church, Scholastic theology sees also the transfigured mother of Christ. Revelation 12:1 A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. The Fathers too refer passages such as Psalms 131: 8 in a typical sense to the mystery of the bodily assumption: Arise, O Lord, into your resting place; you are the ark which you have sanctified, the ark of the Covenant made from incorruptible wood (a type of the incorruptible body of Mary). Revelation 2:19 And the temple of God was opened in Heaven and the ark of His Covenant was seen in His temple.

18. Canticle of Canticles 8:5 Who is this that comes up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved? Modern theology usually cites Genesis 3:15 in support of the doctrine. Because by the seed of the woman it understands Christ, and by the woman, Mary, it is argued that as Mary had an intimate share in Christ's battle against Satan and in His victory over Satan and sin, she must also have participated intimately in His victory over death. It is true that the literal reference of the text is to Eve and not Mary, but already since the end of the second century (St. Justin) Tradition has seen in Mary the new Eve.

19. The speculative grounds on which the Fathers of the closing Patristic era, and the theologians of the scholastic movement, led by Pseudo-Augustine (ninth century) base the incorruptibility and transfiguration of the body of Mary, are also based upon Revelation. These are: Freedom from sin. As the dissolution of the body is a punishment consequent on sin, and as Mary, the immaculately conceived and sinless one, was exempt from the general curse of sin, it was fitting that her body should be excepted from the general law of dissolution and immediately assumed into the glory of Heaven, in accordance with God's original plan for mankind. Motherhood of God. As the body of Christ originated from the body of Mary it was fitting that Mary's body, should share the lot of the body of Christ. As a physico- spiritual relationship the Motherhood of Mary demands a likeness to her Divine Son in body and soul.

20. Perpetual virginity. As Mary's body was preserved unimpaired in virginal integrity, it was fitting that it should not be subject to destruction after death. Participation in the work of Christ. As Mary, in her capacity of Mother of the Redeemer, took a most intimate share in the redemptive work of her Son it was fitting that, on the completion of her earthly life, she should attain to the full fruit of the Redemption, which consists in the glorification of soul and body. The idea of the bodily assumption of Mary is first expressed in certain transitus- narratives of the fifth and sixth centuries. Even though these are apocryphal they bear witness to the faith of the generation in which they were written despite their legendary clothing. The first Church author to speak of the bodily ascension of Mary, in association with an apocryphal transitus of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is St. Gregory of Tours (AD 594). St Gregory of Tours 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

21. In favor of the dogma, an anonymous tract appeared (" Ad interrogata ") in the twelfth century, which has been attributed to St. Augustine but the origin of which is not yet certain (9th-10th centuries), decisively advocating, on rational grounds, the bodily assumption of Mary. Since the thirteenth century, the view represented by Pseudo-Augustine has gained the upper hand. The great theologians of the scholastic era declared for it. St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274 “From this curse, just like reverting to dust, the Blessed Virgin was immune because she ascended with her body into heaven.” (Epos. salut. ang). Early sermons on the Feast of Mary's entry into heaven are those of Pseudo-Modestus of Jerusalem (c. 700), Germanus of Constantinople (d. 733), Andrew of Crete (d. 740), St. John Damascene (d. 749) and Theodore of Studion (d. 826). 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

22. In the East, at least since the sixth century, and at Rome, at any rate, since the end of the seventh century (Sergius I, 687-701) the Church celebrated the Feast of the Sleeping of Mary (Dormition). The object of the Feast was originally the death of Mary, but very soon the thought appeared of the incorruptibility of her body and of its assumption into Heaven. The original title Dormition (Sleeping) was changed into assumption (Sacramentarium Gregorianum). In the Liturgical and Patristic texts of the eighth and ninth centuries, the idea of the bodily assumption is clearly attested. Under the influence Pseudo­Hieronymus, there was uncertainty for a long time as to whether or not the assumption of the body was signified by the Feast. Since the peak period of the Middle Ages, the affirmative view has gained precedence, and has now been dominant for a long time. Middle Ages 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

23. Historical Development of the Dogma A hindrance to the development of the dogma of the Assumption in the West was a pseudo-Augustinian sermon (Sermo 208: " Adest nobis "); a letter forged under the name of Jerome (Ep. 9: "Cogitis me") ; and the Martyrology of the Monk, Usuard. Pseudo-Augustine (probably Ambrosius Autpertus, d. 784) takes up the stand that we know nothing of the fate of Mary's body. Pseudo­Hieronymus (Paschasius Radbertus, d. 865) leaves the question open, whether Mary was assumed into heaven with or without her body, but maintains the incorruptibility of her body. Usuard (d. 875) praises the reticence of the Church which prefers not to know the spot “in which that venerable Temple of the Holy Spirit was hidden from view by Divine command," than to maintain it as something legendary. Usuard 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

24. Usuard's Martyrology was extensively used in many monasteries and chapters during choir prayers. Part of the letter of Pseudo-Hieronymus found its way into the breviary. This delayed the acceptance of the dogma into the theological thought of the Middle Ages. On the reform of the Breviary under Pope St.Pius V (1568) the Pseudo- Hieronyrnian lessons were expunged and replaced by others which advocated the bodily assumption. In the year 1668 a violent dispute flamed up in France on the doctrine of the Assumption, when part of the Chapter of Notre-Dame in Paris wished to revert to the Martyrology of Usuard, which was abolished in 1540 (or 1549). Pope St Pius V Dispute 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

25. Jean Launoy (d. 1678) energetically defended Usuard's standpoint. Pope Benedict XIV (1740-58) declared the doctrine of the Assumption to be a pious and probable opinion, but in so doing, did not declare that it belonged to the deposit of faith. In the year 1849 the first petitions for dogmatization were addressed to the Apostolic See. Benedict XIV Jean Launoy Petitions 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

26. At the Vatican Council I (1869-1870) nearly 200 Bishops signed a motion for dogmatization. Since the beginning of this century, the movement grew louder. After the whole Episcopate, following an official inquiry of the Pope (1946) almost unanimously affirmed the possibility of and the desire for the definition. Vatican Council I Inquiry 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

27. Pope Pius XII , November 1, 1950 The unanimous doctrine of the ordinary Church Teaching Office, and the unanimous belief of the Christian people in solemn definition declared infallibly, ex cathedra: “Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” Dogma 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

28. The Queenship of Mary After being assumed into Heaven and being raised above all angels and saints, Mary reigns with Christ, her Divine Son. The Fathers from ancient times honored her as the Patroness, Lady, Queen, Queen of the creation (John of Damascus, De fide orth. IV 14), Queen of Men (Andrew of Crete, Hom. 2 in Dormit. ss. Deiparae). The Liturgy honors her as the Queen of Heaven and Earth, and so do the Popes in their Encyclicals (Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius XII).

29. Mary's right to reign as Queen of Heaven is a consequence of her Divine Motherhood. Because Christ, in view of the hypostatic union, is as man the Lord and King above all creation (cf. Luke. 1:32; Revelation 19:16), so Mary as "the Mother of the Lord" (Luke. 1:43) shares in the royal dignity of her Son, even if only in an analogical way. Furthermore, Mary's royal merit is based on her intrinsic connection with Christ in His work of Redemption. As consort to a king, the wife or if unmarried, the mother of the king merits the title “Queen”. Pope Pius XII, 1954, Encyclical " Ad coeli reginam” “Just as Christ is also our Lord and King because He has redeemed us with His precious Blood (I Corinthians 6:20; I Peter. I:18), so, in an analogical way, Mary is our Lady and Queen because she the new Eve has shared intimately in the redemptive work of Christ, the new Adam, by suffering with Him and offering Him up to the Eternal Father. Mary's sublime dignity as the Queen of Heaven and Earth make her supremely powerful in her maternal intercession for her children all earth. “

30. The Constant Faith Practice of the Church From the 5th Century The Feast of the Assumption of Mary was celebrated in Syria. 5th and 6th Century The Apocryphal Books were testimony of a certain Christian sense of the abhorrence felt that the body of the Mother of God should lie in a sepulcher. 6th Century The Feast of the Assumption was celebrated in Jerusalem (and perhaps even in Alexandria). From the 7th Century Clear and explicit testimony was given on the Assumption of Mary in the Eastern Church; The same testimony is clear also in the Western Church (Gregory, Tours, 538-594). Gregory of Tours 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

31. 9th Century The Feast of the Assumption was celebrated in Spain. From the 10th - 12th Century No dispute whatsoever in the Western Church; there was dispute over the false epistles of Jerome on the subject. 12th Century The Feast of the Assumption was celebrated in the city of Rome, and in France. 13th Century to the present Certain and undisputed faith in the Assumption of Mary in the universal Church. 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

32. Finally Nonbelievers and enemies of Catholic Christianity often accuse the Church of creating the belief in Mary's freedom from original sin and Mary's freedom from the wages of sin--corruption of death--when the truths were defined. Such an error is equivalent to saying that before Adam named the animals and birds of creation in Genesis 2:19-20 they did not exist. Genesis 2:19-20 So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.

33. Or that before the early Church in her Ecumenical Councils named the belief of three persons in one God "the Trinity" and the belief that there are two natures, human and divine in the person of Jesus Christ "the Incarnation," the truths did not exist. In naming the content of Divine Revelation after God has revealed it to us, the Church reflects a long Biblical tradition and practice. Or that before the early Church in her Ecumenical Councils named the belief of three persons in one God "the Trinity" and the belief that there are two natures, human and divine in the person of Jesus Christ "the Incarnation," the truths did not exist. In naming the content of Divine Revelation after God has revealed it to us, the Church reflects a long Biblical tradition and practice.