The Blessed Virgin is indeed the first fruits of Jesus truly raised from the dead.

Today we celebrate the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul into heaven. This dogma, this truth of our faith that every Catholic must assent to fully with intellect and will, was solemnly defined by Pope Pius the XII in the apostolic constitution, Munificentissimus Deus on November 1st, 1950. This doesn’t mean however as some of our separate brethren think that the Church thought up this belief in 1950; no, it means that the Church solemnity proclaimed that which all believing Christian held to be true from the very beginning.
In their homilies and sermons on this feast, the holy fathers and great doctors (of our faith) spoke of the assumption of the Mother of God as something already familiar and accepted by the faithful. They gave it greater clarity in their preaching and used more profound arguments in setting out its nature and meaning. Above all, they brought out more clearly the fact that what is commemorated (today) in this feast is not simply the total absence of corruption from the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also her triumph over death and her glorification in heaven, after the pattern of her only Son, Jesus Christ.
The Blessed Virgin is indeed the first fruits of Jesus truly raised from the dead. As Her Son truly rose incorruptible in body and soul from the grave, so too did His mother, who most perfectly followed Him in life, now follow Him into eternity in body and soul. And so one of the great fathers of our faith, Saint John Damascene, said, “It was necessary that she who had preserved her virginity inviolate in childbirth should also have her body kept free from all corruption after death. It was necessary that she who had carried the Creator as a child on her breast should dwell herself in the tabernacles of God. It was necessary that the bride espoused by the Father should make her home in the bridal chambers of heaven. It was necessary that she, who had gazed on her crucified Son and so was pierced in the heart by the sword sorrow which she had escaped in giving him birth, should contemplate him seated with the Father. It was necessary that the Mother of God should share the possession of her Son, and be venerated by every creature as the Mother and Hand Maid of the Lord.”
Perhaps, a simple way to look upon this feast and so on the Blessed Virgin Mary, is that Jesus her Son who Created her, simply didn’t not want His mother to be for one second in the power of Satan. So, He first gave her the privilege of the Immaculate Conception to preserve her from sin; and then as a result, He did not want the sinless body of His Mother to be subject to worms and decay, so He gave her the privilege of the Assumption. Think about it, if we could have created our own mother we would have, like Jesus, created her without sin; and if we could have, would we have, in order to show our mother our great love like Jesus, keep her body, after her death, from worms and decay. It’s only common sense to believe that Jesus did these things for His Mother in order to honor her and most especially out of His perfect love for her. Which one of us, wouldn’t have done the same for our own mother if we could have.
What joy for Jesus to welcome His Mother into His heavenly home! What joy for Mary to see visibly the face of her Son again, this time in glory! What joy for the angels and the blessed in heaven to greet their Queen, their Mother! What joy for the heavenly Father to receive His favorite daughter! What joy for the Holy Spirit to meet again the chosen woman who had cooperated to bring the Son of God to this earth as a man! What joy for St. Joseph to have the companion of his earthly days with him in heaven!
This great feast is really feast of hope for us all, for we too long to follow our Heavenly Mother, into heaven. We too long for the happiness of loved ones meeting them again and embracing them again those who have gone before us. On this Assumption day, because of Mary’s assumption, our hope is not a pipe dream, it is real. A creature, the first of all creatures, who is the Mother of God and our Mother as well, as made it to heaven, body and soul. And so on this joyful feast of the assumption, because of her, we too can look forward in hope to the day when we will enter heaven there to meet Jesus, His Mother and all of those who gone before us as friends of Jesus. We too can look forward to the day when we will be able to experience our loved ones not only with our souls, but with our souls again united to our bodies in order that we can again embrace them with our love now perfected. We don’t think of this enough.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary fills us with joy, and it encourages us in our struggle to leave sin behind and so convert and grow closer to our goal which is Jesus and union with Him, for He is our true goal and so our true hope. This feast doesn’t leave us complacent or presumptuous of our salvation; no it reminds us that we must, if we are to share in the joy of our Heavenly Mother, increase our struggle to be good and faithful sons and daughters of God; to increase our effort to keep our souls clean through frequent confession and the worthily reception of the Holy Eucharist. In this way we will reach heaven, not in the same way as the most Holy Virgin, since due to sin our bodies will experience corruption. But Nevertheless, if we die in God’s grace, our soul will go to heaven, perhaps by way of Purgatory first….And then at the end of the world at the resurrection of the dead our bodies too will join again our souls and we will then receive our eternal reward, joining in unending and unfathomable Joy, Jesus and His Most Holy Mother together with all the angels and saints…this is our true goal in this life and in the life to come; this is our true hope that we celebrate on this very special day!
Let us today, pray for an increase in devotion and love for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us from this day forward pray her rosary daily and with a greater intensity, as a way of holding her hand as we contemplate the mysteries of her Son and so see Him through her eyes of love. And let us offer ourselves fully to her so that she may before the throne of God, present our hearts to her Son and through Him to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and so obtain for us the great gift and grace of final perseverance in order to be with her in body and soul in heaven united with the Blessed Trinity forever. Amen.