“Blessed are you among women”: Mary taken up to Heaven

Roma, Assumption of Mary, 2020
 
In some countries the Assumption of Mary is not only observed as a a Solemnity in the Catholic Church but also a Day of Obligation where RCs are required to attend Mass. In Europe, countries include Austria, Croatia, France, Germany (southern), Italy, Poland, and Spain, in Latin America, Chile and Guatemala, and Africa, Cameroon, Gabon, Senegal, where the Assumption kept as a national holiday! What is referred to as Assumption Day is celebrated as a national holiday in 48 countries across the Catholic world!
 
So what’s so special about Mary? After all, there isn’t a whole lot about her in the Bible. And there is no mention of the Assumption anywhere in the Scriptures. Yet, what is written about Mary has tremendous depth and implications for our salvation. The Bible contains key Marian passages in the New Testament and even prophesies in the Old Testament, but I will focus on the Solemnity being celebrated August 15th -- the Assumption of Mary.
 
Revelations 12 identifies a woman with a crown of twelve stars around her head in the pangs of giving birth. The woman refers to the Virgin Mary because she is the one giving birth to a male child who is to rule the nations. This male child is Jesus; the mother, is Mary. This woman with 12 stars, therefore, symbolises Mary for only she gives birth to Jesus and no other. Twelve stars refer to the disciples, the early Church. St. John who writes the Book of Revelation, knows shortly after Jesus’ birth, Jesus was endangered by Pilate who had babies slaughtered looking for the “newborn King.”
 
The Apostles were similarly persecuted and executed as they brought the light of Jesus into a dark world. And so, Satan, Pilate,the anti-Christ who follows, are there to devour the baby; and to crush the Church. This woman who carries Jesus in her womb carries our salvation -- an innocent baby in her womb. The symbols of the crown of 12 stars, we can think of Mary as surrounded by the Apostles after finishing her life on earth, when Mary is taken up into heaven.
 
St. Paul’s letter highlights the first fruit in 1 Corinthians 15 of Jesus saving act; Mary, the Mother of Jesus is the first fruit of His saving power: Jesus is the first to be resurrected but Mary is the first of creation to be saved. Mary is the first of salvation because with Mary’s yes to God’s plan, the Holy Spirit descended upon her (Luke 1:26-38); Mary is first because Mary gave Jesus His flesh; Mary is first because she is without sin; and so Mary is the first of creation to be take up into Heaven.

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​In St. Luke (1:39ff) we have the beautiful magnificat of the Virgin Mary where Mary proclaims, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” But even before Mary’s magnificat, the words of her cousin Elizabeth contain prophetic truth. Elizabeth, a humble woman also chosen by God, will give birth to John the Baptist and he will prepare the way for Jesus. Elizabeth acknowledges who Mary is in relationship to Jesus, and based on this Mother-Son relationship, Elizabeth has the conviction to say, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me , that the mother of my Lord come to me?” Elizabeth who is Mary’s older cousin and six months pregnant acknowledges Mary as the Mother of her Lord; Mary carries the Messiah within her womb, and so, Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you among women.”
 
These are the sacred words of the Scriptures, powerfully charged, teaching us why Mary is blessed among woman, and this blessedness comes from her Son Jesus. And for this reason, she is that woman crowned with the twelve stars, who gives birth to Jesus while Satan waits to snatch and devour; and is taken up to heaven, body and soul, when her earthly journey is over.
 
Jesus saves us: this is real. It’s not a thought or an idea. It’s so real that the first to be  taken up to Heaven is His very own Mother. If we hope to go to heaven with our repeated sins being forgiven, surely, Mary, having been preserved from original by Jesus in advance, and never committing any sin, was the first to be taken up to Heaven.
 
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.