What is commemorated on
this feast of the Assumption, 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 set by her only Son, Jesus
Christ.
As Saint John Damascene relates, "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 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 been pierced in the heart by the sword of 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 possessions of her Son, and be venerated by every creature
as the Mother and handmaid of God."
Saint Germanus of Constantinople considered that it was
in keeping not only with her divine motherhood but also with the unique
sanctity of her virginal body that it was incorrupt and carried up to heaven. "In the words of Scripture, you appear in beauty.
Your virginal body is entirely holy, entirely chaste, entirely the
house of God, so that for this reason also it is henceforth a stranger to
decay."
Hence, the august Mother of God, mysteriously united from
all eternity with Jesus Christ, immaculate in her conception, a virgin
inviolate in her divine motherhood, the whole-hearted companion of the divine
Redeemer who won complete victory over sin and its consequences, gained at last
the supreme crown of her privileges-to be preserved immune from the corruption
of the tomb, and, like her Son, when death had been conquered, to be carried up
body and soul to the exalted glory of heaven, there to sit in splendor at the
right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the ages. from Munificentissimus Deus
by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII used language somewhat unfamiliar to
us. Mary was a virgin inviolate,
preserved incorruptible by death.
Despite being the Mother of God, Mary remained a virgin, a deep mystery
that leads some to disbelief. But for
those of us who believe the father of Jesus was the Holy Spirit, it makes sense
that her holy body would not see decay in death. Like her Son before her, Mary was taken into
heaven, body and spirit. Unlike her Son,
who could raise himself from death
and ascend into heaven, Mary was not
God, so God had to gather her body
and spirit into heaven. kvs
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