Dear Friends,

In some of the smaller towns of Italy the celebration of the Assumption begins with two processions.  The first procession begins on the outskirts of town and heads down the main street to the town center.  The people in this procession carry a statue of Mary.  The symbolism behind this procession is that it represents Mary on her way to Heaven after her life on earth came to an end.  Now at the very same time the second procession also begins on the outskirts of town, but this one begins on the opposite side of town.  This one too heads down the main street to the town center.  The people in this procession carry a statue of Jesus.  The symbolism behind this second procession is that it represents Jesus going out to meet his mother as she arrives in Heaven. 

The big moment in the celebration comes when the two processions meet under an arch of flowers in the center of town.  When this meeting takes place, both processions stop, and the two statues are made to bow to each other three times.  The bowing symbolizes Jesus welcoming his mother at the gates of Heaven.  When the bowing ceremony is over, the people carry the two statues side by side, in a single procession to the parish church.   The symbolism behind this procession is that Jesus is leading his mother to her throne, in Heaven.   When the procession arrives inside the church, the two statues are enthroned in the sanctuary, and the townspeople celebrate the Mass of the Assumption.  This Italian celebration expresses in a simple visual way the profound truth that we celebrate on the Feast of the Assumption.  The truth that after Mary’s life on earth, she was taken bodily into Heaven. 

A theologian once explained the assumption of Mary into Heaven by using the concept of love.  He said that love is like fire, it burns upward.  And since love is basically desire.  Love seeks to become more and more united with the object that is loved.  Now we all understand the law of gravity.  Gravity is what keeps us firmly planted on the ground.  But there’s also a law of spiritual gravity and that Law of Spiritual gravity is the pull on our heart by God and the closer we get to God the greater the pull.  This divine pull on our hearts is always present, and it’s only our refusal and our weakness due to sin that keeps us earth-bound. 

Now Mary knows how to love.  She’s free of original sin and she never committed sin.  Her body didn’t wage war with her soul; there was no opposition between body and soul.  Her heart and soul were totally directed to God and His will.  Now given the intense love of our Lord for His Blessed Mother and the intense love of Mary for our Lord, the saints will say that this love is at such an advanced stage it would be great enough to “pull the body with it.”   Mary’s love for God was so great that her body followed her soul.  Do I understand all the mechanics of the Assumption, no?  But I do believe it.  God willed that Mary should be in Heaven in both body and soul.  And I think that one reason the Church gives us the Dogma of the Assumption of Mary is to proclaim loudly to the world the sacredness of the human body.  Each human body is made to be a temple of the Holy Spirit more beautiful, in God’s eyes, than the grandest cathedral.  Each of us is a marvel of creation made in the image of God, a masterpiece of his love.  And even though we were wounded and disfigured by sin, we have been remade by the Redeemer, more beautiful than before. 

By proclaiming the dogma of the Assumption, the Church shows us what God thinks of human flesh; human flesh is worthy of eternal glory and of union with the Most Blessed Trinity.  Not only does Jesus bring his human body to heaven, but he wills that his Mother Mary should be with him as well, in both her body and soul.  The two of them, Jesus and Mary together, await all of us when we will one day join them too, body and soul.

Although we wait, we believe in the glorification of our body and soul together in heaven.  First Christ, second Mary, and then finally the entire church, or as St. Paul says; “all those who belong to him.”  And this gives us great hope.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley