The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Jesus Christ: yesterday, today, and forever.
This Sunday, August 15th, we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven.
What you ask, is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary? The Church has always taught that like her Son, the Blessed Virgin Mary ascended body and soul into heaven (not just soul). There are two differing traditions as to where this took place: Jerusalem or Ephesus in Turkey [much more likely]; both traditions relate that at the death of the BVM, her soul left her body, then returned a few days later to reenter and reanimate her body, and then ascended into heaven with apostles looking on. Along with Jesus, the BVM is the only other person in heaven with both her soul and body – who has died. Two others have ascended into heaven but have yet to die: Enoch and Elijah – Genesis 5:24 & 2 Kings 2:11. Tradition holds that they will return in a later generation and give witness against the Antichrist, be slain, rise from the dead, and ascend again into heaven.
Below are two highly abridged accounts of the Assumption of the BVM, both written by saintly mystics. The first is from Venerable Mary of Agreda (1665 d.) and the second is from Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1824 d.) If you look up the addresses below on the internet, you will find much more than I have for you here. In Anne Catherine’s visions you will find the Assumption nearly at the end. Enjoy.
In Christ, I Love You,
Fr. Thomas Nathe
Venerable Mary of Agreda
The Mystical City of God, Book 8
On the third day after the most pure soul of Mary had taken possession of this glory never to leave it, the Lord manifested to the saints His divine will, that She should return to the world, resuscitate her sacred body and unite Herself with it, so that She might in body and soul be again raised to the right hand of her divine Son without waiting for the general resurrection of the dead . . . When the time for this wonder had arrived, Christ our Savior himself descended from heaven bringing with Him at His right hand the soul of his most blessed Mother and accompanied by many legions of the Angels, the Patriarchs, and ancient Prophets.
. . . the most blessed Mary issued from the tomb in body and soul, without raising the stone cover and without disturbing the position of the tunic and the mantle that had enveloped her sacred body. Since it is impossible to describe her beauty and refulgent glory, I will not make the attempt. It is sufficient to say, that just as the heavenly Mother had given to her divine Son in her womb the form of man, pure, unstained and sinless, for the Redemption of the world, so in return the Lord, in this resurrection and new regeneration, gave to Her a glory and beauty similar to his own. In this mysterious and divine interchange each One did what was possible: most holy Mary engendered Christ, assimilating Him as much as possible
to Herself, and Christ resuscitated Her, communicating to Her of his glory as far as She was capable as a creature.
Then from the Sepulchre was started a most solemn procession, moving with celestial music through the regions of the air and toward the empyrean heaven. This happened in the hour immediately after midnight, which also the Lord had risen from the grave; and therefore not all of the Apostles were witness of this prodigy, but only some of them, who were present and watching at the sepulcher. The saints and angels entered in the order in which they had started; and in the last place came Christ our Savior and at his right hand the Queen, clothed in the gold of variety (as David says Ps. 44, 10), and so beautiful that She was the admiration of the heavenly court. All of them turned toward Her to look upon Her and bless Her with new jubilee and songs of praise . . .
Amid this glory the most blessed Mary arrived body and soul at the throne of the most blessed Trinity. And the three divine Persons received Her on it with an embrace eternally indissoluble. The eternal Father said Her: “Ascend higher, my Daughter and my Dove.” The incarnate Word spoke: “My Mother, of whom I received human being and full return of my work in thy perfect imitation, receive now from my hand the reward thou hast merited.” The Holy Ghost said: “My most beloved Spouse, enter into the eternal joy, which corresponds to the most faithful love; do Thou now enjoy thy love without solicitude; for past is the winter of suffering for Thou hast arrived at our eternal embraces.” There the most blessed Mary was absorbed in the contemplation of the three divine Persons and as it were overwhelmed in the boundless ocean and abyss of the Divinity, while the saints were filled with wonder and new accidental delight.
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
The Life Of Jesus Christ And Biblical Revelations, Numbers 457-47
On the night following the burial took place the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven. I saw on this night several of the Apostles and holy women in the little garden, praying and singing Psalms before the grotto. I saw a broad pathway of light descend from Heaven and rest upon the tomb. In it were circles of glory full of angels, in the midst of whom the resplendent soul of the Blessed Virgin came floating down. Before her went her Divine Son, the marks of His Wounds flashing with light. In the innermost circle, that which surrounded the holy soul of Mary, the angels appeared like the faces of very young children; in the second circle, they were like those of children from six to eight years old; and in the outermost, like the faces of youths, I could clearly distinguish only the face, the rest of the figure consisting of perfectly transparent light. Encircling the head of the Blessed Virgin like a crown was a choir of blessed spirits. I know not what those present saw of all this. But I saw that some gazed up in amazement and adoration, while others cast themselves prostrate in fright upon the earth. These apparitions, becoming more and more distinct as they approached nearer, floated over the grotto, and another pathway of light issued from it and arose to the heavenly Jerusalem. The blessed soul of Mary, floating before Jesus, penetrated through the rock and into the tomb, out of which she again arose radiant with light in her glorified body and, escorted by the entire multitude of celestial spirits, returned in triumph to the heavenly Jerusalem.
