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THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY

Afonso Murad

The last two Marial dogmas, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Our Lady present certain difficulties. Their legitimacy is questioned as they lack any direct biblical basis, they do not answer central questions of Christian faith, as it is the case with most of the dogmas and they were not decided at an ecumenical council. Many people question their convenience: what is their use if Christianity managed so well without them for eighteen centuries? Why overload the Church with more dogmas and so render the ecumenical dialogue more difficult? Besides that, the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption were formulated in the context of a triumphalist Marian mentality. To justify them they used the argument of convenience whose logic is questionable nowadays. Basically it functions like this: God could do something special with Mary, it was convenient to do it. Consequently He did it. In fact, the circumstances surrounding the definition of these dogmas were not the ideal ones: lack of biblical culture and use, absence of dialogue with the modern world, Church power centralised in Rome and dogmatism. But in spite of all that these dogmas confirmed what was already accepted by a good part of the catholic population and had been expressed along the centuries mainly through popular devotions. Today it is impossible to reverse the decisions made. In actual fact Christianity could very well manage for eighteen centuries without them. They are not essential to our faith. Today we are called to reinterpret these two dogmas from the perspectives of our Christian experience and of our contemporary world.

I. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception

This dogma seems quite easy to be accepted because we feel that Mary is a person thoroughly enlightened by God, the human temple where sin does not enter and grace makes its dwelling. Before the Immaculate Conception of Mary was declared a dogma, people already rendered homage to “Our Lady of Conception”. In Latin America we find baroque statues of Our Lady of Conception, most of them brought from Spain and Portugal during the colonization period. It is interesting to remark that in various places of Brazil, those statues are simply called “images of the saint”. It proves that ordinary people without having studied theology, have the intuition that Mary is all holy, belonging entirely to God. Nevertheless, this dogma presents some misunderstandings and difficulties. Many believers think that Mary was born and lived in a state of holiness and did not have doubts, crises and difficulties found by every human being. She was complete from her birth and did not need to grow as person. Confronted with that belief certain Catholics raise some questions:

- If she was born sinless, does her life have any merit? - Was it not easier for her to serve God than for us, sinners, confronted with evil

forces? - Why was she invested with that privilege? - Would it not have been better for her being a normal human being and

consequently an inspiring model, closer to the people as an unattainable model is utterly inefficient?

For the traditional Christian Churches issued from the Reformation this dogma runs counter the basis Christian tenet that “we are all sinners and need the saving Grace of God

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through Jesus Christ”. Besides that it is a dogma defined by a Pope alone and not by an Ecumenical Council. Which authority did the Pope have to compel the Christians to believe in something inexistent in the Bible? Some evangelicals, basing themselves on Rom 3, 23 “all sinned”, declare that this dogma is contrary to the Bible. Conscious that the question is not an easy one, we wonder what is the positive message of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary?

1. A long history

a) Biblical horizon

There is not a single biblical text stating clearly the Immaculate Conception of Mary. In Lk 1,28, the greeting of the Angel, it is only asserted that Mary is especially graced by God (Keharitomene, in Greek), full of grace. In Genesis 3,15 it is promised that the woman’s heritage will crash the snake’s head. As we have already seen this is not a Marial text but the expression of a hope addressed to all mankind.

We can find in the bible a “horizon of comprehension”: some texts that could help us find a place for the dogma, for example: *“He chose us in Him before the creation of the world, to be holy and immaculate” (Eph. 1,4). * “Before you were born I knew you and I consecrated you” (Jer 1,5). * “The Lord called me from my mother’s womb” (Is 49,1: The Canticle of the Servant). * The triumph of Grace in Jesus Christ in comparison to Adam (Rom 5). Finally which were the stages to reach a dogmatic definition? Let us make an historical synthesis.

b) Steps followed up to the dogmatic definition

*The Patristic: In the first centuries of Christian history the parallelism between Eve and Mary developed, between the disobedient virgin that leads humankind to sin and the obedient virgin which opens the way to goodness and virtue.

Marial devotion appears. The Fathers of the Church, like Ireneus and Origen, speak of the perfect holiness of Mary pointing out at the same time that she was a pilgrim in faith.

But the real background to the development of the dogma is the discussion of Pelagius with Saint Augustine, in the 6th century.

For Pelagius the human being can be saved by his own efforts; in this way Jesus is only an ethical model and not a redeemer.

Augustine, based on Saint Paul and on his own life experience of fight against evil, says that humankind is marked by Adam’s original sin and needs to be saved by Christ through His Grace. Original sin would be transmitted from generation to generation through the sexual union. Jesus did not have original sin because he was born from a virginal conception. Augustine defends a total absence of actual sins in Mary but not of original sin.

*Middle Ages: Most of the writers agree that Mary would have been purified from original sin in view of the future conception of Jesus but when?

The more Marial devotion grows the more grows the idea that Mary would have received this especial grace either at the Annunciation, or immediately before the Annunciation, or during her gestation as a human being or after her birth.

The question leads to many theological discussions polarized in two schools of thought: maculists and immaculists, represented respectively by Dominicans and Franciscans.

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According to the maculists (Dominicans), Mary would have been purified from the stain of original sin during her gestation as human being.

For the immaculists, (Franciscans), this would have occurred at the moment of her conception.

For us today this amounts to a useless discussion.

An important contribution was made by Saint Anselm of Canterbury (+ 1109). He says that the redemptive action of Christ comprises all human beings, in all times and places. That is followed by the talk of a pre-redemption of Mary, before Jesus’ birth.

In the meantime the devotion to the Immaculate Conception of Mary grows slowly around the dioceses, promoted mainly by religious orders.

The Vatican will only tolerate the Office and the mass of the Immaculate Conception in the 15th century. From this time come two official documents in favour of the Immaculate Conception: one from the confused Council of Basileia (1431-1449) and the Apostolic Constitution of Sixtus IV in 1477.

*Modern Age: Luther

He questions in depth the medieval vision of the remission of sins based on merit and religious rites and places the emphasis on justification, which only comes through faith in Christ. He takes to the extreme the vision of Saint Paul and Saint Augustine saying that the human being is definitely marked by the strength of evil, which makes human conscience perverse. Only his surrender in God’s hands can bring about liberation. The just man lives out of his faith not out of his good works!

The Council of Trent attacks head-on Luther’s thesis in 1547 and states that the human being, due to the original sin, carries within himself an internal division called concupiscence that renders him weak and inclines him to have evil attitudes and to commit sins.

The Council does not mention the point of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in order to avoid internal divisions.

The following centuries, marked by the Counter-reformation and the reaction to a newly born modernity, will see great Marial euphoria in the Catholic Church. Mary’s privileges are praised more and more.

*The dogmatic definition: In the 19th century devotion to Mary, as a Catholic mark of identity, takes a new impetus. The miraculous medal shown during the apparition of our Lady to Catherine Laboure in 1830, in France, has this legend: "Oh Mary, free from original sin, pray for us".

In 1848 Pius IX appoints a theological commission to examine the doctrinal point of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The bishops are consulted and the majority accepts the proposal of the dogmatic definition. The Pope, not fully content with the results of the work in progress nominates another theological commission in 1852, which will define the criteria for a dogmatic definition. On December 8th 1854 the dogma is proclaimed through the Bulla Inefabilis Deus.

“... The doctrine stating that the Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved immune from all stain of original sin from the first moment of her conception, by a unique grace and privilege of the all powerful God, due to the merits of Christ Jesus, Saviour of humankind, is revealed by God and should be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful...”.

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2. The meaning of “Immaculate Conception”

We all were created in Christ and were marked by the breath of life of the Creator and by an original grace. As Saint Paul says: “Before the creation of the world, God chose us in Christ, to be before Him holy and immaculate (Eph 1,4). Each new human being is born with a blessing of God. God creates us to be happy and to contribute to the happiness of others. Nobody is born as a formed person. Each one develops and builds up his or her personality along his or her own existence. He or she learns to love and to be loved, receives the faith from other people and assumes it as a personal belonging. Did you ever consider how fascinating it is to be always, until the hour of our death “learners of the art of living”? From this perspective we understand that we are limited by time and space, that we are conditioned by the culture reigning where we are born and where we die, that during this long process of learning errors are important. Many of our limits are reassumed in the future as chances of excelling and growing. In the mother’s womb the child is receiving from the mother, in different doses, love and disaffection, welcome and rejection, affection and violence. We are all in solidarity in good and evil. Nobody starts his or her life from nothing. Through faith we recognize we are part of a great loving project from God, that we are marked by His grace and by the positive flow of love, kindness and welcome of so many human beings that existed before us. But the world also has violence, lies and evil that infects every person that is born. At the start of our life we are under the influence of positive and negative forces, of life and destruction and we interact with them. There is something in our personal, community and planetary history that damages the Lord’s beautiful projects. This does not come from God and it is difficult to trace back its origin. We call it “mystery of evil and iniquity”. It is spread among humans and influences each one of us as we are not only limited human beings called to evolve with the universe but very often we break this process and refuse to grow. Every human being has inside himself many wishes, tendencies and impulses. They are good if integrated in a life’s project. For example, each one needs to believe in his own abilities, and to exercise his freedom in order to be accepted and respected by the others. This is the basic form of power. The weak and powerless person gives only a small contribution to the interpersonal relationships. On the other hand, power is dangerous. An authoritarian father can cause many wounds in his children. A powerful and corrupt politician damages the nation and increases social exclusion. Another example: each human being looks for pleasure in relating to others, in eating and having fun. One of the most intense forms of pleasure is sexual pleasure. The sexual relationship between man and woman is beautiful and wanted by God but the unbalanced sex, without affection and respect, brings about individualism and violence. Still another example: We like to dress properly and possess the things we need to make our life easier but when the wish is disorderly and turns into consumerism, it creates persons attached and dependent on things, that eventually will ruin their life. We have difficulties to integrate our wishes and impulses and to put them at the service of a life’s project. The impulses towards power, possessions, pleasure and many others appeal to the lowest instincts of the person and can separate him or her from God. Theology called this internal division “concupiscence”. It has individual, collective and cultural dimensions. We know that our freedom is compromised by sin and needs to be liberated.

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Saint Paul remembers that internal conflict experienced by people saying that “very often our heart wishes to do good but we end up doing the evil that we did not want.” (Rom 7, 14-24). We are fragmented human beings but “we believe in the victory of Jesus’ grace which frees us from all prisons”. (Rom 5;8 e 8,1-4). God’s original grace, which creates and saves us is more important and stronger than original sin and helps us to overcome our sins and weaknesses. “Original sin” is not a sin in the strict sense but in the analogical one. That is to say, it is not an act committed freely against God and His Kingdom, related to the fundamental orientation and the person’s attitudes. On using this expression we recognize that an absence of mediation of grace exists in each of us and in our relationships. The original sin is not part of the essence of the human being but of our present human condition, which suffers the influence of the mystery of evil and iniquity. To be a limited person in the process of learning is part of the essence of any human creature. To be allowed to be directed by evil and to refuse to grow in goodness constitutes a paradox in his present condition. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception asserts that the secret of Mary, the perfect disciple of Jesus, who answered God’s call in such a radical way, has its roots in grace. She receives from God an especial gift. She is born more integrated than we are, with a greater capacity to be free and to welcome the divine proposal. The fact of her being immaculate does not exempt her of growing in faith as that is part and parcel of her human condition who needs to learn how to evolve. She is not born perfect. She is a learner in the day-to-day living. There are moments in which she does not understand the full meaning of facts and words. (Lk 2,49-50). And during her life Jesus surprises her quite often (Mk 3,31-35). But, in a way different from ours Mary always follows a positive path, without false deviations and without getting bogged down. She accomplishes her vocation through the human way of faith, in the midst of crises and difficulties. She also has to change direction during her life and she experiences processes of change and conversion, “not from evil to good but from good to better”. Mary is pre-redeemed by the Word of God. She receives God’s saving Grace with a higher intensity than us enabling her to integrate her tendencies and her impulses. She reaches in this way an admirable wholeness. She exercises better her mission as perfect disciple, educator and mother of the Messiah. With a greater interior freedom she develops deeply her human and spiritual qualities, becoming a holy creature, not fragmented, in command of her person, opened to God. Therefore, the fact of being immaculate does not render her less human; on the contrary she fulfils the utopia of the “new mankind”, of the human being spiritually developed. But the image of Mary Immaculate should be completed with the one of Mary, pilgrim in faith. For those Christians who experience fragmentation in their lives, the strength of evil dominating them, the relapse into sin, an inconstant faith ... it may happen that Mary immaculate is not a close model of life. In this case, they can evoke the example of other saints who, treading dangerous paths, made huge efforts towards conversion and experienced a radical change of life. For them, Mary immaculate is not the point of departure but of arrival as God who creates out of nothing also recreates out of chaos and darkness. Mary immaculate overturns our idea of “privilege”. A person especially gifted, of stunning beauty, envious intelligence, a great degree of science, power and fame ... tends to be distant from others, to underestimate them and to look inwards in a proud way. The privileged person becomes a narcissist and says: “Oh mirror, is there anybody better than me?” Mary, on the contrary, teaches us that all we receive is a gift whose destiny is to widen the network of goodness, to extend God’s Kingdom on earth. The unique privilege of the

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Immaculate Conception is an especial gift, to which Mary corresponded with the greatest intensity, placing it at the service of Jesus and of mankind. All we are, have and conquer in a especial way aims to build up the “network of life”, in which all human beings are intimately related and interdependent.

3. Mary Immaculate in metaphors

Once upon a time, on December 8th, a missionary working in a tropical country went to celebrate Mass in a rural community. He wondered: “How can I talk to these people of such a complicated mystery?” On the way to church he perceived numerous guava trees and started his homily as follows: “Dear brothers and sisters, who has got a guava tree at home?” Nearly all of them raised their hand. He carried on: “you know the guavas are tasteful, have a pleasant smell and beautiful in shape, but they have many worms that spoil them. It would be nice if our guavas were wormless. In God’s project each one of us was supposed to be a wormless guava tree, giving fruits of justice, love and kindness. But we all know it is not like that. We feel that sin is spoiling us like the worm does with the guava tree. Today’s feast gives us hope as it shows that God created a human creature in the way he had planned for every creature: a creature not contaminated by egoism, pride, power and comfort; a tree full of bountiful fruits. It is clear Mary received an especial blessing of God but she knew how to develop it and bring it to maturity. A wormless but fruitless guava tree is useless. Mary received God’s love and Grace and turned them into good fruits.

We are not immaculate as Mary, we have sins that upset our life but each one of us receives the grace and blessing of God to become a beautiful tree, with leaves, flowers and fruits. Some trees have branches with mistletoe and fruit with worms but God, who is merciful, welcomes and loves us in this way. We can look at Mary and ask from her, full of grace, help for our journey here on earth. Now we are going to sing:

“Immaculate, mother of God, a gentle heart that welcomes Jesus Immaculate, born and lived in the midst of people, mother of the afflicted who bear their cross. A heart devoted to life, a heart devoted to God, A heart devoted to humanity, God’s Kingdom renewing the earth.

Years later, that missionary was invited to talk to a group of secondary education students in a Catholic school in town. The guava tree image could not be used as the guavas they knew were treated with agro-toxics and were wormless, beautiful and tasteless. Passing through the computers laboratory he had an inspiration and he explained the dogma to those students as follows:

“People, you work with computers and know what a virus is. Nobody knows its origins but it upsets a lot, it can spoil the programs and the written texts. Each one of us is like a powerful and quick computer, created by God to produce good and creative works as well as to be amused with videogames, Internet e-chats. But unfortunately, we are born with evil and negative tendencies and if we do not care they invade us as a computer virus. God created Mary, mother of Jesus, as a computer without virus. She was all ready to do good. It is clear that an empty computer is useless. It needs programs to work and create entertainment. That was the case of Mary. God pressed the “start” key in her life and she was created full of light and life, spared of any evil virus. And she developed to the utmost all she had received from God. What a fascinating figure she is! She became the virtual image of all human beings, whole, mature, happy, able to love and to be loved.

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These two examples, one happening in a rural area and one in a city help us understand that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception has a message about Mary and about each one of us. This dogma confirms that Mary is an especial creature that nourishes our hope in the victory of God’s grace over evil and sin.

Prayer Thank you, Lord, for having given us Mary Immaculate. Looking at her we feel the joy of seeing one of us, human and limited as we are, but overflowing with grace. Look over the humankind stained by violence, consumerism, poverty and a meaningless life. Give us the grace to integrate our wishes, impulses, tendencies and affections. Grant us a true freedom. Welcome us, saints and sinners, and make us humble servants of the Gospel like Mary. Amen.

II. The dogma of the Assumption of Mary This dogma, celebrated on August 15th, has different names like Our Lady of the Good Trip, Our Lady of Glory or Our Lady of the Abbey. For many Catholics this dogma does not bring problems or solutions but nourishes and increases their devotion to “Mary of Heaven”. Let us see how it came to be declared dogma and its present day meaning.

1. Historical background

Saint John shows, that at the foot of the cross Mary was adopted by the community as mother (Jn 19,27). Saint Luke says she was part of the group waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost (Acts, 1:13-14 and 2:1). Mary was at the service of the Christian community as mother but the bible says nothing about Mary’s last days on earth, how and when she died and at which age. In the first centuries Christians were very careful to keep the mortal remains of saints, especially those of apostles and martyrs but we know nothing about Mary’s body. In the 4th century AD. we already have news of the devotional feast of the “Dormition of Mary” and of the empty tomb in a small chapel in Jerusalem. The Church holy fathers and mothers speak of the "glorification or the exaltation of Mary". According to Ephrem (4th and 5th century AD), the virginal body of Mary was not subject to corruption after death. For Epiphanius (6th century AD), Mary should have in her flesh the Kingdom of Heaven. He recognizes that the bible does not deal with this matter but Mary’s death could have been through martyrdom (associated to the sword’s image in Lk 2), through natural death or that “she may have remained alive as for God nothing is impossible. But nobody knows about Mary’s last days on earth”. In the 6th century AD the liturgical feast of the transition or dormition of Mary started to spread in the eastern countries, fixed on August 15th by Emperor Mauritius. It reached Rome in the 7th century AD under the Pope Sergius I. In the Coptic Church, the celebration of the death and resurrection of Mary happens on January 16th and August 9th.

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Little by little, the title of the dormition (koímêsis) is replaced by the title of the assumption (análêpsis) and in this way, in the 7th century AD, in the context of growing Marial devotion, the feast of the Assumption of Mary starts in France and England. In that devotional context are written the “apocrypha” about the "Transit of Mary to heaven". It is difficult to be precise about the date of these writings (probably between the 6th and the 8th century AD). Among them "the Transit of Mary” is relevant, written by the Pseudo Melitão of Sardis. According to this work, two years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Mary starts crying in her parents house, situated in the Mountain of Olives. An angel presents her with an olive branch coming from heaven as a sign of her coming death. Mary fears that her soul, coming out of the body may meet the prince of darkness. Then the olive branch turns into a shining light. After that, each of the apostles, who were in different corners of the earth preaching the gospel, is taken in a cloud and left at the door of Mary’s house, and there, all gathered around Mary spend three days in prayer. Then Jesus arrives with a multitude of saints singing hymns of praise. While Jesus talks with Mary, she renders her life to God with a prayer of thanksgiving. The apostles see that her soul irradiates “a brightness more intense than the one of snow, silver and the rest of all the metals". Jesus gives the soul of Mary to the angels Michael and Gabriel. Three virgins take Mary’s soul to the funeral. On removing her clothes the body shines with light and beauty and a pleasant smell spreads around. A procession of 15 thousand people is organized up to the graveyard, in the Josaphat valley, where the apostles bury Mary in a new tomb. Jesus appears again, full of splendour and surrounded by angels. Saint Peter requests Him: “Please, resurrect Mary’s body and take it with You to heaven, in the same way as You defeated death and now You reign in glory". Jesus orders Gabriel to bring Mary’s soul. Michael turns the door closing the tomb and Jesus says, "Come out, my friend! Your body was not corrupted in your lifetime through any sexual relation and now it will not corrupt in the graveyard ". And He raises Mary from the tomb, kisses her and withdraws, handing over Mary’s soul to the angels who take her to paradise. For many centuries Christendom celebrated through popular devotion that Mary was close to Christ, fully glorified, but there was not consensus on what happened to her at the end of her life on earth. After the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 there was a strong movement in favour of declaring the Assumption of Mary a dogma as well. This event happened in 1950, under Pope Pius XII, thorough the Bulla "Munificentissimus Deus". The Bull neither affirms nor denies the death of Mary and, though related to biblical arguments, it is based on the argument of convenience. The greatest theological reason is that Mary, mother of God, is closely united to his Son, and participates in His destiny. It is a physical and moral union that makes her a close sharer in Christ’s redemptive work (co-redemptrix). As Christ’s resurrection was the epilogue of the salvation carried out by Him, in the same way it was convenient that Mary’s participation through the glorification of her virginal body. Here is the essence of the dogmatic definition: “We define to be a revealed dogma that the Immaculate Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, once finished her life on earth, was assumed in body and soul to the heavenly glory”.

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2.Understanding the problem in the light of the eschatology

We believe that the life God gave us to take care of does not end with death. The resurrected Jesus guarantees that God will offer us something better, a glorified life in communion with the Trinity and with our brothers and sisters. God gives all humans the possibility to resurrect, to enter eternal life. How that life is going to be transfigured remains a mystery. We believe that such a life will be good, much better than the present one free from the limits of finitude and mortality. The theological subject called Eschatology (from the Greek: escaton: the last one) tries to give possible answers. Christians along the centuries worked out the last things happening after death, called “Novissimus”. To the bible information were added different elements like Plato’s idea of the soul immortality and Aristoteles´s hilemorphic theory, interpreted by Saint Thomas of Aquinas and the Medieval Scholastics. It is all about a vision of the human being and his destiny that has influenced our way of thinking up to date. Let us try to make a summary by subjects.

*The human being is made of body and soul (matter and spirit). The soul is the principle of determination that qualifies the body and is immortal.

*At the end of life the body dies and breaks away temporarily from the soul. The soul, dwelling of the person’s identity, goes to meet God in a private judgement. There it appears all that it did during its life on earth, the good and the bad things. If the person is in peace with God, if he died in state of grace, then the soul will enjoy eternal happiness in heaven. If he needs a period of purification he will pass through purgatory. If he died in state of mortal sin he will undergo the fire of hell.

*In the heavenly glory dwell the Holy Trinity, the angels, who are bodiless, and all the holy souls, who intercede for us. Only the resurrected Jesus is in heaven in body and soul.

*At the end of time Jesus will return for the second time, in glory and power. That will be the Parousia. The resurrection of the dead will also happen: the soul will join the body again but each one will receive a transformed body, according to the verdict passed at the private judgement. The just who are in heaven will get their body again but totally transparent, light, enlightened. The sinners, who are in hell, will also get their body but completely refractory, heavy and dark, appropriate to their state.

*Then the Last Judgement will occur in which God will pronounce his final verdict over the history and the peoples on earth.

This way of thinking is called “dual” and “space-time”. It considers the human being in two dimensions, body and soul, earthly life and eternal life. It imagines eternity with the same categories of space and time that we use here on earth. Heaven is a place and purgatory happens in a chronological time. The apocryphal work entitled “Book of Transit” is based in this vision. At the hour of death the angels take the soul of Mary and sometime afterwards Jesus resurrects her body. In this context was proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of Our Lady. It states that Mary, different from us, did not need to wait until the end of time to receive a glorified body. After her earthly life she is close to God with a transformed body, full of grace and light. God gave her in advance the eternal present reserved for good people at the end of time. Nowadays there are other ways in which the resurrection of death can be understood. The main one is the unitary and pluralist eschatology. Here is the essence: *The human being is a multidimensional, pluralist unity made up of different elements: matter and energy, individual and community, impulse and conscience, body and spirit.

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*When a person passes away their deadly and decayed body decomposes being assimilated by micro-organisms. But, by God’s grace, the whole person is resurrected.

*At the moment of death the person passes to another stage of transfigured existence, which overcomes our limited schemes of geographical space and chronological time. In this merciful encounter with God the persons contemplate all their life and also a saving judgement, an offered grace, which relates to the person’s growth during its earthly existence.

*The resurrection of the death is simultaneous to the private judgement, as at the moment of death the person is raised to life by God. It is not necessary to wait for a later time, at the end of history, for the body to be reunited again with the soul.

*In the same way, the universal judgement and the Parousia begin to take place for those who passed from this life to the eternal life but there will be a final accomplishment for all mankind when God will be “all in every person” “.

From this perspective, the dogma of the Assumption of Mary simply announces that Mary has an especial place in the communion of saints, showing God’s affirmation of her option of life. It is also understood that the Lord blessed Mary’s human body in an especial way: She, the first disciple, becomes “the first resurrected” (not in chronological order) after Jesus. We cannot think of the Assumption of Mary in a literal way: she did not ascend to heaven with the body she had on earth, with bones, skin, meat and blood. The body of the resurrected Jesus and the body of the assumed Mary are not like Lazarus’s body (Jo 11,43-44) not like the body of the son of the widow of Naim (Lk 7, 13-15). Those people, sooner of later died again and their bodies got corrupted. Mary’s body, on the contrary, was transformed and assumed by God even if we do not know the details. Independently of the eschatological vision adopted, what really matters is to believe that Mary is already glorified as a whole person, close to God. She is already experiencing what is promised for each one of us: to share in the banquet of life, taking with her the gift of love and its fruits, carefully grown during her existence on earth. The assumption of Mary should be understood in relation to Jesus’ resurrection. Saint Paul says He is the first one who was raised from death to life (Cor 1,18, Rom 15,20-22) and that we will follow Him. The gospel narratives about the resurrection show that the resurrected Jesus is the same person of Jesus, as the disciples were able to eat with Him and touch Him (Jn 20,27). But his resurrected body is completely different from ours. People can only recognize Jesus if they believe in Him. (Jn 20,14-16). Even the disciples do not identify Him at first sight (Lk 24,13-16). Jesus is not a ghost but He enters the disciples’ house with the doors closed (Jn 20,19). How can he continue to be the same and at the same time so different? Here lies one of the novelties of the resurrection. It is a totally new way of life beyond all that we can imagine. We believe that Mary, wholly glorified, is close to Jesus. God assumed and transformed all her personal history, her actions and her body, and so she is in the glory of God and of the saints. She is close to us, helping us as a loving mother and a faith companion.

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3. Lessons of the dogma for us

Lucia was the catechesis coordinator in the parish. For many years she animated the catechists, prepared the meetings with them and organized formation courses on renewed catechesis. Work was going very well and Lucia decided to collaborate in the sector, which gathered together ten parishes. In the meantime a new priest arrived in the quarter and started to undo all that she had done. He placed another lady coordinator in her place and, jealous of her, destroyed the parish organization in a short time. He also modified the catechesis plan. Lucia remained very sad, underwent a faith crisis and asked God what was the use of so much effort, of so many lost days and nights. Lady Marlene, an old catechist went to Lucia’s house, gave her a warm embrace and crying consoled her with these words: “My daughter, I know that for you all seems to be lost now. None of us would like this to happen. But I have faith that all good you did is marked like a tattoo in the catechists and children’s lives and nothing will erase it not even our failure. And I hold to believe this principle emanating from my faith: all the good that people do in this world, even the smallest things, cannot be destroyed by anyone as it belongs to God.” The dogma of the Assumption of Our Lady stimulates our faith mainly in moments of crises. We know that God assumed and transformed all the goodness that Mary had and did on earth even her body. Looking at the resurrected and glorified Mary, who followed in the footsteps of Jesus her Son, we feel encouraged to fight for goodness, truth and justice. Even if the incomprehension and failure may seem to have the upper hand we firmly believe in God’s strength, in the power of the risen Christ. He inaugurates for us the “new heaven and the new earth”, where Mary stays with the saints. Then Jesus will remain very close to us and will dry our eyes’ tears. There will be neither death nor suffering. The Lord will make all things anew and will grant us freely the source of the living water (Apoc 21, 1-7). Jesus already gives us in this life a taste of all that is promised to us after death. Did you ever experience that sensation of being so light, happy, in syntony with God and the Brothers, feeling like flying towards heaven? We feel God taking our hand and lifting us. This would be a tiny experience of the assumption. The Assumption of Our Lady was the result of her pilgrimage in this world. Each time she took some steps to follow Jesus, to search God’s will, the Lord took over and transformed her person until the moment of her death. Something similar happens with us: in our life of faith, each step we take is accompanied by God’s gift. He welcomes us, takes us by the hand, assumes and transforms us. Prayer Thanks, Mary, because you are close to the resurrected Jesus, looking over us, pilgrims on earth. Thanks for showing us that love is definitive That God assumes and transforms all that we are and the good we do and that at the end, his love and his works will remain. Amen

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Summarizing the dogmas

Each dogma shows us that Mary is a human person like us but at the same time very especial. It shows something of her mystery that we cannot perceive with a superficial sight. Mary is like a virgin land, blooming with exuberance, ready to be fecundated by God. On welcoming the immense gift of God she becomes the mother of the incarnated Son of God. When we look at Mary Immaculate, woman full of God, we discover that her life was like throwing a kite up. God gave her the Holy Spirit’s wind that blew over her without resistance. And she always corresponded with freedom and generosity. She let the string loose gradually, achieving light, daring and beautiful flights. And the end of her pilgrimage on earth could only be a happy one. Mary is the Nazareth woman, mother and educator of Jesus. She becomes Jesus’ perfect disciple who listens, meditates and puts into practice God’s word. She also acts as community mother. God assumes her person and her mission to such extent that today she is glorified next to her Son and to the saints, through the Assumption. She is fully devoted to God but remains very human: here is the secret about Mary’s dogmas that helps us to be more authentic followers of Jesus, following her footsteps.

Articulating knowledge and life

1. Make a synthesis of the core of the dogmatic proclamation of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

2. How do you experience the victory of God’s grace in your life?

3. In which ways can the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary enlighten our spiritual journey?

Basic bibliography

DE FIORES, S., “Maria em la teologia contemporânea”, Salamanca, Sigueme, 1991, p. 467-493, 513-526. DE FIORES, S. et SERRA, A., “Imaculada” em: Dicionário de Mariologia, p. 598-620. MEO, S. et allis, “Assunção” em: Dicionário de Mariologia, Paulus, p. 170-192.

(Texto original em português, da primeira versão. Tradução não revista. O conteúdo foi aperfeiçoado e ampliado na nova edição: Maria, toda de Deus e tão humana. Compêndio de Mariologia. São Paulo: Paulinas e Santuário, 2012)

Afonso Murad, é doutor em Teologia Sistemática pela Pontifícia Universidade Gregoriana de Roma. Professor de Teologia no ISTA (Instituto Santo Tomás de Aquino) e na Faculdade Jesuíta (FAJE), em Belo Horizonte, Brasil. Membro da Equipe de Reflexão Teológica da CRB (Conferência dos Religiosos do Brasil), articula seu pensamento a partir de várias ciências e saberes. Autor de vários artigos e livros, entre os quais: A casa da Teologia (Paulinas); Introdução a Teologia, com JB. Libanio (Loyola), Quem é esta mulher? Maria na Bíblia (Paulinas); Visões e Aparições. Deus continua falando? (Vozes), O que Maria tem a dizer às mães de hoje? (Paulus), Gestão e Espiritualidade (Paulinas). Criou o blog acerca de Maria: www.maenossa.blogspot.com e o vídeos didáticos na série “O trem da mariologia”, disponibilizados no Youtube. Email: murad4@hotmail.com