Where was Mary assumed to?

The Assumption is not a metaphor

We must be very clear on this point: The Assumption is not a metaphor. The Blessed Virgin Mary was really taken up, her physical body was transformed. Pope Pius XII in Munificentissimus Deus (1950) declared that Mary, “after the completion of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of heaven.” Both BODY and SOUL! This means that her physical body was transformed and glorified (in a manner identical to Christ’s after his Resurrection), her soul was perfected with the Beatific Vision, and she was taken up.

Is heaven a place?

In the General Audience of 21 July 1999, Pope John Paul II stated that heaven “is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds, but a living, personal relationship with the Holy Trinity.” In this statement, as (almost) always, the great Holy Father was in perfect accord with St. Thomas Aquinas – “Incorporeal things are not in place after a manner known and familiar to us, in which way we say that bodies are properly in place; but they are in place after a manner befitting spiritual substances, a manner that cannot be fully manifest to us” (ST Supplement, q.69, a.1, ad 1).

The treasures of the Church

St. Laurence and the Church’s wealth

“On August 6, the faithful assembled in the cemetery of Pretextatus were dispersed, the pontiff (St. Sixtus II) executed, and the chief deacon (St. Laurence) arrested and ordered to deliver up the treasures which the Government know to be in his keeping. ‘Acknowledge my just and peaceable claims,’ said the prefect. ‘Bring forth these immense treasures, the shameful spoils you have won by deceiving the credulous; the public good demands them; render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, that he may have wherewith to full his treasury and pay his armies.’

“Laurence, untroubled by these words, and as if quite willing to obey, gently answered: ‘I confess you speak the truth; our Church is indeed wealthy; no one in the world, not even Augustus himself, possesses such riches. I will disclose them all to you, and I will show you the treasures of Christ. All I ask for is a short delay, which will enable me the better to perform what I promised. For I must make and inventory of all, count them up, and value each article.’

Like a thief in the night

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 12:32-48

“Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

(Based on the commentary on Matthew xxiv by Cornelius a’ Lapide)

Some in the early Church considered the thief to be Satan. Thus St. Hilary says that the parable of the thief “shows that the devil is very watchful to take from us our goods, and to plot against the houses of our souls, that he may dig through them whilst we are careless, and given up to the sleep of our own devices; and he would pierce through them with the darts of enticements. It behooves us, therefore, to be prepared, because ignorance of the day sharpens the intense solicitude of expectation ever suspended.” However, this does not seem to coincide with what follows, since our Savior compares his coming to that of the thief. Therefore, it is better to say that the thief is a metaphor for Christ in his coming.

Was the Transfiguration a miracle?

St. Thomas claimed that the Transfiguration was a miracle; but the renowned biblical scholar Cornelius a’ Lapide (d. 1637) holds that it was not a miracle, but rather the cessation of a constant miracle – i.e. the miracle was that Christ did not always shine with the brilliance of his glory. First the two claims:

According to the Angelic Doctor

In the Transfiguration, the glory of the beatific vision (which Christ possessed in his soul since his conception) overflowed into Our Savior’s body not as an immanent quality but after the manner of a transient passion – in other words, the change was only temporary. Moreover, the glory shone in Christ’s body only according to the quality of “clarity” or “brightness” and not according to the other qualities (e.g. subtlety, agility, etc.).

This overflowing of glory was a foretaste of the Resurrection and was miraculous, since the glory of the Resurrection was to be merited by the Cross and it was only by a special divine dispensation that this glory should be experienced in part at the Transfiguration. Thus, the Transfiguration is properly a miracle as a clarity was given to the body of Christ in a most extraordinary manner before his glorification (ST III, q. 45, a. 2).

Mother of God, but not Mother of Divinity

Today, the Feast of the Dedication of St. Mary Major (Our Lady of the Snows), we honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in a particular way under the title “The Mother of God” or “Theotokos”. This term, which has spread throughout the world and is particularly central to the “Hail Mary” prayer, was once a point of great debate in the Church. While all accepted that Mary was the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of Christ, some felt that the Church went too far in calling her the Mother of God. If we compare this title to another which might at first seem identical – “The Mother of Divinity” – we will quickly understand the theological significance of Mary’s motherhood and the proper meaning of her most cherished title, “Mother of God”.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

August 5^th, The Feast of the Dedication of Our Lady of the Snows (St. Mary Major)

Hast thou entered, said the Lord to Job, into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail; which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war? (Job 38: 22-23)

The story of the founding of the Basilica of St. Mary Major (from the Breviary of Pius V):

“Under the pontificate of Liberius, John, a Roman patrician, and his wife, who was of an equally noble race, having no children to whom they might leave their estates, vowed their whole fortune to the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, begging her most earnestly and continually to make known to them by some means in what pious work she wished them to employ the money. The Blessed Virgin Mary graciously heard their heartfelt prayers and vows, and answered them by a miracle.

“On the Nones of August, usually the hottest time of the year in Rome, a part of the Esquiline Hill was covered with snow during the night. That same night the Mother of God appeared in a dream to John and his wife separately, and told them to build a church on the spot they should find covered with snow, and to dedicate it to the Virgin Mary; for it was in this manner that she wished to become their heiress. John related this to Pope Liberius, who said he had dreamt the same thing.

Virginitas in partu

August is the month traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  In fact, the old feast of the Immaculate Heart is August 22 (which is still celebrated as such, by way of indult, by the Missionaries of Charity as their patronal feast).  As we honor Our Lady's Immaculate Heart in this month of her Assumption, we do well to venerate her spotless virginity, which, as an ancient synod of the Roman Church put it, is to be affirmed ante partum, in partu, and post partum. 

We all know well what it meant for Our Blessed Mother to be ever-virgin before and after Jesus's birth, but few Catholics know that we believe by Catholic faith that Mary was a virgin even in giving birth to Jesus.  Ludwig Ott's explanation of this doctrine of the faith is helpful, as far as it goes.  Ott gives perhaps too much quarter to the 20th-century objections of Von Mitterer, Galot, et al.  However, his treatment is historically sound and reveals the truth of the Marian virginitas in partu. 

For sheer beauty, however, nothing can match the lucid presentation of the Common Doctor.