The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Any feast of the Blessed Mother Mary fills my heart with joy; so is the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Holy tenderness of the mother of God spurs in my heart a prayerful contemplation of the function of grace in the life of any person who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. I mean Jesus, the Christ, not some platonic ideal in the memory of the astral catalog, but the Son of God who was born in flesh and blood and carried in the womb of the Blessed Mother Mary as Scripture says, “born of a woman (Mary)” (Gal 4:4).

The doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was formally declared as a dogma of faith on 1 November 1950 by Pope Pius XII in his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus. To me, it is one of the best theological understandings of the ultimate blessing of freedom from sin.

Grace and Assumption

As I pray and reflect on this feast, my mind goes to God’s Word, as documented in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 26-31. Verse 28, in particular, draws my attention. It reads that the angel greeted Mary, saying, “Hail, full of grace.”

This translation of the Greek κεχαριτωμένη follows Saint Jerome’s Latin translation of the phrase as gratia plena (full of grace). Many Church fathers agreed with this translation even before Jerome translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate) in the late 4th century.

Granted, some biblical scholars prefer to translate it as ‘favored one’ and numerous other variations. However, the consensus of the Fathers of the Church is sufficient for me regarding the “full of grace” rendering.

The word charis (χάρις), which is the bone of contention, could be translated as grace or favor. At least, many Scripture scholars, irrespective of their side of the argument, agree on this translation.

Favored One

One who the Lord favors in superlative measure—blessed to be the mother of the Lord—is full of grace. She deserves high honor for being the human bearer of grace (Christ) and a perfect testimony of what grace offers—humans saved in Christ. Sure, there are a couple of other figures whom the Bible describes as favored ones. Still, their favors are in no way comparable to the greeting of Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Mary. None received the grace to be God’s tabernacle on earth in the incarnation. Indeed, they are no match to the significance of the angel’s Annunciation to our Christian faith.

We Christians (Catholics, Evangelicals, Protestants, etc.) know the best favor any human being could receive is God. It is salvation, and salvation is by the grace of God. God grants it in Christ. Therefore, one who God blesses as full of grace has access to salvation too. Or rather, the person enjoys the blessing of salvation. Don’t forget that Mary had the unique privilege of carrying Jesus, truly God and truly human, in her womb. She was the bearer of Grace.

Further Evidence of Full of Grace

What other evidence do we need to justify that Mary is full of grace? It was not simply by her biological pregnancy but also by her free consent (an act of the will) when she said the unalloyed “yes” to God. On the one hand, she stands as a saintly model against those, like the heresy of Pelagianism, who advocate the sufficiency of free will to reaching perfection and salvation. On the other hand, Mary contrasts those who deny our free will and the necessary value of its consent to God’s invitation—in other words, those who promote faith alone without free will.

Many Fathers of the Church regard Mother Mary as the archetype of true faith for a good reason. As an example, in his work, On Grace and Free Will, Saint Augustine used Mother Mary as a perfect example of free will in response to God’s grace. Thus, the Assumption phenomenon is a testimony of the triumph of grace in the heart that says yes to divine invitation.

Mother Mary’s yes led to her unique role as “the motherhood of all believers,” the archetype of true faith. Mary’s yes, also inspired by grace, is her credit as a human instrument in response to God. God’s invitation is a divine choice, which is grace. She is a perfect model of Christian response to grace.

In the Dogma of the Assumption, I see a logical conclusion of the result of fullness of grace. If sanctifying grace (the grace of justification) is all we need for our salvation, what happens if someone lives a life that has the best possible divine approval attested to through the lips of the Angel Gabriel, “. . . full of grace”?

The Assumption, Immaculate Conception and Resurrection

No one is full of grace who has sin or has sinned. We see how the Assumption dogma connects closely with the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Pope Pius IX formally defined the latter in his Apostolic Constitution “Ineffabilis Deus” (8 December 1854).

To be sure, The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not comparable to the Lord’s Resurrection. In the Resurrection, the Lord, by his own power, went back to the Father. In the Assumption, we see the singular example of a creature who, by God’s grace, was assumed on the wings of Divine Grace to the bosom of the Blessed Trinity where she belongs.

This is how Pope Pius XII defines the doctrine: “Mary, Immaculate Mother of God ever Virgin, after finishing the course of her life on earth, was taken up in body and soul to heavenly glory.” She was taken up by the Lord to whom She, his mother, is his handmaid.

I pray that someday, we will meet Mother Mary and see her Son Jesus in the Trinity of Love. Amen.

Mary, assumed into heaven, pray for us.

[Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Rev 11:19A; 12;1-6A, 10AB; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56]