THE ASSUMPTION: WHERE IS IT IN THE BIBLE THAT MARY
WAS ASSUMED BODY AND SOUL INTO HEAVEN?

Rev. Fr. Stan-William Ede

This topic has been featured twice before, the last being exactly two years ago. Due to the repeated number of questions regarding it, we have decided to re-feature it this month, being the month of the Solemnity of the Assumption which the Church celebrates on the 15th of August every year.
Mary the Mother of Jesus who brought forth into the world the Life that renews all things was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role. It is no wonder then that the Virgin Mary is hailed by the heralding angel, by divine command, as “full of grace” (cf. Lk. 1:28), thus revealing further that, from the very first instant of conception, Mary was enriched with the splendour of an entirely unique holiness.
Among the many questions that have been asked concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary, that of the Assumption of Mary has been paramount, along with where and how this doctrine is reflected in the Bible. Indeed, we know that according to the faith and teaching of the Church, “Mary was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory … and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all” (Lumen Genium, 59), that she might be more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords (cf. Rev. 19:16).
Without further mincing words, let us examine our biblical point of reference to the Assumption Rev. 11:19; 12:1-5:
“Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple …. And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head, a crown of twelve stars: she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. … She brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a golden sceptre.”
As we proceed now to expatiate on this text, it is pertinent to note that apart from the message of this text, our faith depends on the Church, which the Holy Spirit leads into the entire truth (Jn. 16:13); and the Church has gradually penetrated more deeply into the mystery of Mary, the woman full of Grace, the all holy and worthy Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory; by whose merit she is crowned Queen of heaven and earth.
Everyone who reads the Bible is aware that the Book of Revelations is a difficult book because it is full of mysteries. It is written for Christians who are very familiar with the texts of the Old Testament and with the teachings of the Apostles, especially as recorded in the Gospel of John. It is only in the light of the Bible as a whole that we can see what the Book of Revelation is telling us about Mary.
It is of Mary's glory the Bible speaks when the Book of Revelation speaks to us of the “woman” who appeared as “a great portent (sign) in heaven”, a woman clothed in radiant glory, mistress and captor of the moon, and with a victorious crown of twelve stars, that already foretell, as it were, the glory of the Church. Is this not the woman who brought the messianic king into the world?
As far as allusions to the other parts of the Bible are concerned, we are drawn quite naturally to the 7th Chapter of Isaiah where God speaks through the prophet to King Ahaz of Jerusalem when the city was under siege: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be as deep as sheol or as high as Heaven”. But Ahaz said, “I will not ask”. Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! ... The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold a young woman shall conceive and bear a son … he shall rule over all the nations” (Is. 7:11-14). In allusion to the birth of the Messiah, the book of Revelations likewise gives us a sign in heaven, a pregnant woman who is going to bear a son that will rule over all the nations (cf. Rev. 12:1-6). Thus in heaven, the conception and birth of the Messiah is accomplished as a sign to indicate the fullest presence, body and soul, of the Virgin Mary in the abode of her God and Son.
The woman is “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet”. These expressions recall chapter 60 of Isaiah, in which we read: “Arise and shine, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord has risen upon you” (Is. 60:1). The woman also had on her head a crown of twelve stars (cf. Gen. 37:9). In Revelations, a “crown” is always a sign of victory. The “twelve stars” symbolize “the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel” (Rev. 21:12), that is, the entire people of God, which is also the Church “of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:14). The woman then is an image of Sion, the Jerusalem of the prophets, a realization has given birth to the new people of God that we are.
Worthy of note is the fact that Rev. 12:1-6 bears a lot of relationship with Jn. 19:25-27, and this too, bears amplitude of significance for our Christian faith as the people of God whom Christ has sanctified.
In John 19:25-27, three traits characterized the Mother of Jesus: (i) The insistence with which the Mother of Jesus is called “woman”. The coincidence in this regard between the two scenes of Cana (Jn. 2:1-11) and of Calvary (Jn. 19:25-27), expresses an intention which is of great spiritual and doctrinal import. In particular, it is the fact that Mary is the “Woman par excellence” who is able to intercede on our behalf and succeed, that she is given as Mother to all Christians represented at the foot of the Cross by John the beloved disciple; (ii) Thus, with Jesus, Mary has all Christians, men and women, as sons and daughters, for the Saviour himself gave his beloved Mother, a woman highly exalted and most blessed amongst women (cf. Lk. 1: 28, 42) to us as our Mother also; (iii) This universal and spiritual maternity is united to Golgotha in which Mary plays a very noble role in the mystery of salvation. Thus having been highly exalted and clothed with the sun, she reigns in the glory of her Son, and crowned as Queen of heaven and earth (cf. Rev. 12:1).
There are so many other references regarding the exaltation of Mary by God which makes her most deserving of being with her Son, body and soul, in his kingdom, where she has to continue her intercession for the world and all human beings.
God's choice of Mary for her exalted role in the history of salvation was neither accidental nor coincidental. Selection by an infinitely wise God is not a haphazard proceeding. God greatly prepared her for this mission, making her to be conceived without sin and bestowing holiness and fitness upon her above all others for the immense dignity.
Yes, Mary was conceived immaculately, i.e., without sin, a privilege that no other human person has had. In other words, even though Mary was a human being, she was not just an ordinary woman. Among human beings, there are degrees of dignity, and she occupied the highest degree. God made a woman who will separate Grace and sin, for He said there would be “great enmity” between the woman and the serpent (Gen. 3: 15). So from the first moment of her conception, the woman (conceived without sin) was preserved by the grace of God from falling into Satan's grasp.
At the incarnation, God Almighty took flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. God who is most holy could not have afforded to dwell in a sinful body for as long as nine months (period of conception). “It is fitting that we should have an ideal high priest; holy, innocent, uncontaminated, and separated from sinners” (Heb. 7:26), hence the woman Mary was preserved from sin. This is made evident at the annunciation where she was introduced into the mystery of Christ by the message of the angel Gabriel; “Hail, Most Highly Favoured One (Full of Grace), The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28).
To be full of grace means to be spotless, and that explains why God is with her in fullness and majesty. In these few words, heaven itself announced how great the realm of grace was that came to Mary. She herself is “full of grace”. The kingdom of God came to Marty in the fullest possible means; hence, God is with her. He dwelt in her womb and thus made her the first tabernacle of God's presence here on earth, a living sanctuary of holiness and love.
Because she had no sin, her body was not subjected to the corruptibility of our perishable bodies which is the effect of our sins. God who chose her for her specific role in Christ's salvific mission, who dwells in her, and who raised Jesus from the dead, gave life to Mary's body too (cf. Rom 8:11) along with her soul, and for this reason, she was assumed body and soul into heaven to be crowned Queen of heaven and earth.
Thus, on 1st November 1950, the Church defined the Dogma of the Assumption. Pope Pius XII under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn. 16:13-14) and with the authority bequeathed to him by the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Matt. 16:18,19; 18:18; Jn. 21: 15-17), pronounced the definition, a part of which reads: “Finally, at the end of her earthly life, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved from every stain of original sin, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, that she might be more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords (cf. Rev. 19:16) and Conqueror of sin and death”.
We know that Christ is the King of kings and Lord of Lords, we must then know also that his Mother is in Heaven, and that the mother of the king rejoices in Royal Majesty. That is why Jesus Christ revealed it to his beloved disciple, John in the Book of Revelation which has been our basis in espousing this Divine truth: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev. 12:1).
Having known this, we should know also that the relationship between the believer and Mary is more than that of a pilgrim and a guide. The relationship is maternal. She is our Queen and our Mother, and as it were, the locus, sign and “living icon” of the Holy Spirit. Since the spirit is her life (Cf. Gal. 5:25), she disposes us in a concrete way to live according to the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of the love between God the Father and God the Son, and at the same time the Spirit causes Christ to be born and to grow in us. Taken up to Heaven, Mary did not lay aside this saving office, but by her manifold intercession, continues to bring us the gifts of life and eternal salvation.