Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this evening before the fifteenth day of August, all of us as the Church of God gather together to celebrate the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorating the moment when Mary, the Mother of God, of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, was taken up body and soul into Heaven at the end of her earthly life at the time that God had appointed it. This celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is also celebrated similarly as the Dormition of the Virgin Mother of God in the Eastern churches and traditions, both of which highlighted not just the importance of Mary in our Christian faith but also the role that she has played in the history of our salvation.

In the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the Four Marian Dogmas and the latest of the four to the officially declared as a Dogma, by the Venerable Pope Pius XII in the Year of Our Lord 1950, the Church teaches that Mary, the Mother of God as mentioned was taken up body and soul into Heaven, although the exact manner of which how this was done was left into interpretations, of which there are two major interpretations. And although it was recently declared as a Dogma, it did not mean that the Church and the faithful had not believed in the Assumption of Mary earlier on. Instead, since the earliest days of the Church, as attested by the Apostolic accounts and traditions themselves, and passed onto the faithful people of God, the early Christians, they have all upheld that Mary did not remain in this earthly realm in her body, and there was indeed no tomb of Mary that existed, just like that of her Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who had risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven.

Now, in order to understand better the Assumption of Mary, let us first delve into our Scripture readings today. In our first reading on this Vigil Mass, we heard from the Book of Chronicles of Israel and Judah in which the story of the moment when David, then King of Israel, was bringing the Ark of the Covenant of God into the city of Jerusalem. The Ark of the Covenant was usually housed in the Holy Tent of Meeting, within the Holy of Holies of that Tent ever since days of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. But King David had wanted to build a permanent House and Temple over the Ark of God, and hence he consulted the prophet of God, which was then the prophet Nathan, on the proposition that he had in wanting to build a great and worthy Temple for God.

We may wonder on why we heard about the Ark of the Covenant on this occasion of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that must be related to the purpose and intention of the Ark of the Covenant in the salvation of the people of God. The Ark of the Covenant contained the two stone tablets of the Law of God, containing the Ten Commandments that God Himself had written on those two tablets, and then in addition, there was also manna, the heavenly bread that God provided to the Israelites which was preserved in the Ark, together with the Staff of Aaron, the staff that Moses used in leading the Israelites through their journey in the desert, and the same staff by which Moses and Aaron had shown God’s power and might before the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, and all the other miracles and wonders before God’s people.

And this is related to Mary because there are many parallels between the original Ark of the Covenant and Mary being the one to bear within her the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who is the Mediator of the New Covenant between God and mankind. Just as the old and original Ark of the Covenant bears within it the evidence and aspects of the original Covenant between God and His people, the Israelites, therefore Mary is the New Ark, of the New Covenant, the New and Eternal Covenant which the Lord our God has lovingly established with each and every one of us, His beloved and chosen people. Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? Because Christ Himself is the fulfilment and perfection of the Law of God, also the Bread of Life, the One Who has given Himself for us all to partake, and He is the One bearing the power and authority of God as the Good Shepherd of all the faithful, with parallel to each of the items stored in the original Ark of the Covenant.

Then, from the second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, we heard of the Apostle speaking about the matter of sin and death, and how the sting of sin is death. Indeed, this is because sin that we have committed against God out of disobedience against Him has led us to be separated from Him, the Master and Lord of life. But the Lord did not let us to perish alone and to be destroyed. He loves each and every one of us, and through His great love and kindness, He has given us all His Son to save us all from our certain damnation and destruction. By the perfect offering of love that He has given to us all, through His most selfless love on the Cross, Christ our Lord has opened for us the gate of Heaven, and becoming the bridge leading us all back to our Heavenly Father.

And He made for us the New and Eternal Covenant, one that is enduring and everlasting, and will not be overcome by any forms of challenges and trials, and not even sin and darkness around us can separate us from the eternal and ever-patient love of God, which He has always constantly poured out upon us. If we put our faith and trust in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, then surely we shall share in His victory and triumph, which He has won for all of us by His sacrifice on the Cross. By rising from the dead, Christ our Lord and Saviour has been victorious and triumphant against death itself, and hence against the power and dominion of sin, showing that sin and ultimately death do not have the final say over all of us. While we may have to endure the sufferings of death, but in the end, we will be freed from it, in a new and eternal life that we shall share with God.

Lastly, from our Gospel passage today, we heard of the short passage from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist where the people praised the Lord and the one who had given birth to Him because of everything which He had done in their midst, highlighting His own Blessed Mother Mary. But the Lord told the people that truly blessed are those indeed who listen to the words of the Lord and obeyed them faithfully. In doing so, it does not mean that the Lord was being rude to His own Mother as some of us might be thinking about. In fact, since His own Mother had been a truly great example in listening to the Lord and obeying His commandments, Jesus was using her as an example for everyone, for all of us to follow and to be inspired by, in imitating and following whatever she had done in her own life and actions.

Today’s celebration of the Assumption of Mary has great link to what we believe about her in the other Dogmas, such as the Immaculate Conception and her Perpetual Virginity. Mary had been prepared specially for this role to be the one to bear within her the Son of God Himself incarnate in the flesh. Therefore, even far greater than the original Ark of the Covenant, which had been made from the most noble and precious materials by the hands of men, but incomparable to the New Ark, Mary, that was made and crafted by God Himself, to bear something far greater than what was in the original Ark, the New Covenant that is far greater than the original Covenant, covering not just the people of Israel, but also all the sons and daughters of mankind, to all the whole world.

That was why Mary was kept from the taint of original sin, being conceived without it, in the Immaculate Conception so that no taint of sin would have made her unworthy of bearing the Lord and Saviour of all, God Himself in the flesh. And she remained full of grace throughout her whole life, and hence, to the very end of her earthly existence, Mary remained free from the taint and corruption of sin, and hence according to Apostolic tradition, teachings and beliefs, Mary did not have to suffer from the effects of sin unlike the rest of us mankind, who still have to endure death as the consequence of our sins. That, together with the historic evidence and the testimony of the experiences that the Apostles and the early Christians themselves experienced, Mary was indeed taken up to Heaven in body and soul.

Now, as mentioned, one of the schools of thought highlighted this lack of consequence for sin and death, and therefore Mary did not go through death at all, and was taken up directly into Heaven to the side of her Son. Another school of thought, which is also celebrated as mentioned in the Eastern churches and traditions as the Dormition of the Theotokos, is that Mary did still die, but not because she had to suffer the consequences of sin, which is death, and she did not die as a punishment for her own sins, because she was free from it. Rather, she died, and went through the process peacefully akin to falling asleep, and hence ‘Dormition’, and all these happened because she wanted to share in the same death that her own Son suffered on the Cross, out of love for Him, so that she would be like just her Son in all things.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Mary showed us all the preview of what we ourselves will experience in the end of times, when we too shall share with her the fullness of the resurrection, as we are lifted up in body and soul, reunited fully with each other, truly living a new and eternal life with the Lord, to enjoy forever the inheritance that God has planned and meant for each and every one of us. That is why, we too should seek to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and worthily in the same way as our Blessed Mother herself had done, so that in all of our words, actions and deeds, in our every dealings and interactions with one another we will continue to be good examples and inspirations for one another as good disciples and followers of the Lord.

May God be with us always and may through the intercession of our loving Mother, Mary ever Virgin, assumed body and soul into Heaven, and now seated at the right hand of her Son’s Throne, we will continue to be guided and strengthened in our respective journeys in life. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, and may His blessed Mother continue to intercede and pray for us, now and always. Holy Mary, Mother of God, gloriously assumed into Heaven, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.