When Catholics go to Jerusalem on pilgrimage and visit the Church of the Tomb of Mary, they are confused. Why is there a tomb of Mary when Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven? There should be no tomb! Actually, there is a very good reason why there is a tomb for Mary, who was indeed assumed into heaven.
The feast of the Dormition of Mary is the oldest feast of Mary. In the Eastern Churches (the Middle East, Eastern Europe, North Africa) from the earliest centuries, Christians honored Mary assumed into heaven, body and soul, by celebrating the Dormition (the falling asleep or dying) of Mary.
We western Catholics imagine that Mary, fully alive, was one day carried to heaven without ever dying. Eastern Christians, Catholics included, have a tradition that Mary died and was resurrected after the pattern of Jesus and then was taken body and soul into heaven.
When Pope Pius XII in 1950 defined as infallible dogma that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven, he was declaring as dogma what Christians had already believed for many centuries. But he did not define as dogma whether she died first like her Son, Jesus, or whether she never died but went to heaven alive--from life to eternal life.
Whether Mary died first and then went to heaven or if she never died is not important. In either case, we Catholics hold firmly to the ancient faith that the body of the sinless Virgin Mary did not decay in a tomb but was taken body and soul into heaven where she is forever with Jesus, her Son.
The two dogmas about Mary which were defined infallibly by Popes are: the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary. Both dogmas are important articles of faith about Mary, but are relevant to our own situation.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception says that Mary was born without original sin and that she never sinned during her life. She was preserved from sin by a grace given by God. It is not that Mary tried really, really hard and did not sin; she was given a grace and she cooperated with that grace.
But we receive the same grace. Mary was given the grace of sinlessness before she sinned; we are given the grace of sinlessness after we sin through forgiveness. In Mary’s case and ours, we stand before God sinless because of God’s grace and mercy, not because of our own merits. In both cases, we must cooperate with grace, so there is something necessary that we supply, but it is God’s grace.
And the body of the sinless Mary was received into heaven. We too will rise on the last day, body and soul, and with Mary and Jesus, spend eternity in heaven.
We often imagine an eternal destiny as disembodied souls, yet our faith teaches us that we will rise from the graves, body and soul, and be in heaven in our bodies. Exactly what this will look like is impossible to know, but it is our faith that our destiny will be the same as Mary’s.
This week we Catholics celebrate the Assumption of Mary (in the eastern churches, the “Dormition”). We are required to attend Mass. We rejoice in Mary’s salvation and we celebrate and anticipate our own salvation which is assured to us through our Baptism and God’s grace.
