Catholic Spiritual Living Journal

Prayerful Reflections on the Assumption

St. Alphonsus de Liguori is one among the Saints who writes that Mary died for sheer longing and love of the Savior. Below is a quotation from his seventh discourse, "The Assumption of Mary":

"And now death came; not indeed clothed in mourning and grief, as it does to others, but adorned with light and gladness. But what do we say? Why speak of death? Let us rather say that divine love came, and cut the thread of that noble life. And as a light, before going out, gives a last and brighter flash than ever, so did this beautiful creature, on hearing her Son's invitation to follow him, wrapped in the flames of love, and in the midst of her loving sighs, give a last sigh of still more ardent love, and breathing forth her soul, expired. Thus was that great soul, that beautiful dove of the Lord, loosened from the bands of this life; thus did she enter into the glory of the blessed, where she is now seated, and will be seated, Queen of Paradise, for all eternity." Glories, p. 420

Let us now consider how our Savior went forth from heaven to meet his Mother. On first meeting her, and to console her, he said: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come, for winter is now past and gone. (Liguori uses the imagery from the Song of Songs 2:10) Come, my own dear Mother, my pure and beautiful dove; leave that valley of tears, in which, for my love, you have suffered so much. Come from Lebanon, my spouse, come from Lebanon, come: You shall be crowned.(Songs of Songs 4:8) Come in, soul and body, to enjoy the reward of your holy life. If your sufferings have been great on earth, far greater is the glory which I have prepared for you in heaven. Enter, then, that kingdom, and take your seat near me; come to receive that crown which I will bestow on you as Queen of the universe. Glories, p. 427

The humble and holy Virgin, then kneeling, adored the divine Majesty, and all absorbed in the consciousness of her own nothingness, thanked him for all the graces bestowed upon her by his pure goodness, and especially for having made her the Mother of the Eternal Word. And then let him who can, comprehend with what love the Most Holy Trinity blessed her. Let him comprehend the welcome given to his daughter by the Eternal Father, to his Mother by the Son, to his spouse by the Holy Spirit. The Father crowned her by imparting his power to her; the Son, his wisdom; the Holy Spirit, his love.
Liguori continues by asking us to rejoice with Mary because God exalted her in such a way. But the saint also invites us to rejoice on our own account, "for though our Mother is no longer present with us on earth ... yet in affection she us always with us." (Glories, p. 436)

Our Lady fell asleep at last after the years of living with St. John and waiting for Heaven, and all the Apostles were gathered about her bed. Except St. Thomas. He was off in India preaching the Gospel and couldn't get back on time, although an angel is supposed to have told him to hurry. The Apostles carried her body to the tomb and laid it there, and some time afterward they discovered that it was gone. They naturally concluded that it had been taken to Heaven (as indeed it had). Then St. Thomas came home; and when they went out to meet him and to explain, he would not believe. He would not believe, the legend says, until he had seen for himself. So they took him to see where they had laid Our Lady's body and in its place were flowers. Looking up, St. Thomas saw her going up to Heaven; and to convince him at last, an angel brought the girdle she had fastened about her robe and dropped it to Thomas.
It is a pretty story and parts of it are true, but frankly we doubt that St. Thomas had doubts again. You don't do that sort of thing twice, not after our very Lord said to you: "You are a doubting Thomas. Come here."
What is true is that Our Lady fell asleep. The word death is not used for Our Lady, because death is the consequence of original sin and a punishment for sin, and Our Lady was without the slightest taint of sin. She would not, need not, have died, but merely waited for her divine Son to will that it was her time for Heaven, and then yield up her soul. We would have accomplished it this way instead of through death if God's original plan had been permitted to unfold. But instead of God's original plan, we had Adam's original sin, and that is how death came in its stead.
Mary was assumed into Heaven, and now that it is declared dogma we must believe it. At the end of Masses and after Benediction when we say the Divine Praises, we now add in praise of Our Lady: "Blessed be her glorious Assumption," which is what we catholic and ortodox faithful celebrate .