August 14, 2020

My Journey to God

The Mysterious Divine Dogma of Mary’s Assumption

A painting of the burial and Assumption of Mary at the Church of the Dormition in Old City Jerusalem) (File photo by Natalie Hoefer)

A painting of the burial and Assumption of Mary at the Church of the Dormition in Old City Jerusalem) (File photo by Natalie Hoefer)

All is mystery, Mother Mary.
How did it happen, your Assumption?

Were you laid in a tomb?
Or were you spared death altogether,
fleeing instead to a place in the desert
that God had prepared for you?

Did your beloved Son resurrect you,
His Mother, history’s only perfect human,
before He swept you body and soul to heaven?
Or did He come immediately,
face afire with love and holy joy,
when your journey on Earth was complete,
not wanting to wait a single moment
to save as Savior the woman whose Yes
made salvation possible?

The scene is veiled in mystery, Mother Mary,
but we praise God as we profess and honor
this divinely-revealed dogma of 70 years ago:

“That the Immaculate Mother of God,
the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course
of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul
into heavenly glory.”*

*Munificentissimus Deus, #44

By Natalie Hoefer
 

(Natalie Hoefer is a member of St. Monica Parish in Indianapolis and a reporter for The Criterion.) †

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