Episode Transcript  

One

The Two Empty Tombs

What is a tomb? What’s a tomb for? Obviously, it’s a place where you put, where you bury, a dead body. That’s the purpose of a tomb. But there are two people, only two, in all of human history, who have not left anything behind to be buried, not a corpse, or bones, or even ashes. We don’t come to the tombs of Jesus and Mary because their remains are there. We come to their tombs because their remains are not here.

All through the history of Christianity, different people will dispute about who has the body of this saint or that saint, or who has which part of what saint. But no Church has ever claimed to have the body of Jesus. And no Church has ever claimed to have the body of Mary. Because He ascended, and She was assumed. He went up, bodily, into Heaven, and She was taken up, bodily, into Heaven.

It was right that the two who were without sin should not be corrupted by death. It was right that the New Adam and the New Eve should reside together, body and soul, in the Paradise they won back for the human race.

Two

The Dogma of the Assumption

In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary, body and soul into Heaven, as a Dogma of the Catholic Church. This is a very rare thing for a pope to do. In fact, a Pope has only made a pronouncement of this kind twice in history. And normally, when a Dogma is declared, whether by a Pope or a Council, it’s because there has arisen some kind of confusion or controversy that needs to be settled. But that’s not the case here. For two thousand years, the fact that Mary was taken body and soul into Heaven was simply accepted, both by Christians in the East and in the West.

So why did the Pope decide to declare this Dogma? Why did he call attention to something that people weren’t really doubting? He did it because humanity is in desperate danger of despair. And Mary, gloriously assumed into Heaven, is what we need to restore our hope.

Three

Societal Despair

The first half of the twentieth century was enough to tempt anyone to despair. After the advances in science, in production, in medicine and technology, some people were beginning to think that the human race could, on its own, bring about a kind of paradise on earth. Then two world wars happened. All the most sophisticated nations on earth cut each other to shreds. The result was what is called post-modernism: a kind of despair about the human condition. Art and music began to become bizarre. Fiction became senseless. Philosophers began to say we couldn’t know anything. The entire culture expressed its despair by focusing on what was ugly, what was senseless, what was pointless.

The world needed a reminder that human life isn’t ugly. It isn’t pointless. It isn’t senseless. Human existence can be heroic. It can be victorious. It can and should be beautiful. And above all, it has a point, a purpose. And that purpose is the purpose that has first been achieved in Mary. Mary, gloriously Assumed into Heaven.

We are to be like Mary: united with Christ, victorious with Christ, and risen into glory and eternal joy with Christ. That is our hope.

Four

Why we still fail in hope

At the end of the prayer Hail Holy Queen we say that Mary is our life, our sweetness, and our hope. Why is she our hope? Because what God did in Mary we hope He also will do in us. He wants to make us Saints and bring us into heaven. But we think becoming a saint will cost us too much. It will take too much sacrifice, too much effort. It will take heroism and well, I'm not interested or ready for heroism.

So, we say, “Actually God, can we just put off this holiness thing for later?” Then we escape God's invitation to holiness in two ways. By busyness and entertainment. We escape by making our schedule so overcommitted that we don't have time to do the things to become a saint. Then we are so exhausted we just need to veg out and we distract ourselves through endless entertainment, podcasts, shows, sports, news shorts, reels,… so that again we never do the things that will enable God to make us a saint. This is the vice of sloth leads to the sin of despair, the choice not to do the things that allow God to transform us because we are too busy and too distracted. Too afraid of heroism. With too little love for God and too little trust in his power.

Five

Mary Is God's Answer to Despair

Mary's Assumption is God's remedy to sloth and despair, her Assumption is His answer to every person who has ever thought, "I could never become a saint." Look at Mary, her whole life was one great act of trust. When the angel announced God's plan, she didn’t say, "I can't do that." She said, "Let it be done to me according to your word." She believed that if God called her, then God would also give her everything she needed to fulfill that call.

The same is true for us. God is not asking us to become saints by our own effort. He is asking us to let Christ live His life in us. The more we surrender to Him, the more His holiness becomes our holiness. The best way to cooperate with His grace is to put Him back at the center of our lives by daily meditation and a resolution, by daily Mass and monthly confession, a simple rule of life that keeps first things first, and taking the initiative to build genuine friendships.

Mary's Assumption is the proof that God's plan succeeds. Her glorified body is the final answer to every temptation to despair. God's grace is stronger than our weakness. God's promises are true. If we entrust ourselves to Him as Mary did, He will bring His work in us to completion. Mary's Assumption is not only her destiny. It is the destiny God desires for every one of His children.

Ask yourself today: Where am I escaping God's call through busyness or distraction? What one thing can I remove so that I can put God back at the center of my day? Like Mary, will I trust that God will accomplish in me what He asks of me?

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