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 there. 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.

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.

Mary, gloriously assumed, reminds us 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 was first achieved in Mary. 

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

Personal Despair 

In addition to the social despair of our culture, there’s also the temptation to personal despair that we face as individuals. Aquinas says that despair comes from two main causes: focusing too much on ourselves and suffering from lust. Both of these will make us depressed, and feeling downcast will tempt us to just throw in the towel.

Now, has there ever been a time, do you think, when people have been more tempted to focus on themselves, and more addicted to lust, than in the internet age? Social media is just one big effort to manage our online personas. And the extent of pornography addiction is too pervasive to fathom.

We have to stop thinking about ourselves, and we have to get a grip on lust. And there too, the Immaculate Virgin, the humble handmaid of the Lord, is the perfect model for counteracting these causes of despair. She reminds us to look to Christ, not to ourselves. She reminds us that those whose lives are hidden, unnoticed, those who do no self-promotion, these are the ones who normally do the most important spiritual work for the Kingdom of God. And she reminds us that the body, ours and other people’s, was not made for shameful immorality, but for glory.

Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Five

Mary – Hope in human destiny

Mary is the proof that the Christian program works. That goodness works. That humility and love and above all, fidelity to Jesus works. She reigns in glory, in splendor, with the angels. She reminds us that it’s a good thing to be human. And that the same potential for glory lies in each one of us.

Mary’s Assumption shows us what we can be, what we will be. Mary’s assumption shows us not to lose heart. Because death and corruption and sin and ugliness will not have the last say. sot in our lives, and not in the story of the human race. If we let God write our story, as He wrote Mary’s, then our story will have a happy ending.

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you. 

• Mary reminds us to look to Christ, not to ourselves. Social media tells us the opposite. Consider taking a break from social media, from both posting and viewing content, knowing that your online identity is less important than your relationship with Christ.

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