THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

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Brothers and sisters we all have a habit to speak of heaven as being “up” and of hell as being  “down,” But deep down we know that neither place can be reached by traversing a physical distance.
Indeed, a number of years ago  Pope St John Paul II reiterated the traditional Christian view, saying, that “the ‘heaven’ or ‘happiness’ in which we will find ourselves is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds, but a living, personal relationship with the Holy Trinity” (General Audience, Wednesday 21 July 1999).
In other words, “heaven” is not so much a place as it is a state of being.

It is good to remind ourselves of this when we celebrate a feast such as the one we celebrate today, the solemnity of the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; a day we celebrate our belief that Mary, upon her death, was taken body and soul into heavenly glory, a day we celebrate her passing from death to life, from this our earthly life to the glory of heaven. 

We are not mere spectators of the marvels God has done in Mary’s life. Yes, Mary, the Mother of God, was the first disciple, the first to say “yes” to Jesus Christ. And all of us who say “yes” to Jesus stand with Mary: we have hope that Mary’s destiny in heavenly glory will also be our destiny; we have hope that the unimaginable joy of eternal life with God will be ours as well; we too look forward to the joy of heaven, as profess in our credo, "I believe... in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come". Amen.

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