Don't Mess with Mom

Today is the Feast of The Assumption of Mary. Christians have been given a wonderful gift in Mary, but unfortunately many do not even realize it. Christ at the foot of the cross gave her to us through John, "Behold your Mother" and She is now the spiritual mother of all Christians. In honor of this feast day I thought I would dispense with some common myths surrounding it.

Myth 1 -- Mary never Died.
Most evidence on this points to a conclusion that Mary did in fact die, and was eveny possibly buried for a short while, however there are multiple accounts and the truth surrounding this is unknown. The magisterium of the church as not spoken one way or the other on this point. The Dogma only states that she was risen, body and soul into heaven.

Myth 2 -- Mary's assumption is not biblical
First of all it must be understood that the assumption of Mary is not anti-biblical. That is, it in no way contradicts anything in the bible. Secondly references to the Assumption can be found in scripture at least implicitly through other references of Assumption (Enoch, Elijah, and several mentioned in Matt 27:52-53) and through Revelations 11:19-12:5

"Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; . . . (v5)she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron"

Myth 3 -- The Assumption was invented in 1950 and has no basis in church history
Pope Pius XII did dogmatically define it in 1950, however The Assumption of Mary has been believed by Christians from the very beginning. By the end of the fourth century the eastern churches had a feast to commemorate the Assumption. In fact it appears that no one was willing to argue that the body of the mother of our lord was buried and corrupted until the eighth century. And while relics of the time were sought after and plenty of saint relics and those from the apostles themselves exist, there is no record of a Marian relic, which if they existed, would have been even more precious then the former.

Now Mary reigns forever with her beloved son as queen of heaven and earth and acts as our greatest benefactor to Christ the king who would not refuse a request from his Mother!

From Pius XII's Munificentissimus Deus:

(40) Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.

read more about The Assumption from New Advent or here from Catholic Answers