I wanted to ask you how Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, in which I believe, is connected to apostolic tradition.

Dear Father Angelo,

I wanted to ask you how Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, in which I believe, is connected to apostolic tradition, since I have read that apostolic tradition closes revelation and nothing can be added to it, but only deepened.

Furthermore, how does the Church come to know traditions that are not written in Scripture? Through other writings, perhaps, subsequent to the texts considered inspired?

Thank you for your attention.

Francesco

The priest’s response

Dear Francesco,

1. According to Munificentissimus Deus (MD), the bull of Pius XII proclaiming the dogma of Mary’s Assumption into heaven in body and soul, this truth is based on Scripture, read according to the interpretation of ecclesial tradition.

The Pope says: “All the reasons and considerations of the saints and theologians (in this regard) have their ultimate foundation in Holy Scripture.”

They “in order to illustrate their faith in the Assumption, make use with a certain freedom of the facts and sayings of Holy Scripture: that is, they make use of scriptural texts, showing how this privilege agrees admirably with the truths taught to us by Holy Scripture.”

2. Mary’s assumption is postulated by her divine motherhood: God could not allow the corruption of that most holy and immaculate body which was the living ark of his Son (cf. Jn 1:14 and Gal 4:4).

One could say that the Holy Spirit suggested to the Church to read between the lines what the letter of Scripture does not expressly say.

3. The passages invoked by the Fathers, theologians, and sacred writers are the following:

– Gen 3:15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.” God announces that this woman will be closely united with her descendant (Christ) in the victorious struggle against the devil: “Just as the glorious resurrection of Christ was an essential part and final sign of this victory, so too for Mary the struggle she shared with her Son was to end in the glorification of her virginal body” (MD).

– Ex 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother” (cf. Lk 19:3). “Since our Redeemer is the son of Mary, he could not, as the most perfect observer of the divine law, fail to honor his mother as well as his eternal Father. Therefore, since he could give his mother so much honor by preserving her from the corruption of the grave, we must believe that he actually did so” (MD).

– Is 60:3 in the Vulgate:  “I will glorify the place where my feet stood.” The body of the Virgin is the sanctuary where the Lord set his foot.

– Ps 45:10, 14-16:  “At your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir… the king’s daughter is all glorious… she is presented to the king in precious embroidery… they enter together into the king’s palace.” The text of the psalm is applied to Mary Queen, who enters triumphantly into the heavenly palace and sits at the right hand of the divine Redeemer, immortal king throughout the ages.

– Psalm 132:8 in the Vulgate: “Arise, Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your sanctification.” Fathers, theologians, and sacred orators see in the ark of the covenant, made of incorruptible wood and placed in the temple of the Lord, almost an image of the most pure body of the Virgin Mary, preserved from all corruption in the tomb and elevated to such glory in heaven.

– Song 3:6 (cf. 4:8 and 6:9): the bride of the Song of Songs “who rises from the desert like a column of smoke with the aromas of myrrh and incense to be crowned” is a figure of that heavenly Bride who, together with her divine Spouse, is raised to the palace of heaven.

– Lk 1:28 in the Vulgate. Scholastic doctors consider the words “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women” with particular interest, since they see in the mystery of the Assumption a complement to the fullness of grace bestowed on the most blessed Virgin, and a singular blessing in opposition to the curse of Eve.

– Rev 12: Scholastic doctors saw the Assumption foreshadowed not only in various figures of the Old Testament, but also in the woman clothed with the sun, whom the apostle John contemplated on the island of Patmos.

4. Christian tradition (which also emerges from the writings of the Christian fathers and thinkers) initially says nothing.

On the other hand, in the early days of Christianity, attention was focused on the central and essential core of preaching: Christ, the only savior through his death and resurrection.

Tradition seems silent on the Assumption of Mary for quite a long time, so much so that the lack of explicit scriptural and patristic passages gave rise to legitimate doubts among some theologians as to whether it could be defined as a divinely revealed truth.

The difficulty was happily overcome, since the document, rather than relying on individual and specific biblical or patristic, liturgical, or iconographic texts, defines the Assumption as divinely revealed, basing it on the various indications contained in Tradition and, not least, on the universal faith of the faithful, who as a whole bear witness to a sure revelation of the Holy Spirit.

5. With the proclamation of the dogma, the Church has determined what has always been believed.

This belief has always been evident in the apocrypha, which attest that Mary’s body did not decay but was assumed into heaven.

Furthermore, the Church has never worshipped Mary’s bones or other body parts, as has been attested for many Christian saints and martyrs since early times.

This absence of relics attests in its own way to the belief that Mary’s body did not remain here, but was made part of Christ’s resurrection and ascension into heaven.

I remember you to the Lord and bless you.

Father Angelo

Questo articolo è disponibile anche in: