as we've been considering Mary crowned
and glory in the book of Revelation
chapter 12 this is a good time for us to
take a look at the dogma of the
Assumption of Mary the Catholic Church
teaches that Mary was assumed into
heaven at the end of her earthly life
she was taken a body and soul into
heaven we're standing outside the church
of the sepulchre of st. Mary here in
Jerusalem the place where is
traditionally believed that Mary's
Assumption took place now is there any
biblical foundation for the Assumption
of Mary we have to be clear that there's
no explicit account of Mary's assumption
in the Bible but there is some
scriptural support we could see that
there's some precedent for the idea of
God taking people into heaven
for example Hebrews chapter 11 verse 5
tells us that Enoch the Old Testament
hero was taken up into heaven we can
read about Elisha and 2nd Kings being
taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot
but Mary's assumption is different in
the sense that she was taken up at the
very end of her earthly life body and
soul sharing in her son's glorious
victory over death and in his
resurrection
now it's fitting that Mary had this
unique share in Christ's resurrection in
the sense that she is the first and
model disciple we have to remember that
the New Testament reveals that all
faithful followers of Christ are going
to share in his victory over death and
in his resurrection and Mary who's the
first person to hear God's Word and obey
it in the New Testament and she's the
one who remains faithful all throughout
her life serves as this model faithful
disciple it's fitting that she goes
ahead of us we saw earlier when we
looked at the Magnificat how the
Magnificat reveals that what God did in
Mary is a sign of foreshadowing
anticipating what God is going to do in
the rest of his people so we can look at
Mary in her glorious assumption and be
reminded of our destiny if we're
faithful to the end we will share in
Christ's glorious resurrection at the
resurrection of the body at the end of
time
Christian art often depicts this scene
with Mary going up to heaven and the
angels pushing her up through clouds and
angels with trumpets and music and
celebration Saints rejoicing to welcome
Mary into heaven
now that's one way we can look at the
Assumption but there's a beautiful
depiction in Saint Peter's Basilica in
Rome that shows Mary's moment just
before the Assumption one second right
before that glorious event it's Mary's
last breath and she's seen letting go
and it's as if she's falling and just at
that moment the angels come down ready
to take her up it's a beautiful thing to
think about Mary's last moment it's as
if she's letting go of all earthly
concerns the burdens of this world
letting go and entrusting herself
completely to God this moment from
Mary's life offers all of us much
encouragement in the midst of the
various trials and difficulties that we
face in our daily lives we can learn
from Mary to let go and entrust our
burdens to our Heavenly Father to throw
ourselves into our heavenly father's
arms trusting that he's going to carry
us through whatever we face in this life
and ultimately carry us up to heaven
where we can be with him and Mary and
Jesus and all the saints forever in
heaven
you