On the Vigil of the Assumption

On the 15th of August 2004, Francine and I walked into Saint Patrick’s Church in Tacoma. This was the Solemnity of the Assumption, and ever since we have counted this as our “Catholic anniversary”.

On that day, I discovered in a moment that every doubt I ever had about the truth of Christianity had collapsed.

God in His wisdom had led me on a twenty year quest for Truth through various religions, philosophies, and spiritualities.

In each one, though I did not know it at the time, some piece of Christian doctrine that I had held as ridiculous or superstitious was answered to my satisfaction.

Because each was answered in another faith, or by another culture, I didn’t connect the dots at the time. At the moment that the Blessed Virgin called us into that parish church on the feast of her Assumption, suddenly the scales fell from my eyes and I saw those disconnected dots as a great constellation.

Ave, maris stella, Dei mater alma,
atque semper virgo, felix cœli porta.

Hail, star of the sea, Nurturing Mother of God,
And ever Virgin, Happy gate of Heaven.

Today is the Vigil of this great feast, one of the few Solemnities with a proper Vigil Mass. In the West the feast is called the Assumption, and in the East the Dormition.

There’s plenty of information available on the meaning of the feast, but in a nutshell the doctrine of the assumption is this:

[T]he Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

(Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus)

Precedent for this may be found in the Old Testament in the cases of Enoch (Genesis 5:22-29) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11). This is a foretaste of the bodily resurrection to which all the faithful are called. Once again, the Blessed Virgin is our model in the life of the faithful.

Although this doctrine was only infallibly proclaimed in 1950, it has been part of the deposit of faith since the time of the Church Fathers, in both East and West.

In fact, in my Monastic Diurnal, there are two versions of the Office for the Assumption, one written before the doctrine was infallibly proclaimed, and one written after.

Tomorrow, our parishes of Holy Rosary and Saint Joseph will celebrate Mass at Holy Rosary, the last time these two parishes will celebrate a Solemnity together. So it is now for me a day of endings as well as of beginnings.

I leave you with some music for the Mass of the Assumption: Palestrina’s amazing Missa Assumpta est Maria. Enjoy!