ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY - August 15th

on November 1st the great solemnity of All Saints in 1950 Pope Pius XII solemnly declared quote by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and by our own authority we pronounce declare and Define it to be divinely revealed Dogma that the immaculate Mother of God the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her Earthly life was assumed Body and Soul into Heavenly Glory and so there you have it on November 1st 1950 Pope Pius XII uh declared or defined the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother into heaven Body and Soul uh basically what he did is a very rare thing very rare thing indeed when the church formally defines something as Dogma um what does that mean what that means is that after um usually centuries of of careful study examination uh under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the successor of Saint Peter the pope makes a formal Proclamation now actually this can take place two ways one uh excavator which is the way this one took place meaning from the chair that's what it means from the chair from the chair of Peter where the pope exercising his office as universal Shepherd and successor of Saint Peter and you can always tell by The Language by the way in the apostolic Constitution which defines the assumption of the Blessed Mother as Dogma um the language note the language um by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ The Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and by our own authority the authority of the Pope uh now listen to this we pronounce the language is important we pronounce declare and Define it whenever you hear that you know there's something very extraordinary taking place it can take place this way when the pope does it from his teaching chair or it can take place when a solemn ecumenical council meets with all the Bishops of the universal church meeting together with the the head of the universal church the bishop of Rome or the pope they can also solemnly Define something so it could happen in one of two ways this way it happened through the extraordinary Office of the magisterium or teaching office the pope defined this from the chair now what does that really mean what it means is that it is divinely revealed okay it's it's it's Dogma there's no chance no possible chance that it could be wrong God has revealed to us it's part of divine revelation the deposit of faith that the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed into heaven Body and Soul now the theological ramifications of this do you remember the Ark of the Covenant in in the Old Testament the Jewish people the chosen people built an ark and they put the Covenant uh of the Lord uh in in there and they would carry that around remember what the ark was built out of Cedar Cedar you know I just had a fence built on some of my property uh they finished it last night it that fence is made of cedar do you know why they make things like that out of Cedar right it doesn't rot you know what the Ark of the Covenant was made out of cedar that's a Biblical type of the Blessed Mother who's truly the Ark of the Covenant you see uh who did the bless the now the the Ark of the Old Testament carried the the Covenant you know of the chosen people the Mosaic law and so forth the substance of that the Fulfillment of that is Jesus himself Jesus that's really the Covenant the father's Covenant with his people it's in Jesus and Mary is the ark of the true Covenant who was Jesus and because of that typology you see me it wouldn't be proper that the Ark of the Covenant would be subject to decomposition and rotting no uh and it's only logical listen if you could have preserved your mother from from the from sin and from the consequences of sin you would do it and so would I well Jesus not only could would do it he could he did do it he could do it and he did so Mary is is the true Ark of the Covenant that biblical that typology helps us to understand that so remember don't worry what other people think about this or anything else this is our faith we do have religious freedom in our country and we should have it everywhere because it's a it's a it's an innate right of humanity this is what we believe and if any Catholic says well I don't really believe that I once had a professor in a seminary who did not believe in the Assumption and he was actually what you would call an orthodox a priest and professor in most every other respect but he for some reason see what happens often and now education is a great thing but what can happen with it is education can end up um confusing people you know they they begin to take themselves too seriously they actually think they know something and they are and they don't you know we we know what we're able to know and we should pursue education but he didn't believe in the Assumption oh you don't have to believe that yet you're doing if you don't you're a heretic now what we're so used to nice warm fuzzy presentations that I I do things a little bit differently simply because almost nobody's doing it uh so let me say that as clearly as I can if you are Catholic and want to stay that way this is something we believe it's not optional it's mandatory our lady was assumed into heaven Body and Soul not just spiritually you know when when Jesus rose from the dead that was a physical Resurrection not just a spiritual Resurrection he rose from the dead bodily by his own power as God now the and and then uh after he rose the resurrection then he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father and that indicates kingship okay that indicates his kingship he's the ruler of all the universe the Blessed Mother um similarly analogically speaking uh she did not rise by her own power Jesus who is God did but God Jesus by his power is God raised up his mother now whether you believe as we do in the west that it would that she experienced death and then was assumed Body and Soul into heaven or as they believe in the East that she fell asleep the dormition as it's called the dormition of Mary either one of those positions uh is okay according to the church that doesn't interfere with the doctrine of the Assumption uh whether you believe Mary uh didn't experience this because she didn't need to and that's what what they would hold she didn't need to experience death she had no sin and that's true but it's logical that she would experience death because her son experienced death he didn't need to experience death he did it for our sake dying he destroyed our death Rising He restored our life and so Mary to be like her son in every way it's logical and Theological that she experienced death however it is not incorrect to believe as as many of our United Eastern brothers and sisters believe that Mary fell asleep The Door Mission and then was assumed into heaven either one of those positions um would be correct all right there is a concordance I should say an Integrity among all the elements of the faith this is very important when we talk about the word of God or the doctrine of Faith uh the body of dogma and beliefs that we have there is a coherence a concordance an Integrity among all these truths we talk about the analogy of the faith this this mysterious concordance of all the elements of the faith what we believe I'm going to mention 10l elements uh that show us our concordance of these Marian truths and they're so important you know any one element of the faith is intimately and inextricably related to every other element of the faith we start with the Immaculate Conception now that's a Dogma you have to believe that if you're Catholic uh that that is what that that's defeated that's Define truth um our lady was immaculately conceived that means she had no original sin from conception on no original sin no personal sin nor could she sin sometimes when I make these statements somebody um who has read a little bit thinks I made a mistake uh no that's not a mistake no original sin no personal sin nor could she sin well then she wasn't human oh yes she was she was perfectly human we on the other hand aren't perfectly human we're imperfect we're broken someday we'll be fixed so to speak but our lady was immaculately conceived now that means perfectly pure no sin none of the consequences of sin and when I say nor could she sin you have to understand what that means and people say well well that that can't be well it is um the blessed in heaven do they have free will yes can they sin no why not because their Free Will is perfectly free it's confirmed in Grace and so it was for our lady even on the earth perfect Notions the Immaculate Conception is a Dogma uh that if that were to go if someone to throw that out then then all the others fall like dominoes that's the way it is with all of the elements of the doctrine of the faith if any one of them uh is eliminated the others fall like dominoes Saint Thomas Aquinas certainly one of the greatest Minds in the history of the church said if you take one one stone out of an arch the end of the entire Arch collapses if you shoot one hole in the hull of a ship the entire ship sinks to the bottom and so it is with the concordance of the elements of the faith the Immaculate Conception that has to be in place you have to accept that or else everything else falls apart the enunciation when the angel Gabriel uh comes to Mary and announces that she would be the mother of the Lord um now next week I told you I'm going to talk about the queenship of Mary and the Theology of that and how all of this ties in together the visitation uh remember when our lady went to her cousin Elizabeth and Elizabeth proclaimed how is it the mother of my Lord comes to me that'll give you a hint about next week's presentation you know in Antiquity and especially in Semitic Antiquity the queen was not the uh the king's wife was the King's mother all right the queen is the King's mother uh the we see an intimation of that in the exclamation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Elizabeth proclaims how is it the mother of my Lord of course the term Lord refers to kingship and then the Nativity and the Virgin birth um now someone would say again and don't don't get upset by people who don't believe what we believe that's fine uh I would hope that they would all come to the fullness of the truth which I assure you we have but if they don't don't let it bother you don't let it disturb your peace our lady was a virgin before during and after the birth of her only son that's a dogmatic expression of what we believe it's the truth you have to believe that if you're Catholic our lady was a virgin before during and after the birth of her only son oh that's not possible someone will say come on what do you mean it's not possible as though something were impossible for God man isn't arranging this God is the god who created the universe out of nothing would have difficulty with something like that no Mary was a virgin before during and after the birth of her only son immaculately conceived and so she presented Jesus in the temple she was there when they found him in the temple and all these things give us intimations of all these truths the the coherence the concordance of all these elements of the one truth the wedding Feast that Cana is another one um when Jesus uses the term woman a couple times when he speaks to his mother that that's not meant to be disrespect uh or or just some general generalization no that is very specific theological meaning it means her Universal role remember who the first woman was Eve remember death came into the universe through a man through Adam but through also through a woman Eve and then the new Adam Christ the new Eve the Blessed Mother okay so through one man death entered through another one life so our blessed mother is intimately involved with Redemption uh she's assumed into heaven you know that's logical not only theological it's logical she who was conceived without sin who had no sin whatsoever who was indeed the Ark of the Covenant because the Covenant in substance is Jesus Christ himself the word of God isn't something the word of God is somebody the Eternal Word is Jesus Christ that's the substance of the Covenant and Mary is the consummation of the the ark by which the Covenant is conveyed to the people very important biblical typology involved in this so yes indeed Mary's assumed into heaven Body and Soul when Pope Pius XII uh defined this as Dogma a lot of people are confused about how how these things take place in the church that that took place in 1950 I was three years old when that took place but the church had believed that for centuries and centuries before so don't think that all of a sudden the Catholic church now began to believe in the Assumption in 1950. oh no the Catholic Church believed in the Assumption of the Blessed Mother centuries and centuries before going all the way back probably to the fourth Century that we can find and I assure you if it went back that far it went back all the way we've always believed that uh it often goes that way that the people through an exercise of the census fidelium just the sense of the faith now I'm talking about the good Catholic people who are in a habit of living in a state of grace who are receiving the sacraments worthily who are in Union with the church by their Ascent of Faith to church teaching when these people in the ordinary course of their lives they have a an orientation or a sense of of what's true yeah it's kind of like with with music you know if you if you know music you have an ear for music uh someone with an ear for music can recognize a discordant note right you that if you if you have if a discordant note is struck oh you know that that that hits you like like a club well it's the same thing with the truth and the people of God with this exercise of the this gift of the Holy Spirit the sense of pseudelium they they recognize the truth uh or a lie for what they are so uh the church believed this from the very beginning um and some of the ways uh that Pope Pius XII uh listed in his um in his uh Apostolic Constitution that was called uh munification the most Bountiful God those were the first words of the apostolic Constitution and Pope Pius XII then uh went about to show how the church had always believed this truth about the Blessed Mother um he noted in in this Apostolic Constitution that the Holy Spirit wasn't given to the magisterium the church to dream up new truths but rather uh to teach and assert and defend the truths that had been revealed from the beginning and what he's saying in this Apostolic Constitution is the Assumption of the Blessed Mother is one of those truths it's it's a revealed truth man on his own merely through the power of natural reason cannot come to this this is something divinely revealed and in this dogmatic proclamation of the Dogma the pope is merely asserting that he's saying yes that was divinely revealed that's something that's absolutely certain and is a good Catholic that's the way you should accept it don't let someone sow doubts in your head this is a matter of faith this is not a matter of trying to conjure up a logical reason for it I assure you it's logical I assure you it's rational but not only that it's super natural it's above reason this is a matter of divine revelation and so what were some of the ways well number one the people believed it from the beginning and you could see that in their piety the way they talked the way they addressed the Blessed Mother a number two many churches were built throughout the centuries under this title of the Assumption or Our Lady of the Assumption uh the existence of those churches in the early centuries of the church that that attest to the belief of the church are many images pictures and statues of our Lady representing the Assumption they were created by by the sacred art of the times and so that these are these are like attestations or affirmations through throughout the centuries of what the church believed it didn't start in 1950 centuries before 1950 the pope merely formally defined him but the people believed it long before them and and we know that because of the churches the artwork uh cities entire cities diocese religious congregations and so forth were named after the Assumption of our Blessed Mother uh the fifth glorious mystery of the Rosary gives witness to this belief of the church and of course the liturgical practices of both East and West Manifest this um um the the popes um centuries before had instituted um a liturgical celebrations masses offices and so forth in honor of the Assumption and these are all attestations or affirmations of what the church believed and of course some of the great the great homilies and sermons of some of the fathers doctors and Saints of the church this is the most reliable uh kind of a recommendation you can get the Saints fathers and doctors of the church were those closest to God they knew the mind of God they knew better than most of us what God had revealed and throughout the centuries you see this now all of this is important from a practical point of view our lady was assumed into heaven body and so what that's good news why because she's there first now Jesus is a Divine person who assumed a human nature Mary we don't worship Mary by the way a lot of the the things that people don't like about what we believe is Catholics are just misunderstanding we don't worship Mary we worship God alone if you worship Mary you're a heretic in plain English we don't worship Mary we respect her we have veneration now veneration is not worship adoration is reserved for God alone that's worship veneration is a high form of respect and Mary is in a unique uh category in that respect above all the saints and angels all right we respect her highly she's the mother of God Mother of God no sin uh this is incredibly important for us now Mary because of her Perfection was immediately assumed into heaven Body and Soul now we're not so perfect we have sin unlike her however uh we it's a great hope for us as the poet Wordsworth said she is our tainted Nature's solitary boast uh think about that our tainted nature that refers to sin our tainted nature solitary both she's the only one without sin and so being conformed to her son and every way at the end through the power of God not our own power Jesus raised her up and she was assumed into heaven Body and Soul someday we will be someday we will also be in heaven with Jesus and Mary Body and Soul that's important uh that that's logical but it's also theological Mary went first Jesus went first absolutely speaking of course there's no one Jesus is Lord Jesus Is God Mary is not God but Mary's the most perfect disciple who else was the mother of Jesus Christ nobody nobody I've often said if she's good enough for Jesus she's good enough for you and so the assumption is good news that's good news for you and I we have a mother who sits with her son at the right hand of the father she was assumed into heaven Body and Soul giving us hope giving us hope one day we too God willing will be in heaven and we will be reunited with our body and our soul in our body will be one in heaven Mary is proof of that indeed our tainted Nature's solitary both so in good times or in bad remember that and have confidence in that because that is a promise that God has made to us God bless you God loves you and goodbye

Channel: God Bless Fr.J.Corapi

Views: 29,363

Keywords:

Id: ZU6CZ6QwKJU

Length: 25min 23sec (1523 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 15 2023