Having Faith in an Assumption

         We are counseled not to make assumptions about people. How is it then that one of the solemnities of the church goes by that very name, and is in itself an assumption?

        In 1946 Pope Pius XII gathered petitions received in the preceding 100 years about the Assumption of Mary, and then surveyed the bishops:

Do you, in your outstanding wisdom and prudence, judge that the bodily assumption of 
[Mary] can be proposed and defined as a dogma of faith? Do you, with your clergy and 
people, desire it?

It took until 1950 for the Assumption to be declared and defined as dogma. I was surprised to read that the pope had consulted so widely. A common practice in community life, but in the church in the 40’s and 50’s? Perhaps I am revealing my ignorance of hierarchical procedures.

The roots of the feast can be traced to the faith of the eastern church in Jerusalem. The feast was called the Dormition, or the falling asleep of Mary. Although there were no witnesses, no scriptural record, the Assumption became a commonly accepted belief. Within the biblical tradition, holy and unique individuals (like Elijah and Enoch) were taken bodily to heaven. Making this assumption about Mary has precedent in the church’s tradition.

        Germanus of Constantinople, reflecting the faith of the eastern church of the 7th-8th centuries, addresses Mary directly:

        Since you are the Mother of God, it was appropriate that you accept a death that was like sleep, undergo a translation like an awakening. It is fitting that you should be restored to the companionship of your Son.

        And in the 21st century, Pope John Paul II quoted the gospel of John as a scriptural basis for understanding the dogma of the Assumption:

        
        If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself, that where I am, you may be there also.

Sr. Christa Kreinbrink, OSB