One of the great highlights during the month of August in the life and liturgy of the Church is the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary on Aug. 15. The Assumption of Mary is a very important event in salvation history because it not only reveals to us some important truths about who Mary is as Mother and Model of the Church, but Mary’s Assumption also reveals a great deal about ourselves and the great destiny to which we are called in Christ.
First, the Assumption of Mary reveals that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, is assumed by Christ body and soul into heaven and it is one of the four Marian dogmas solemnly defined by Pope Pius XII in 1950. In other words, Mary enjoys the full fruits of the Resurrection immediately at the end of her earthly life. This is because Mary, from the moment of her Immaculate Conception until the end of her life on earth, was free from the stain of Original Sin and never chose to cooperate with sin and evil all throughout her life. Therefore, since Mary never sinned, she was to never suffer the fruits of sin: death or corruption of the body. As St. Paul proclaims,
Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
— 1 Corinthians: 55-57
Instead, Mary is the first to experience the fullness of the Resurrection of the body merited by the death and resurrection of her Son. Mary, who is the Mother and Model of the Church, is for us a sign of the hope and glory that awaits all of us who have faith and trust in Christ and strive to overcome sin in our own lives. As Pope Pius XII taught:
Christ overcame sin and death by his own death, and one who through Baptism has been born again in a supernatural way has conquered sin and death through the same Christ. Yet, according to the general rule, God does not will to grant to the just the full effect of the victory over death until the end of time has come. And so it is that the bodies of even the just are corrupted after death, and only on the last day will they be joined, each to its own glorious soul.
Now God has willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be exempted from this general rule. She, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body.
— Munificentissimus Deus, 4-5
Thus, the Assumption, along with and closely connected to the Immaculate Conception, is in the person of Mary a shining testimony to the dignity of the human person and the destiny to which each and every person is called in Christ. Mary reveals to us that only in Christ is the true meaning of life revealed, and only in Him do we find fullness of life and love. As the culture of death in many ways surrounds us, Mary is the great sign of the dignity and glory of the human person as redeemed by Christ. Mary, being full of grace and the love of God from the moment of her conception to the end of her earthly life, shows us in a powerful way that the human person is no mere accident of biological processes, but as Pope Benedict proclaimed in his Inaugural Homily, “We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.”
This beautiful teaching of our Holy Father that each of us is willed, loved, and necessary, is also the theme of this year’s Bishop’s Annual Catholic Pro-Life Banquet which will be held Sept. 24 at the DFW Airport Hyatt Regency Hotel. I would like to take this opportunity as we reflect together on the great dignity of the human person revealed in Mary’s Assumption to invite you to this very important event in the life of our Diocese. The Bishop’s Annual Catholic Pro-Life Banquet is the main fundraiser for our Diocesan Catholics Respect Life Office and the Banquet helps to fund and continue many of the outstanding Respect Life programs in our Diocese such as respect life education, assistance, and personal mentoring to mothers in crisis pregnancies through Gabriel Project “angels,” critical post-abortion healing retreats offered through Rachel’s Ministries, and education, formation, and leadership training offered through our Youth for Life programs. Not only will your presence at the Pro-Life Banquet be a powerful witness to the Gospel of Life, but your generous support will also allow us to continue the tireless work for life through our Catholics Respect Life Office. We are especially blessed this year to have as our keynote presenter Catholic writer and scholar George Weigel who is best known as the author of the biography of Pope John Paul II Witness to Hope and is one of the more influential and popular Catholic scholars and writers in the Church today. Please join me and many others from all around our Diocese to support the Catholics Respect Life Office and to affirm and celebrate the great gift of life! To register for the Banquet, visit the Diocesan website at www.fwdioc.org and click on the "Pro-Life Banquet" icon.
These summer days are also the time when many of us are returning to school as either students or teachers. I want to take this opportunity especially to thank all of the principals, teachers, and staff in our Catholic schools who work so hard to spread the gift of Catholic education to so many students and families in our Diocese. I also want to thank so many of you who are also involved as catechists in the religious education programs in our parishes. Your gifts of teaching and witnessing the Catholic faith are crucial to the life and mission of the Church. Thank you for your generous service to spreading the Faith!
At the same time, I cannot stress enough the importance of ongoing faith formation for not only those who are involved in teaching in our schools or ministries in our parishes, but for each and every Catholic, even adult Catholics. As Pope John Paul II has taught us, “No one in the Church of Jesus Christ should feel excused from receiving catechesis” (Catechesi Tradendae, 45).
One of the great opportunities we have in North Texas for ongoing faith formation and ministry training is the annual University of Dallas Ministry Conference which will be offered Oct. 28-29 at the Dallas Convention Center. Sponsored by the Dioceses of Fort Worth and Dallas, the University of Dallas Ministry Conference is an outstanding opportunity for all Catholics to come and join other local Catholics in learning more about their Catholic faith. This year, the Conference has as its keynote speaker the Archbishop of Chicago, Francis Cardinal George, who is also the author of two excellent books that are very much worth reading: The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion, and Culture and God in Action: How Faith in God Can Address the Challenges of the World. The Conference will offer breakout sessions featuring many other dynamic nationally known speakers and some of our popular local talent as well for ministry formation for a wide variety of ministries such as RCIA, Youth Ministry, Religious Education, and Marriage and Family, as well as numerous sessions offered for ongoing adult faith formation such as apologetics, liturgy and sacraments, prayer and spirituality, and parenting and Catholic family life. I encourage both parish ministers and parishioners alike to register and to come and take advantage of this unique faith formation opportunity. There is more information in this issue of the North Texas Catholic and you can also find more information on the Conference website at www.udallas.edu/udmc for English and www.udallas.edu/udmc/espanol for Spanish. May God continue to bless you and your families as we begin another school year, and may we especially in this month of the Assumption entrust ourselves to the intercession and maternal care of Mary who is our Mother and Model of faith. Mary, Queen of Heaven, pray for us!
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