Among the four Marian Dogmas of the Church (Divine Motherhood, Perpetual Virginity, Immaculate Conception, Assumption) this last is one of the more heavily debated among other Christians. Nevertheless, the fact that Our Lady was taken up into heaven body and soul at the end of her life on this earth, make complete theological sense.
First and foremost, bodily assumption is not something foreign to Scripture. We can read of two other explicit accounts in the Old Testament of holy individuals who lived their lives in the service of God and did not experience death, but were rather taken to heaven by God:
(1) Enoch
GEN 5:24 - Enoch walked with God, and he was no longer here, for God took him.
HEB 11:5 - By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and “he was found no more because God had taken him.” Before he was taken up, he was attested to have pleased God.
(2) Elijah
2 KINGS 2:11 - As they walked on still conversing, a fiery chariot and fiery horses came between the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind…
So from this we can see that for someone who had lived an exemplary life in devotion to the Almighty, the desire for God to spare him or her from the result of Original Sin, ie. death, is not so crazy after all.
Second, when we consider another Marian Dogma, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption of Our Lady makes even more sense. The result of the disobedience of Adam & Eve has been the inheritance of the human race in the form of the disfigurement of Original Sin. Mary was preserved from the stain of Original Sin. The Angel Gabriel addressed her “Hail Mary, full of grace.” Mary was in a state of grace before the Incarnation of Jesus and His salvific Passion, Death and Resurrection. She did not need Baptism. She is the New Eve.
Even biology points to the rationality of the Immaculate Conception. When a female baby is conceived, she contains in her tiny body all the biological material that will one day develop into children of her own. Therefore, is it not sensible that the child in the womb of St. Ann (Mary’s mother) would be preserved from the stain of Original Sin. Mary, while even in the womb of her own mother was crying about the biological material that would one day make up the physical body of the Incarnate Word, Jesus.
So, if Mary was conceived without the stain of Original Sin, ought she not be preserved from the punishment of Original Sin as well, and upon completion of her time on this earth, be swept up to God in heaven?
In the words of St. John Damascene we hear:
It was necessary that the body of the one who preserved her virginity intact in giving birth should also be kept incorrupt after death. It was necessary that she, who carried the Creator in her womb when He was a baby, should dwell among the tabernacles of Heaven…
Ultimately, in order to best honor Mary, we must honor her Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Mary’s last recorded words in Sacred Scripture are found in the Gospel of John (2:5) at the Wedding Feast at Cana. Mary says:
Do whatever he tells you.
It is most fitting that the last words spoken by Our Lady in Scripture point not to herself, but to her most Beloved Son, Our Savior. Therefore, our devotion to Mary must always lead us on to Christ. She is a powerful intercessor indeed, and she desires nothing more than for the world to recognize Her Son as the Redeemer of mankind.
Thus we pray: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
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