Scriptural Basis Underlying the Doctrine of the Assumption of Mary
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Pope John Paul II observed that the earliest references to Mary’s Assumption date to the second and third centuries, and that a long tradition of iconography exists showing Mary entering Heaven with her body.
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Origins of this BeliefĪlthough Scripture does not explicitly mention the Assumption of Mary-also called the “Dormition of Mary” in the Eastern Churches-Catholic clergy and laypeople alike have believed in Mary’s Assumption since the earliest centuries of Christianity. In contrast, Mary is believed to have been taken up into Heaven by God. Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven by His own power. Importantly, the Assumption of Mary is unlike the Ascension of Jesus. Thus, unlike other mortal beings who must wait until the end of the world for our bodily resurrection, Mary, as Jesus’s mother, was given the divine gift of being taken body and soul to Heaven upon her death. In discussing Mary’s Assumption, the Catholic Church teaches that Mary’s body was glorified immediately at the end of her earthly life.
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The word “assumption” is rooted in the Latin verb assumere, which means “to take to oneself.” The doctrine of Mary’s Assumption teaches that Jesus took his mother to Himself in Heaven at the end of her life, just as Enoch and Elijah had been taken up body and soul to Heaven at the end of their lives ( Genesis 5:24 2 Kings 2:11). In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared that it was 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” ( Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus (Most Bountiful God) 44).