The Designs of Providence Are Seen Through Mary
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
On November 1st, 1950, Pope Pius XII promulgated to the Church and to the world the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus. Pope Pius opens the document with following words: The most bountiful God, who is almighty, the plan of whose providence rests upon wisdom and love, tempers, in the secret purpose of his own mind, the sorrows of peoples and of individual men by means of joys that he interposes in their lives from time to time, in such a way that, under different conditions and in different ways, all things may work together unto good for those who love him.1
There is no mention of Mary in those words, but I think that those words capture the glory of the Solemnity that we celebrate this evening because those words get at the heart of what the Assumption means for our Catholic faith and for our Christian lives.
Let me begin with a question: where is the Assumption of Mary revealed to us? The Church teaches us that God’s self-revelation—God giving to us those deepest truths about our lives and our world—the Church teaches us that revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle. And what that means is that whatever truth there is for us to know has already been made known to us. We might come to understand something that has been revealed to us that we did not understand so well before. We might come to see something in what has been revealed to us that we did not see before. But the work of God’s self-revelation is concluded; that part of human history has drawn to a close.
So, again, let me ask the question: where is the Assumption of Mary revealed to us? You can search the words of sacred scripture and you will find no mention of the Assumption. The Apostles make no mention of the Assumption in their writings. Pope Pius XII tells us that we can look to the tradition of the Church and find a rich history of devotion to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mother. For centuries, churches have been built in honor of the Assumption; at different times and in different places, the Assumption of Mary was celebrated in our liturgy; medieval theologians argued for the Assumption; students of sacred scripture found within the pages of the Bible the necessary foundation for believing that Mary has been assumed body and soul into heaven; and saints of the modern Church professed the truth of the Assumption in their teaching and their preaching.
And yet—despite such a rich history of devotion—there is still no mention of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in sacred scripture. So, again: where is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary revealed to us?
The answer to that question is given to us by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. The Fathers of the Council teach us that through the words and deeds of revelation we see—we behold—the designs of providence.2 Let me say that again: through the words and deeds of revelation we see—we behold—the designs of providence. The pattern of our redemption is revealed to us through the words and deeds of scripture; the economy of salvation is given to us through the recorded history of God’s relationship with creation. We are able to see in the content of revelation the ways in which the words and deeds of scripture connect to one another to reveal the Incarnate tapestry of our redemption. Through the words and deeds of scripture we are given access to the logic of God.
So, one last time: where is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary revealed to us? The answer to the question is that for those who see in the words and deeds of sacred scripture the pattern of our own redemption—that is, for those who think with the logic of God—the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is there in plain sight. For those possessed of spiritual vision—for those who see the connections between the persons and events and testimony of scripture—the dogma of the Assumption of Mary is obvious. The reality of the Immaculate Conception; the mystery that the Christ-child is born from her flesh; the love that she bears for her son; the witness that she gives to the Apostles; the way in which she is presented as the new Eve through whom creation will be restored; there in plain sight within the words and deeds of scripture is the truth of the Assumption. The life of Mary is a life that would not know the corruption of the body. And those who think with the logic of God trust in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; in her Assumption they place their faith.
And I think this is why—despite the absence of an invocation of the name of Mary—those opening words of Pope Pius XII capture the glory of the Solemnity that we celebrate this evening. The Holy Father tells us that the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a visible witness to the profound truth that in the words and deeds of revelation we behold the pattern of our own redemption. To believe in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is to believe in the designs of providence and to believe that we know what God is doing—how God acts—how God loves. What a powerful claim: that we Christians know what God is doing—how God acts—how God loves. And there—in our remarkable capacity to behold the economy of our salvation and to know how the work of restoration is accomplished—there in our access to the designs of providence is the gift of joy and the alleviation of sorrow from our lives. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is proof to us that sorrow and despair need not define our lives. We Christians know—we have been told—how God is accomplishing the work of our redemption, and the Assumption of Mary is a witness to our knowledge.
There is another word for that kind of conviction: hope. The Assumption of Mary is a source of hope for us, for our lives, body and soul. When Pope Pius addressed the Church and the world in 1950 to promulgate the dogma of the Assumption, he spoke of how the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary responds to the ever so many cares, anxieties, and troubles, by reason of very severe calamities that have taken place and by reason of the fact that many have strayed away from truth and virtue.3 Imagine: a world destroyed by war and depression, famine and fear. And the response of the Church is the claim that to us has been granted knowledge of the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.4 No matter the poverty and the violence, the anxiety and the uncertainty in the world, we place our trust in the truth that we Christians know what God is doing—how God acts—how God loves.
And here is why I think that matters. There is, within the words and deeds of scripture, clear evidence of the love of God. That God loves is obvious; and that God is love becomes known to us through Christ. And there is—in the love between a mother and her son as conveyed to us through scripture—a living witness to what is possible for us human beings in the ways of love. A love between a mother and a son so intense that it mimics and mirrors the eternal movements of self-gift that is the life of God. There, in that kind of burning regard for the other, is the limit of human love. A mother and her son give us that witness. But what we need to know, with all of the conviction that sure hope can give us, is that God extends that same love to us. That in these lives that we have been given—marked as they are with the sorrow of uncertainty and the pain of loss—that God has accounted for us in the designs of his providence. And so, this Solemnity which we celebrate tonight is a demonstration of our conviction that we know what God is doing—how God acts—how God loves—and how God loves us. The Solemnity of the Assumption gives us the certainty, the conviction, the hope that we desire. Love is eternal, and God is love. We are a part of something so much larger than ourselves, and to that truth we must entrust ourselves. No matter the time or the place—be it a November morning in Rome in 1950 or a summer evening in Baltimore in 2022—we Christians see in the work of God the pattern of our own redemption. And the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is that warrant for our conviction, a foundation for our hope.
Preached at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15th, 2022.
Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus. §1.
Cf. The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum.
Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus. §2.
Colossians 1:26.