Mary Subject: Blessed Mother Question: My question is how does the church know that Mary was taken up into heaven? I've heard this all my life and believed in it,sometimes I question things like this, so usually I go to the Bible to find the answer but this one I cannot find. If you can help I would appreciate it. Thank you and God Bless Mary Answer: Hi Mary , I'm not a theologian or scripture scholar , just an ordinary Catholic who like to pray so I wasn't going to answer this but I was praying about this and so I'll throw in my two cents worth and hope it helps a little. First of all with Scripture; Holy Church precedes Scripture and not the other way around since it was the Church that decided what was and what was not Scripture in the first place and as Jesus said: Matthew 10:24 "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. So the Church is Mother to Scripture and her child will never be greater than her mother. There are two instances I can think of in scripture which prefigure the Assumption of Mary and that is the Assumption into heaven of the prophets Enoch and Elijah. 2 Kings 2:11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Genesis 5:22 - Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had {other} sons and daughters. 5:23 - So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years 5:24 - Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. So if it is scripturally accepted that these prophets were taken up into heaven it is a much easier thing to accept, as a Catholic that Mary, the Mother of God was so taken. I have found in my own prayer life when meditating on the Mysteries of the rosary that some Mysteries are easier to grasp than others. For instance I have always found myself at home with , say the Resurrection of the Birth of Christ than with the Assumption. Some mysteries are like hard candy we have to chew and chew at in order to get something out of. But a few years ago when 'chewing' on The Mystery of the Assumption I was suddenly struck with how wonderful it is that Mary was Assumed into Heaven. How wonderful it must have been for her to have been caught into heaven in this way; the mind boggles. For in her victory lies the victory of all mankind who are her children. It is a source of great hope and joy. In proclaiming this victory, this Dogma Mother Church imitates Mary herself in that she 'Ponders these things in her heart' and bring forth great fruits of wisdom as a result. May God Bless you Mary as you ponder this hard candy in your own heart and bring it to the fullness of the truth in your assent to this Dogma: The earliest account of a Church Father speaking of the Assumption of Mary was Epiphanus who stated: "If the Holy Virgin had died and was buried, her falling asleep would have been surrounded with honor, death would have found her pure, and her crown would have been a virginal one...Had she been martyred according to what is written: 'Thine own soul a sword shall pierce', then she would shine gloriously among the martyrs, and her holy body would have been declared blessed; for by her, did light come to the world." Epiphanius,Panarion,78:23(A.D. 377),in PG 42:737 Another Father, Gregory of Tours, narrates the event of her death and Assumption: "[T]he Apostles took up her body on a bier and placed it in a tomb; and they guarded it, expecting the Lord to come. And behold, again the Lord stood by them; and the holy body having been received, He commanded that it be taken in a cloud into paradise: where now, rejoined to the soul, [Mary] rejoices with the Lord's chosen ones..." Gregory of Tours, Eight Books of Miracles,1:4(inter A.D. 575-593),in JUR,III:306 Finally, an excerpt from John of Damascene's famous homily: "It was fitting that the she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped when giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father, It was fitting that God's Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God" John of Damascene,Dormition of Mary(PG 96,741),(ante A.D. 749) from Munificentis simus Deus http://www.motheogodforum.com/portal.ph ... tify=login
