August 13, 2023, 12:00 PM

Tuesday is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary! So join us at Mass, pray the Rosary or the Liturgy of the Hours, and consider how we might be more like Mary in doing God’s will. Have we ever thought through the linkage of Original Sin, the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption of Mary? Maybe this will help. At the instant of human conception, God infuses a soul. Since everything God creates is good, the soul is unstained. However, at the same instant, Original Sin is passed on from the parents. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says, “As a result of Original Sin, human nature is weakened in its powers; subject to ignorance, suffering, and the domination of death; and inclined to sin” (CCC #418). This helps us understand why Mary was Immaculately Conceived. God prevented the transmission of Original Sin on to Mary’s soul. So, sin and death were not part of her human nature. The Church carefully phrased the teaching on the Assumption, “… the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of Original Sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory…” (CCC #966). The soul and the body form one nature, but they are separated at death. The Church teaches that our soul “is immortal; it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection” (CCC #366). So, on the Last Day, our souls will be reunited with our glorified bodies. Because God preserved Mary from Original Sin, her body and soul remained united in one nature as she was taken up into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. Now you know!