Bodily Destiny: Homily for the Assumption of Mary 2025

Assumption of Mary                                                                                       August 15, 2025
Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville

Before he died, my grandfather was fond of giving me unsolicited advice on what priests needed to preach about more. Some of his favorite topics were the kingship of Jesus Christ, final judgment, the power of prayer, and the resurrection. To make his point about that last one, he would sometimes share a story about a conversation he had with a friend at lunch one day. While trying to convince his friend to take his faith more seriously, my grandfather started talking about how amazing it was going to be in heaven when we get our bodies back. At that point, the friend stopped him and said “we won’t have bodies in heaven, what are you talking about?”

Taken aback, my grandfather assured him that Catholics believe we get our bodies in heaven. After arguing about it for a bit, he then made his friend said the creed with him right there are the table. They got to the part that says, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead” and my grandfather’s friend sat back and said, “oh, I guess you’re right. Never realized that.” He had said that creed every week for his entire life and only in his 80s did he realize what he was actually saying.

Why tell that story? For one thing, to make the point that, just because someone says they believe something doesn’t mean they do. Just because you show up at Mass or Catholic school and do and say Catholic stuff doesn’t mean you get it. Our faith requires a lifetime of going deeper. I promise you there are things in our faith that you’ve heard about your whole life but still don’t fully understand. If you did, some of them might blow your mind. Take a closer look!

More importantly, I tell that story to point out what today’s feast is all about. Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, where we celebrate the fact that Mary’s physical body was taken up into heaven. Jesus ascended into heaven with his body after his resurrection. Jesus is God, so he can bring himself into heaven. Mary is assumed – lifted up by someone else – because she is not God. But, she is the mother of Jesus and Jesus is God. So, she’s the mother of God. Because of that, Jesus the God-Man, like a good son, gave his mother a gift. He brought her body to heaven.

Ultimately, every human being will get their body back – that’s why we say it in the creed. Whether we go to heaven or hell, we’ll eventually be there with our bodies. Most of us will have to wait to the end of time, but until then, Jesus and Mary both have bodies in heaven so that we have a reminder of what we look forward to. A male body and a female body are in heaven right now. That means that a male body and a female body are united to God himself right now because that’s what it means to be in heaven – it means union with God the Trinity so that we overflow with light and glory and joy and holiness.

Do you get that? Not just your souls, but your bodies too will be united to God himself. Take a moment to consider the implications of that. If our bodies are meant to be part of God one day… what does that say about how we should treat our bodies on earth right now? If your mom told you that you’re going to visit another country and meet their king, then she handed you a gold ring and said “take care of this, it’s the present you’re going to give to the king when you meet him,” how would you treat that ring? Carefully and with respect, I hope!

Do you… see why Catholicism cares so much about what you do with your bodies? All our “rules” about what you can and can’t do with your body aren’t because the body is bad, but because it’s destined to be united to God himself. Think about this too: what do all of our sacraments have in common? Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Marriage, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick, Confession… all of them use our bodies to give us grace. Water and oil on the body, eating the eucharist, even in confession we’re using our physical sense of hearing to receive forgiveness from God. Your body doesn’t “get in the way” of salvation. It is the way you receive salvation – Sacramental graces are given through the body to the soul.

Think about that the next time you’re tempted to abuse your body with different substances or with bad choices. Broken and imperfect though they are, our bodies are profoundly important. And the Assumption of Mary into heaven reminds us that, one day, all that’s wrong with our bodies on earth will be fixed, corrected, perfected, and glorified. Being a good Christian doesn’t mean hating or escaping our bodies, it means loving them enough to train them, to discipline them, to prepare them, to use them to start heading the direction we’re meant to go: up!

Heaven is at the top of the mountain of grace, but do not be afraid! Your mother is already there encouraging you, praying for you, and leaning down to give you a hand. Take that hand and start climbing so that you and I – soul and body – can live in happiness with God forever.