Posted on 08/21/2015 6:36:53 AM PDT by NYer
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will keep this very brief, with the help of my column this month, at The Catholic Answer:
For most of my life, the assumption of Mary existed as little more, for me, than a head-scratcher of a dogma.
I understood that Elijah and Enoch had been assumed into heaven, so if I considered Mary’s assumption at all, it was simply to shrug it off: “Mary was assumed into heaven. Sure, why not?” The whys and wherefores of the matter were so far above my paygrade that they didn’t seem worth pondering.
All of that changed for me when I took a class in anatomy and physiology. As marvelous as it was to learn about how “wonderfully and fearfully” we are made — what with blood cells forming and fading, and bones and tissue becoming oxygenated and cleansed via blood and breath — nothing presented in the class coaxed an audible reaction from me until we studied the process of microchimerism. As soon as the professor introduced the process, my Catholic bell was rung: “But that completely explains the Assumption!” I said aloud in the midst of my startled classmates. The professor stared at me for a moment with a puzzled expression and said, “Oka-a-ay, anyway, the thing about microchimerism…”
The thing about microchimerism is that it so profoundly explains and justifies our dogma that it should be included in our Mariological catechesis, where people can both appreciate a demonstration of how science and religion can complement and complete each other, and marvel in awestruck wonder that our Church had reasoned out this reality long ago and without the aid of microscopes. In the simplest of terms, microchimerism is the process by which a smattering of cells live within a host body but are completely distinct from it. In human fetomaternal microchimerism (or “fetal cell microchimerism”), every child leaves within his mother a microscopic bit of himself — every pregnancy, brought to delivery or not, leaves a small amount of its own cells within the body of the mother — and those cells remain within her forever.
As the only practicing Catholic in the classroom mentioned above, can you blame me for my gratified outburst? Microchimerism explained for me the very whys and wherefores of a dogma that had previously seemed like little more than piety on a sentimental rampage, leaving me too cowed to care. Suddenly, it all made sense: A small amount of Christ Jesus’ cells remained within Mary, for the whole of her life. Where we Catholics have a limited experience of Christ’s flesh commingling within our own upon reception of the holy Eucharist, Mary was a true tabernacle within which the Divinity did continually reside.
In the Book of Psalms we read about how the Holy One will not undergo corruption (see 16:10). Christ’s divine body did not undergo corruption. It follows that His mother’s body, containing cellular traces of the Divinity (and a particle of God is God, entire) could not be permitted to decay, either. The science makes the theology accessible, because, suddenly, there is no need for guessing: at her Dormition, Our Lady’s body, holding Christ within it, could not remain on earth; of course, it would have to join itself to Christ in the heavenly dimension.
You can read the rest, here. Also check out Max Lindenman and Dave Armstrong for precisely the sort of “different perspectives” on this Dogma, as well as Tom Zampino, who writes on the Assumption while celebrating his first year at Patheos.
Who says that passage is authentic? The church. Until you point me to when an angel dropped a bound copy of the Bible to King James, citations really don’t do much for me. Sorry.
I learned about this biological phenomenon on FR some years back and thought it was just beautiful.
That John, who was charged with er care, didn't write about her in any of the catholic understanding, is telling.
The verse in Psalms note Your Holy One will not undergo decay......no mention of Mary.
Why would it need to be King James? Get a copy of the original Greek and translate it yourself, or perhaps the Latin version.
In any case, you seem determined to discount the Bible, so there is little sense arguing with you about it, you have chosen (poorly) to lean on your own understanding and not on what the Word says. Good luck with that.
Yes, we pretty much do. Your need to be on this thread is telling.
Is there incontrovertible evidence of this claim or is this catholic supposition? Can you say with 100% certainty this is verifiable?
Ok tell me where I’d find it? How would I identify it? You know how - by asking the Church.
Again an irrelevant citation to scripture. It did not say Mary would not be assumed.
Nor does it say she would. In passages like this it is best to let the passage be read in context without reading anything into the passage. You avoid error when you don’t read something into the passage.
Yes ... their relics (aka bones).
The remains of all of the Apostles are in Catholic Churches, and so are all of the Gospel writers. Note! Some relics are divided between Catholic Churches.
St. Peter is in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
St. Paul is in St. Paul's Church in Rome.
St. Matthew is in the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Messina, Sicily.
St. James the Greater is in St. James Church in Compostela Spain.
St. James the Less (the Just) is in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles in Rome.
St. Bartholomew is in St. Bartholomew-in-the-island Church in Rome.
St. Andrew is in the Cathedral of Amalfi in Italy.
St. Philip is in the Church of the Dodici Apostoli in Rome, Basilica of the Holy Apostles.
St. Simon is in the Vatican, under the Altar of the Crucifixion.
St. Jude is in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
St. Thomas is in the Cathedral of Saint Thomas in Mylapore, India.
St. Matthias is in St. Matthews Abbey in Trier Germany, and in St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.
St. John is in the ruins of the Basilica of St. John in Ephesus Turkey.
"You are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as the Chief Corner Stone."
Ephesians 2:20.
Even though he was not an Apostle, he did write the Gospel of Mark.
St. Mark is in St. Mark's Church in Venice, Italy.
Even though he was not an Apostle, he did write the Gospel of Luke.
St. Luke is in the Basilica of Santa Giustina in Padua, Italy.
The first Christian Martyr. Acts 7:60
St. Stephen is in Rome in the Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls.
The first person to arrive at the tomb of the Risen Christ. John 20:1
St. Mary Magdalene is in the Basilica of St. Maximin in Villalata, France.
He produced the first Bible containing both the Old and New Testaments, the Latin Vulgate. St. Jerome is in St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.
We know from the many authentic Relics that the Catholic Church has in its possession. Among them are:
1. The Relic of the True Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. John 19:17-18
2. The "INRI" inscription from the True Cross, called "Titulus Crucis". John 19-19
3. The Nails which held Jesus to the cross. John 20:25
4. The Lance Point of Saint Longinus which pierced the side of Jesus. John 19:34
5. The Crown of Thorns and the individual thorns from it. John 19:2
6. The Table used at the Last Supper is in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome. Matthew 26:20
7. The Scala Santa, the steps which Jesus Christ ascended on His way to meet Pontius Pilate.
8. The Chains of Saint Peter, in the Church of St. Peter in Chains in Rome.
You know why I'm asking.......right?
You just read into it that she was not. That passage has nothing to do with the assumption.
Tell that to the author of the article.
Use the power of the interwebs FRiend.
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