The key to this great feast I think is to be found in the second reading where St Paul writes: "Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died." (1 Cor 15: 20) If I do not have a proper understanding of the Resurrection then I will not be able to make sense of the Assumption. That Jesus had truly a human body, just like ours, which was transformed and glorified to leave an empty tomb is the supreme manifestation of divine power. It cannot be explained in any other way. That Our Lady, truly possessing a human body, just like ours, can also be transformed and glorified through association and cooperation with her son Jesus shows that the action of divine power is not restricted to the person of Jesus, Jesus was not divinized in the Resurrection but his divinity was vindicated in the face of evil, death and corruption. The Assumption reveals in an unequivocal way how the Resurrection was not just some divine party trick but a fulfillment of the mission and teaching of Jesus which reveals God's action and plan in history in a whole new and irrevocable way. His plan, his life, his glory are unstoppable. The Assumption is the first fruits of his everlasting Kingdom. The question for us is: do we have enough faith and love to be subjects of that Kingdom so as to continue to be part of the harvest for eternal life?
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