Bishop Erik Varden Says Mary's Assumption Shows What Life Is Really About

Bishop Erik Varden spoke about the meaning of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and what the solemnity says about the destiny of the human person, in a homily delivered on August 15 in Neviges, Germany.

Varden began with one of the best-known images associated with the Virgin: the woman "clothed with the sun," surrounded by stars and with the moon beneath her feet, described in the Book of Revelation. He said the image has shaped Western depictions of the Assumption.

He then raised a further question: how human nature, "with soul and flesh and all its existential weight," can enter the eternity of God even before the end of the world.

Varden said some Christians of a rationalist mindset can come to regard the doctrine of the Assumption as "a pious tale." He rejected that view.

"This doctrine is not a pious tale. It represents a rigorously thought-out and biblically grounded realism that our time, prone to losing itself in virtuality, urgently needs."

Mary, the new Ark of the Covenant

To explain the mystery, Varden linked the figure of Mary to the Ark of the Covenant. He recalled that the Ark held the tablets of the commandments and the manna, and represented the concrete presence of God among his people.

He drew a parallel between the journey of the Ark toward Jerusalem and Mary's journey into the hill country of Judea after the Annunciation.

"Mary is truly, as the Litany of Loreto says, Foederis Arca, the new Ark of the Covenant, because in her God became present as man," he said.

Mary's body thus becomes, Varden said, a "bearer of divine glory." That union between God and human flesh is what makes the Assumption intelligible.

"Before the living God, death has no substance."

Varden said Mary's flesh, which had nourished God made flesh, was freed from the cycle of "you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

"She had already been one with her Creator; that is why her body, once her earthly life was over, had nothing more to do on the earth or within it," he said.

'Our homeland is in heaven'

Varden presented Mary as an anticipation of the destiny held out to all humanity. Just as the Ark arrived at the place prepared for it in Jerusalem, Mary arrives at the place God prepared "for her and for us" in the heavenly Jerusalem.

He then set out three consequences the Assumption has for Christian life.

First, believing that human nature is good and is to be received with reverence.

"Not only our soul, but also our flesh is for eternity. I am my body, which for that reason must not be manipulated irresponsibly."

Second, trusting that the human desire for a life without limits is not an illusion.

"Our homeland is in heaven. Earthly existence can only be understood in the light of eternal life."

Third, learning to reject sin, which Varden identified as the cause of death, in order to live a new and free existence in union with Christ.

The Assumption and the meaning of life

Varden said Mary is the guarantee that sin and death do not have the last word.

"Mary is the guarantee of this victory. She assures us that the power of God wills and is able to win in us as well," he said.

He closed by tying the Assumption to the ultimate meaning of human existence.

"Her Assumption into heaven shows what life is really about. In this way she prepares us to face bodily death, too, without fear."

That message, Varden said, makes the solemnity of the Assumption "an occasion of deep joy and of unshakable peace."