Happy Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven!

Through the Passion, Death and Resurrection, Jesus conquered death, so that like Him, at the end of time our physical bodies will be resurrected and joined with our souls in Heaven. The spotless Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord, anticipated this grace and at the end of her earthly life was assumed body and soul into Heaven. Let us rejoice, because where she has gone as Our Mother, we also will go!

​(That the assumption of Mary into Heaven occurred is a dogma of the Church- meaning it is certain. The exact location and stories surrounding it are not definitively declared, some also think Ephesus was the location. Still there are very ancient traditions that connect these events to Jerusalem. See the photos to learn about these fascinating traditions.)

This is the crypt of Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion. There is an ancient tradition that this is the place of  Mary’s Dormition (falling asleep).

This is the area in Church of the Tomb of the Virgin Mary in Jerusalem where the empty tomb is preserved. It is an ancient tradition that after Mary’s falling asleep her body was taken and buried in a tomb in the Garden of Gethsemane. But, that like our Lord, her body and soul was taken up to Heaven from there.

There is an ancient tradition that St. Thomas was absent during the Dormition, but that he saw Mary being assumed into Heaven and when he asked where she was going, she threw him her cincture. In the photograph is the place where it is believed that this occurred at St. Mary Magdalene’s Orthodox Monastery in Jerusalem. Pieces of this cincture are preserved and venerated as relics in various churches in the East.