As I celebrated The Feast of the Assumption on August 15th of this year, I couldn’t help but be reminded the day was considered a holy day of obligation until a few years ago when the American bishops decided not to force people to church by calling it a “day of obligation.” Disappointingly, with this “release” from obligation, there was no mention of the feast day at Sunday Mass, nor was anything about it published in the bulletin. Nonetheless, about twice the number of faithful who usually attend morning Mass showed up to honor the occasion.
In addition to going to Holy Mass as part of my celebration of feast days, I like to read related articles—or even the occasional book—to enlighten my understanding of different feast days. This year I was blessed coming across an exciting and interesting article that provided insights into how modern science is offering possible scientific explanations about how the Assumption of Mary into heaven happened.
So even though I was sad that the importance of this significant feast day had been downplayed in recent years, I was consoled by the realization that often God amazes us with little gifts of consolation. Through this article I learned that a researcher from Thomas Jefferson University had confirmed that “The cells of an unborn child will stay with the mother for decades…essentially forever.” He went on to say, “There’s a lot of evidence now starting to come out that these cells may actually be repairing tissue.”
The inferences are that the Blessed Virgin Mary, retained the cells of the Son of God in her body for her protection. What a finding! Think about the implications. It means that Mary, the Queen of Heaven, was assumed into heaven before her body was decomposed, the same as her Son. Jesus’ divine incorruptibility was transferred to his mother by design. Although this is something the Church has taught us through faith for centuries, it is fascinating that science is confirming the physical mechanism by which it transpired.
This adds another arrow to the quiver of those who argue on behalf of intelligent design. The more secrets of life we uncover through scientific discovery, the more these findings tend to validate the concept of intelligent design. Every day we are discovering that things like miracles and events we consider to be supernatural events (like the Assumption) are backed by science. Perhaps someday science will completely catch up with faith to give a sound and thorough explanation of these events.
———————
Martha Lyles writes from Poway, CA