You may remember that a year ago at Easter Vigil, Rev. Alex Jones, his wife Donna, and 62 members of their Detroit congregation joined the Catholic Church. Subsequently he was interviewed by Marcus Grodi, himself a former minister who became Catholic. After talking about their love for Jesus and how it led them to the Church, Marcus asked Alex about his relationship with Mary.

He replied that, as a former Pentecostal, he knew about Mary -- that she was a Virgin, that she suffered great hardships and that she was a very holy woman -- but still he needed a more formal presentation. Marcus agreed that as adult converts, it took time to appreciate the feelings many life-long Catholics have for the Blessed Virgin.

However, there is a sense in which all of us, like Alex Jones, must be introduced to her. The Feast of the Assumption provides such an opportunity.

Before the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, Mary was held in more visible esteem than now because of the Rosary. For example, since the Mass before Vatican II was in Latin, some people said the Rosary because they did not know what the priest was saying. Then, Vatican II allowed Mass to be said in the language of the people. Because of the greater participation of the people, praying the rosary at Mass mostly disappeared.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, which commemorates her being "assumed" into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. To be "assumed" means to be "taken up body and soul."

Nowhere in the Gospels is there any scientific or unscientific reference to the assumption of Mary's body into heaven after her death. However, this death without burial, which is what the Assumption is all about, has been the belief of our fellow Catholics and the teaching of the Church from the earliest centuries of Christianity.

Historians write that the Assumption may well have been the first feast in Mary's honor. They point to the 400s as its origin.

Thus, when Pope Pius XII in 1950 proclaimed the doctrine of the Assumption as an article of our faith, he was simply giving the stamp of official approval to a teaching that had been taught, observed, and held sacred for at least seventeen hundred years.

Popes just donít wake up in the morning and decide something is dogma. Pius XII's proclamation was in response to numerous petitions sent to past popes by cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, priests, religious of both sexes, associations, universities and innumerable private persons between 1849 and 1940.

Based on these petitions, Pope Pius XII wrote an encyclical, in 1946, to all the Patriarchs, the Primates, the Archbishops, and other Bishops to obtain their feedback regarding the possibility of proclaiming "The Assumption" of Mary as an official dogma of the Catholic Church.

After receiving a favorable response to his encyclical from all the faithful, he proclaimed the Dogma of the Assumption of Mary, formalizing something that was believed for centuries.

"Why pray to Mary," one might ask, rather than directly to Jesus? First, she is the Mother of God and, secondly, she exists in heaven with her Son. If we know anything about mothers, who could better intercede with her Son for us? Besides, we may feel better praying though someone who was completely human like we are.

Today thank God for having revealed this beautiful Dogma to the world so we may have a greater appreciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who said "Yes" to God the Father so that he could send his Son, Jesus, to save us.

But as we wait for our own assumption into the heavens, we might want to reflect on the centuries-old wisdom of Meister Eckhart: "We are all meant to be the mother of God. He is always waiting to be born."