Today, Aug. 15, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into heaven.

It is the day when our faith moves us to join others in rejoicing that Mary did not undergo bodily corruption after death but was taken to heaven to join, in a glorified body, her son Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of the Father.

For that reason, today is a holy day of obligation. We, as Catholics, are obliged, not just encouraged, to attend Mass to be part of that celebration of Mary.

For some, a holy day of obligation is another one of the relics of the Church’s past. We are told that people, in conscience, have moved on from being told that they have to get up early or hustle home from work in order to go to Mass.

We are further told that the idea of an obligation, to the point of mortal sin, of attending Mass on any day of the week or year, went out with Vatican II. However, the Assumption shows us why, especially in the time of Pope Francis, a holy day of obligation still has meaning and importance.

First, let’s recall what we celebrate today. After the sin of Adam and Eve, our friendship with God, as the human race, was gravely damaged. And it was our fault, not God’s.

Adam and Eve, as our parents, failed to pass on to us, the grace and friendship with Him that was part of God’s good creation of the world.

After thousands of years, and through the calling and preparation of the Jewish people, God once more used our human nature to join us to His friendship. For the first time since Adam and Eve, God preserved one of us from the consequences of sin that you and I are born with.

Mary was conceived immaculate, free from original sin. She is the new Eve.

Only this time, instead of being enticed by the devil to seek her own vanity, the new Eve remained faithful. She gave birth to God’s Son, who came to save us from our disastrous human folly.

Because Mary never sinned, one of us from the human race remained totally open and turned to the Father and to His Son, as God had always intended.

As a result, whenever you and I remain open to grace and follow our divine calling, we are walking in Mary’s footsteps behind Christ.

But we still bear the marks of original sin. “The wages of sin is death,” St. Paul told the Romans (Rom. 6:23).

Each of us is destined to die and to undergo the corruption that Christ evaded. But Mary, born without original sin and faithful by never sinning in her life, is different. That is what we celebrate on the feast of the Assumption of Mary.

The Church has never formally pronounced upon whether or not Mary underwent death. But we, as the Church, hold that Mary did not undergo corruption. Instead, she shares with Christ the glorification of the resurrection and His ascension.

Mary is with Jesus in heaven, uncorrupted as we are called one day to be.

The Church has come to the conclusion that this news is so important, and so reaffirming of why we make every sacrifice to be faithful, that it needs our attention. It needs to be underscored and reaffirmed in our faith.

Understood this way, the holy day of obligation Aug. 15, the need for us to attend Mass and pray about this reality that is Mary’s but that is also our own, takes on a different light.

 Mary’s assumption serves to remind us of the end and the calling that has been given to us. All of our work, our suffering, our prayers, are our road to join Mary.

Pope Francis has made no secret of his deep love for Mary. One of his first acts as Pope was to go to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome in order to offer himself as pope to Mary’s protection. Concerning Mary’s Assumption, Pope Francis has said, “She is our Mother, but we can also say that she is our representative, our sister, our eldest sister, she is the first of the redeemed, who has arrived in heaven.”

The Assumption of Mary reminds us that we are called to a deep and eternal purpose, even as we carry out our earthly lives.

Going to Mass to celebrate our mother’s Assumption, and our own calling is not a burden. It is one of the joys of faith.

See you at Mass today!