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"When Mary died she was assumed into heaven as a mortal person. So how does she live? Does she have to eat if she is still human? Is she surrounded by souls? I do not understand: if she did not die, how can she still be living, and wouldn't she need food and water to survive?
-Charles
Answer:
Dear Charles:
The doctrine of the Assumption states that Mary was taken up body and soul into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. This is sometimes referred to as Mary's dormition; that is, her "falling asleep" in the Lord. The Church teaches that Mary, who was to become the Mother of God, was free from all sin, including Original Sin, from the moment of her conception; that she was, as described by the Angel Gabriel, "full of grace" and "blessed among women." This is known as the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Privileged in this way by a special favour from God, Mary was therefore spared one of the effects of Original Sin, which is the corruption of the body after death.
There are unofficial writings from the second century onwards indicating that Mary died and was buried in the Kidron Valley, near Jerusalem, and some early church historians, such as Gregory of Tours, also held this belief, which seems to suggest that Mary's assumption into Heaven took place from her tomb. Today 'Mary's Tomb' is a place of pilgrimage for Christians. The doctrine of the Assumption, however, does not state whether or not Mary died, only that "having completed the course of her earthly life, (the Virgin Mary) was assumed body and soul into heaven."
For the rest of us, when our soul leaves our body after death, we are faced with what is known as the Particular Judgment, when, depending on our faithfulness to God in the course of our earthly existence, our soul, now a disembodied spirit, enters into Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. At the end of time, though, Our Lord will return, and the bodies which we lost in death will resurrect and be restored to us, to be judged once more in the General Judgment of the World. The body which is restored to us will in important respects be different from our present body. As St Paul says: "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15: 44). We do not know the exact composition of this spiritual body, but we know it to be immortal (1 Corinthians 15: 53) and can assume that it will thus be free from the necessities of earthly life, such as nutrition.
Mary, of course, would be spared God's judgment, but her glorified body, like ours, also would have no need of any of the necessities of earthly life.
God bless,
Father Norbert