" . . . Therefore, we set before you the goal of letting all of thy life and thy body, thy temple and thy being become a violet flame sphere. As you so commit yourself to this action, beloved, you will understand swiftly that it is necessary on a commensurate level to increase the blue flame and the spheres of blue flame and never to neglect the putting on of the whole armour of God, which is undoubtedly a physical/spiritual protection but does consist of all of the virtues intended to be outpictured by yourselves.

"Virtues are like studded stars, gemstones and crystals that have been sewn by angels to your garments. Virtues exemplified by the Blessed Mary * you may see in the gemstones upon her hands. Blessed hearts, these virtues are your protection. They are the basic building blocks of good character. As El Morya has referred to this, I shall also say, neglect not the perfecting of the soul and the purity of heart."

* On November 27, 1830, Mother Mary appeared to 24-year-old Catherine Labouré, a novice with the Sisters of Charity in Paris. In her account of the visitation Catherine reported, “I saw rings on her fingers, three rings to each finger, the largest one near the base of the finger, one of medium size in the middle, the smallest one at the tip. Each ring was set with gems, some more beautiful than others; the larger gems emitted greater rays and the smaller gems, smaller rays.”

Catherine said Mother Mary explained to her that the gems “are the symbols of the graces I shed upon those who ask for them . . . The gems from which rays do not fall are the graces for which souls forget to ask.”

In this apparition, the Blessed Mother detailed for Catherine the images she wanted placed on the front and back of what has come to be known as the “Miraculous Medal.” She instructed Catherine that the medal was to be worn around the neck and said, “Graces will abound for those who wear it with confidence.”

See John J. Delaney, ed., A Woman Clothed with the Sun (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., Image Books, 1960), pp. 77-78.

" . . . Let there then be the turning to my Heart in this hour. For I would have you know, beloved ones, that although the Roman Church has chosen to designate my ascension as the 'assumption' * into heaven, I announce to you in this hour that I did indeed make the 'physical' ascension. **"

* The Assumption: Belief in the assumption of Mary has been a centuries-long tradition in the Catholic Church. The word is derived from the Latin assumere 'to take up'. In 1950, Pope Pius XII officially defined the doctrine of the Assumption in his apostolic constitution Munificenitissimus Deus. He wrote: "The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." The Practical Catholic Encyclopedia (Pegis, 1956) states:

"The body of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was free from original sin and so was not subject to death in the same way that creatures are, was taken into Heaven and united to her soul." The Church teaches that because of her purity, Mary did not have to wait until the Second Coming of Christ for her bodily resurrection. They believe her physical body was glorified and perfected into an immortal spiritual body in the same manner that all the faithful will experience it in the resurrection at the end of time.

The reason for the difference in terminology between Jesus' "ascension" and Mary's "assumption" is that Catholics believe Jesus was a divine being and Mary merely human. Jesus thus ascended into heaven "by his own power" whereas Mary was "taken" into heaven. Hence, they see Mary's assumption as a "hopeful doctrine" because what has been promised to all faithful Christians has already been realized by one.

** The physical ascension: The Ascended Masters teach that in the ritual of the ascension, the soul is united with the white-fire body of the I AM Presence. This does not require the raising of the physical body; the soul itself may take flight from the mortal coil and be translated through the ascension process. In order to ascend, the candidate must have balanced at least 51 percent of his karma. In order to make a physical ascension, he must have balanced between 95 and 100 percent of his karma. When a physical ascension takes place, the physical body is transformed by and superseded by the Ascended-Master Light Body.

During the ascension ritual, the soul becomes permanently clothed with this Body, also called the "wedding garment," or the Deathless Solar Body. Serapis Bey describes the process in his Dossier on the Ascension: "The flame above (in the heart of the Presence) magnetizes the flame below (the threefold flame within the heart) and the wedding garment descends around the silver cord to envelop the lifestream of the individual in those tangible and vital essence currents of the ascension. Tremendous changes then take place in the form below, and the four lower bodies of man are cleansed of all impurities.

Lighter and lighter grows the physical form, and with the weightlessness of helium the body begins to rise into the atmosphere, the gravitational pull being loosened and the form enveloped by the light of the externalized glory which man knew with the Father 'in the beginning' . . . The individual ascends, then, not in an earthly body but in a glorified spiritual body into which the physical form is changed on the instant by total immersion in the great God flame" (see Dossier on the Ascension, pp. 157-59, 175-77).

In a dictation given October 2, 1989, the Ascended Master Rex told us that those who are called to the physical ascension must have had many thousands of years of preparation. Today most people whose souls qualify for the ritual of the ascension ascend from inner levels after the soul has departed the physical body. The soul attains union with the Mighty I AM Presence to become a permanent atom in the Body of God just as she does in a physical ascension.

The Catholic doctrine on the "assumption" of Mary and the ascension of Jesus parallels the teachings of the Ascended Masters on the physical ascension. The Catholic Church teaches that the bodies worn by Mary and Jesus on earth were translated and perfected into the incorruptible spiritual bodies they now wear in heaven. This is analogous to what the Ascended Masters teach happens in a physical ascension.

The Ascended Masters' Teachings illumine us further, however, as to how this divine alchemy actually occurs, as described by Serapis Bey above. Some points where Catholic theology and Ascended Master teaching differ are as follows: According to Catholic doctrine, Mary and Jesus were unique because they were "conceived without sin" and remained perfectly sinless throughout their lives. Hence, it would not be meet that their physical bodies should be corrupted in a grave. In the Catholic perspective, Jesus would naturally ascend at the end of his mission because, although he had an earthly body, he also had a full divine nature.

Catholic doctrine holds that because Mary was human like us, she is an "exception to the rule" in that she did not have to wait until the Second Coming of Christ for her bodily resurrection. The Ascended Masters set before each of us the goal of balancing at least 51 percent of our karma and ascending at the end of this life. They teach that it is possible—if we balance 95 to 100 percent of our karma-to ascend physically.

However, we have each lived many times before. The Ascended Masters teach that the path of karma-balancing and spiritual progress leading to the ascension is not accomplished in one lifetime but through many incarnations. The many bodies worn during the soul's earthly sojourn are not resurrected at the end of time; but all souls who ascend, whether in a physical ascension or not, are permanently clothed at the hour of their ascension in their Ascended-Master Light Body. Jesus and Mary set the example for all to follow. They are joined in heaven by countless saints who have also attained their soul's victory through the divinely ordained ritual of the ascension.