On this great feast day the Church commemorates the happy departure from mortal life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Her translation into the kingdom of Her Son, where He crowned Her with immortal glory and enthroned Her above all the other Saints and heavenly spirits. The Feast of the Assumption is one of the most important feast days of the year and a Holy Day of Obligation on the official Roman Catholic Church calendar. However, when the feast day falls on a Monday or Saturday, the obligation to attend Mass is dissolved. The Feast of Assumption is the oldest feast day of Our Lady, an ancient feast of the Church, celebrated universally by at least the 6th century but we don’t know how it first came to be celebrated. According to tradition, all of the Apostles were present when Our Lady came to the end of her earthly life and peacefully went to be with Christ in Heaven, an event also known as the “Dormition of Mary.” The tomb where her body was laid was found empty, her body being taken up into heaven a short time after she passed into eternal life. The Church’s historic belief that the Virgin Mary is presently in heaven reigning as the Queen of Heaven and Earth, in body and soul, next to her Divine Son, was pronounced as infallible dogma in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. The bodily Assumption of Jesus’ mother into heaven is a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time.
On November 1, 1950, Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption. Thus he solemnly proclaimed that the belief whereby the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the close of her earthly life, was taken up, body and soul, into the glory of heaven, definitively forms part of the deposit of faith, received from the Apostles. To avoid all that is uncertain the Pope did not state either the manner or the circumstances of time and place in which the Assumption took place — only the fact of the Assumption of Mary, body and soul, into the glory of heaven, is the matter of the definition. With that, an ancient belief became Catholic doctrine and the Assumption was declared a truth revealed by God. Today’s feast of the Assumption declares that the end of Mary’s earthly life was really a beginning, the beginning of her powerful intercession in heaven for all of us. Her Assumption is the beginning of an era when all generations would call her blessed, in the words of Mary’s Magnificat. The Assumption completes God’s work in her since it was not fitting that the flesh that had given life to God Himself should ever undergo corruption. The Assumption is God’s crowning of His work as Mary ends her earthly life and enters eternity. The feast turns our eyes in that direction, where we will follow when our earthly life is over. Jesus and Mary both passed through the gate of death into heaven. In her own way, Mary was crucified with Jesus. She patiently stayed on earth, after His Ascension, so long as God willed. From her place in heaven she still abides invisibly with us, ever our refuge, our comfort, our hope. Through the Communion of Saints, of which she is the Queen, we share in the joy and glory of her Assumption, to which the Entrance Antiphon of the Mass of August 15 gives us the key. “Let us rejoice in the Lord and celebrate this feast in honor of the Virgin Mary, at whose Assumption the angels rejoice, giving praise to the Son of God.”
HAIL MARY: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.🙏
THE MEMORARE: Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen 🙏
PRAYER: Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant we pray, that, always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever… Amen🙏
SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY INTO HEAVEN (Holy Day of Obligation) | FEAST DAY: AUGUST 15TH | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/solemnity-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/
Our Lady of the Assumption Novena link: https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/novena-to-our-lady-of-the-assumption/
Daily Reflections with Philomena | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/