This coming Thursday, August 15, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. This Solemnity is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning that all Catholics are obliged to attend Holy Mass either at the vigil (night before) or on the day of the Solemnity. Please see the Holy Mass schedule for the Solemnity in this bulletin.
Also, I encourage you to plan to participate in our annual procession in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary next Sunday, August 18. The procession will begin at the Church of St. Michael after the 10:30am Holy Mass.
Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches us about the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
“Since the Virgin Mary's role in the mystery of Christ and the Spirit has been treated, it is fitting now to consider her place in the mystery of the Church. ‘The Virgin Mary . . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the Redeemer. . . She is 'clearly the Mother of the members of Christ' . . . since she has by her Charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its Head.’ (Lumen Gentium 53) ‘Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church.’” (Paul VI, Discourse, Nov.21, 1964)
Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. ‘This union of the Mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to His death’; (Lumen Gentium 57) it is made manifest above all at the hour of His Passion:
Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of Faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the Cross. There she stood, in keeping with the Divine Plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of His suffering, joining herself with His sacrifice in her Mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the Cross, as a Mother to His disciple, with these words: ‘Woman, behold your son.’ (Lumen Gentium 58; see John 19:26-27)
After her Son's Ascension, Mary ‘aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers.’ (Lumen Gentium 69) In her association with the apostles and several women, ‘we also see Mary by her prayers implor-ing the Gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation.’ (Lumen Gentium 59)
‘Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of Origi-nal Sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly Glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.’ (LG 59; see Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus (1950); see Revelation 19:16) The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death. (Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion, Feast of the Domition, August 15)
By her complete adherence to the Father's Will, to His Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of Faith and Charity. Thus she is a ‘preeminent and…wholly unique member of the Church’; indeed, she is the ‘exemplary realization’ (typus) (Lumen Gentium 53, 63) of the Church. Her role in relation to the Church and to all ) humanity goes still further. ‘In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her Obedience, Faith, Hope, and burning Charity in the Savior's work of restoring Supernatural Life to souls. For this reason she is a Mother to us in the Order of Grace.’ (Lumen Gentium 61)
‘This Motherhood of Mary in the Order of Grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the Cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to Heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of Eternal Salvation . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.’ (Lumen Gentium 62)
‘Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on His mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it." (Lumen Gentium 60) "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by His ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among His creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source.’ (Lumen Gentium 62)
‘All generations will call me blessed’: ‘The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.’ (See Luke 1:48; Paul VI, Marialis cultus 56) The Church rightly honors ‘the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion. . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the Incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.’ (Lumen Gentium 66) The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the Rosary, an ‘epitome of the whole Gospel,’ express this devotion to the Virgin Mary. (See Paul VI, Marialis cultus 42; Sacrosanctum concilium 103)” (CCC 963-973)
Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother Mary, Assumed into Heaven Body and Soul, St. Joseph, and our patrons, St. Michael and St. Paul, may God bless you, your families and our parishes!
In Christ through Mary,
Fr. Kasel
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