+ Today we celebrate a great feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The
wording of the Dogma of the Assumption made by Pope Pius XII on this date in
1950 proclaiming this fact is this: “when the course of her earthly life was
finished,” the Blessed Virgin Mary “was taken up body and soul into the glory
of heaven.” This definition does not take a position on the long-disputed
question of whether Mary actually died. There are sound arguments on both sides of
this debate, with the opinion favoring the fact that she did die, if only
momentarily, or for a short while, being by far the stronger: this is supported
not only by Scripture, but also the writings of the early Fathers of the
Church.
Mary experiences this assumption into heaven to be the first
to fully participate in her Son’s
redemption; to be our hope and our model of right Christian living that
will lead to where she and her Son have gone; and to become the True Mother of the Church – the tender,
consoling, loving mother of all who yearn for salvation and need a mother’s
helping hand to guide them.
The feast began in the East in
the fifth century and in the west by the seventh.
O
blessed Lady, clothed with the sun, with the moon under your feet, and on your
head a crown of twelve stars – pray for us this day! Pray for us as we, along
with all generations, call you blessed and see you as our life, our sweetness
and our hope!
All you angels of heaven: exult, as the
Mother of the King takes her place at his side – to intercede for us – to pray
for the sanctification of the Church and the world!
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