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Friends of the Rosary,
Today, August 15, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation for Catholics.
In 1950, Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church in these words: “The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven.”
Pius Parsch, in The Church’s Year of Grace, wrote:
“Now, toward the end of summer, when fruits are ripe in the gardens and fields, the Church celebrates the most glorious “harvest festival” in the Communion of Saints. Mary, the supremely blessed one among women, Mary, the most precious fruit that has ripened in the fields of God’s kingdom, is today taken into the granary of heaven.”
The celebration of the Assumption is the oldest feast day of Our Lady. It was the “Memory of Mary.” Its origin is traced to when Jerusalem was restored as a sacred city during the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337).
On a hill near Mount Zion in Palestine was the “Place of Dormition,” the spot of Mary’s “falling asleep.”
The belief in the Assumption dates back to the apostles themselves. Mary expired in the presence of the disciples of Christ, and her tomb, when opened later, was found empty. The apostles concluded that the body was taken into heaven and transferred to the glory of eternity.
The location of that empty tomb is today the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition of Mary, a place of pilgrimage on the edge of Jerusalem.
In the seventh century, the feast was celebrated in Rome as the “Falling Asleep” (“Dormitio”) of the Mother of God.
Today, this solemnity day looks to eternity. It is not just the commemoration of a historical event. It also gives us hope to follow Our Lady when our lives are over.
Ave Maria!
Jesus, I Trust In You!
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
To Jesus through Mary!
+ Mikel Amigot | RosaryNetwork.com, New York
