August 15
SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION
OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.
DAILY MASS AND GOSPEL COMMENTARIES.
August 15
SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION
OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.
Ideas of today’s liturgy and Divine Office 2nd reading
OUTLINE
- Some ideas of the liturgy of today’s Solemnity
- Liturgy of the Hours 2nd reading. The Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Your body is holy and glorious
1. Some ideas of the liturgy of today’s Solemnity
Today’s solemnity celebrates the fact that the Virgin Mary has been the first member of the Church that has already reached the resurrection of the dead.
The queen takes her place at your right hand in gold of Ophir (Psalm 44, Resp. Psalm)
- The beginning and the image of the Church, which will one day be glorified, the Blessed Virgin Mary was carried to heaven in body and soul, thus, being the consolation and hope of the People of God, who are still pilgrims on earth. The Lord did not want the Woman who, through the Holy Spirit, conceived the author of life in her womb (Preface) to experience the corruption of the tomb.
“For today the Virgin Mother of God was assumed into heaven, as the beginning and image of your Church’s coming to perfection and a sign of sure hope and comfort to your pilgrim people; rightly you would not allow her to see the corruption of the tomb since from her own body she marvelously brought forth your incarnate Son, the Author of all life.”
Pope Benedict XVI, commenting on today’s Gospel preached:
“The Feast of the Assumption is a day of joy. God has won. Love has won. It has won life. Love has shown that it is stronger than death, that God possesses the true strength and that his strength is goodness and love.
Mary was taken up body and soul into Heaven: there is even room in God for the body. Heaven is no longer a very remote sphere unknown to us.
We have a mother in Heaven. And the Mother of God, the Mother of the Son of God, is our Mother. He himself has said so. He made her our Mother when he said to the disciple and to all of us: “Behold, your Mother!”. We have a Mother in Heaven. Heaven is open, Heaven has a heart. […] my soul “magnifies” the Lord, that is, “proclaims the greatness” of the Lord. Mary wanted God to be great in the world, great in her life and present among us all. She was not afraid that God might be a “rival” in our life, that with his greatness he might encroach on our freedom, our vital space. She knew that if God is great, we too are great. Our life is not oppressed but raised and expanded: it is precisely then that it becomes great in the splendour of God.
Only if God is great is humankind also great. With Mary, we must begin to understand that this is so. We must not drift away from God but make God present; we must ensure that he is great in our lives. Thus, we too will become divine; all the splendour of the divine dignity will then be ours. Let us apply this to our own lives.
It is important that God be great among us, in public and in private life.
In public life, it is important that God be present, for example, through the cross on public buildings, and that he be present in our community life, for only if God is present do we have an orientation, a common direction; otherwise, disputes become impossible to settle, for our common dignity is no longer recognized.
Let us make God great in public and in private life. This means making room for God in our lives every day, starting in the morning with prayers, and then dedicating time to God, giving Sundays to God. We do not waste our free time if we offer it to God. If God enters into our time, all time becomes greater, roomier, richer.” (Homily, 15th August 2005)
And today we ask through the intercession of the Virgin Mary that one day we come to participate with her in the glory of the resurrection (Prayer and prayer after the communion).
- Having received the Sacrament of salvation, we ask you to grant, O Lord, that, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom you assumed into heaven, we may be brought to the glory of the resurrection. (Prayer after Communion).
2. Liturgy of the Hours 2nd reading. The Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Your body is holy and glorious
In their sermons and speeches on the feast day of the Assumption of the Mother of God, the holy fathers and the great doctors of the church were speaking of something that the faithful already knew and accepted: all they did was to bring it out into the open, to explain its meaning and substance in other terms. Above all, they made it most clear that this feast commemorated not merely the fact that the blessed Virgin Mary did not experience bodily decay, but also her triumph over death and her heavenly glory, following the example of her only Son, Jesus Christ.
Thus St John Damascene, who is the greatest exponent of this tradition, compares the bodily Assumption of the revered Mother of God with her other gifts and privileges: It was right that she who had kept her virginity unimpaired through the process of giving birth should have kept her body without decay through death. It was right that she who had given her Creator, as a child, a place at her breast should be given a place in the dwelling-place of her God. It was right that the bride espoused by the Father should dwell in the heavenly bridal chamber. It was right that she who had gazed on her Son on the cross, her heart pierced at that moment by the sword of sorrow that she had escaped at his birth, should now gaze on him seated with his Father. It was right that the Mother of God should possess what belongs to her Son and to be honoured by every creature as the God’s Mother and handmaid.
St Germanus of Constantinople considered that the preservation from decay of the body of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, and its elevation to heaven as being not only appropriate to her Motherhood but also to the peculiar sanctity of its virgin state: It is written, that you appear in beauty, and your virginal body is altogether holy, altogether chaste, altogether the dwelling-place of God; from which it follows that it is not in its nature to decay into dust, but that it is transformed, being human, into a glorious and incorruptible life, the same body, living and glorious, unharmed, sharing in perfect life.
Another very ancient author asserts: Being the most glorious Mother of Christ our saviour and our God, the giver of life and immortality, she is given life by him and shares bodily incorruptibility for all eternity with him who raised her from the grave and drew her up to him in a way that only he can understand.
All that the holy fathers say refers ultimately to Scripture as a foundation, which gives us the vivid image of the great Mother of God as being closely attached to her divine Son and always sharing his lot.
It is important to remember that from the second century onwards the holy fathers have been talking of the Virgin Mary as the new Eve for the new Adam: not equal to him, of course, but closely joined with him in the battle against the enemy, which ended in the triumph over sin and death that had been promised even in Paradise. The glorious resurrection of Christ is essential to this victory and its final prize, but the blessed Virgin’s share in that fight must also have ended in the glorification of her body. For as the Apostle says: When this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the scripture will be fulfilled that says “Death is swallowed up in victory”.
So then, the great Mother of God, so mysteriously united to Jesus Christ from all eternity by the same decree of predestination, immaculately conceived, an intact virgin throughout her divine motherhood, a noble associate of our Redeemer as he defeated sin and its consequences, received, as it were, the final crowning privilege of being preserved from the corruption of the grave and, following her Son in his victory over death, was brought, body and soul, to the highest glory of heaven, to shine as Queen at the right hand of that same Son, the immortal King of Ages.
Responsory
℟. Here again is the wonderful day on which the Virgin Mary was taken up into heaven. We all praise her with the words:* Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
℣. Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of praise: through you has risen the Sun of justice, Christ our God.* Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Let us pray.
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.
SEE AS WELL:
August 15 ASSUMPTION MASS PRAYERS AND READINGS in https://catholicsstrivingforholiness.org/aug-15-assumption-of-our-lady-solemnity-mass-prayers-and-readings/
August 15. SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY. Significance and Consequences. AV summary + full text in https://catholicsstrivingforholiness.org/august-15-solemnity-of-the-assumption-of-our-lady-significance-and-consequences-av-summary-full-text/
VIDEO COMMENTARY
TOPIC: WHY DO WE CELEBRATE THE FEAST OF THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY?
Today we celebrate the feast of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Catholics believe that when she died, Mary went to heaven body and soul, where the Lord exalted her as Queen of Heaven (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #966). We reflect today on Mary’s action in the gospel reading of carrying Jesus in her womb to Elizabeth.
TOPIC 2: Does the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary mean anything for us?
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