Feast of Our Mama Mary’s Assumption

Today, August 15, Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Assumption - “the spiritual and physical departure of the mother of Jesus Christ from the earth, when both her soul and her body were taken into the presence of God.”

In https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-814 - accounts note that “for 200 years, every memory of Jesus was obliterated from the city of Jerusalem, including sites made holy by His life/death and Resurrection which became pagan temples.

After the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 336, the sacred sites began to be restored, memories of the life of Our Lord began to be celebrated in Jerusalem.

One of the memories about his mother centered around the "Tomb of Mary," close to Mount Zion, where the early Christian community had lived.

On the hill itself was the "Place of Dormition," the spot of Mary's "falling asleep," where she had died. The "Tomb of Mary" was where she was buried.

The "Memory of Mary" was being celebrated only in Palestine but this feast was extended to all the churches of the East.

In the seventh century, the feast began to be celebrated in Rome under the title of the "Falling Asleep" ("Dormitio") of the Mother of God.

The Feast was later changed to "Assumption of Mary," since there was more to the feast than her dying.”

Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Dogma of Mama Mary’s assumption, body and soul into heaven in 1950, November 1.

In his Apostolic Constitution “Munificentissimus Deus” (Most Bountiful God), he wrote:

“by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce/declare/define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

This Feast is a happy reminder to those who profess their faith in the “Resurrection of the body” and in “life everlasting.”

The Assumption is a reassuring reminder /sign “of sure hope and comfort” for believers and the ultimate goal/meaning of their life journey.

“The fact that Mary has already been assumed into heaven is a reason to celebrate/ rejoice/hope in the “already and the not yet.”

“With her, and like her, God’s creatures will one day be there too.

Mary’s destiny presages the destiny of all those who are united to the Lord Jesus in faith and love.”

Saint Paul VI shared this “Prayer to Mary, Assumed into Heaven:”

“Immaculate Mary, Assumed into heaven, you who are most blessed in the vision of God: of God the Father who exalted you among all creatures, of God the Son who willed that you bear Him as your Son and that you should be His Mother, of God the Holy Spirit who accomplished the human conception of the Savior in you.

O Mary, most pure, o Mary, most sweet and beautiful, o Mary, strong and thoughtful woman, o Mary, poor and sorrowful, o Mary, virgin and mother woman very human like Eve, more than Eve.

You are near to God by your grace and by your privileges, in your mysteries, in your mission, in your glory.

O Mary, assumed into the glory of Christ, in the complete and transfigured perfection of our human nature.

O Mary, gate of heaven, mirror of divine light, ark of the Covenant between God and mankind, let our souls fly after you let them fly long your radiant path, transported by a hope that the world does not contain eternal beatitude.

Comfort us from heaven, O merciful Mother, and guide us along your ways of purity and hope till the day of that blessed meeting with you and with your divine Son, our Savior, Jesus. Amen!”