August 15th is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a Holy Day of Obligation. It is an ancient feast of the Church, celebrated universally by at least the 6th century. According to tradition, all of the Apostles were present when Our Lady came to the end of her earthly life and peacefully went to be with Christ in Heaven, an event also known as the "Dormition of Mary." The tomb where her body was laid was found empty, her body being taken up into heaven a short time after she passed into eternal life. The Church's historic belief that the Virgin Mary is presently in heaven reigning as the Queen of Heaven and Earth, in body and soul, next to her Divine Son, was pronounced as infallible dogma in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. The bodily Assumption of Jesus' mother into heaven is a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time. † Quote of the Day "Love Mary! She is loveable, faithful, constant. She will never let herself be outdone in love, but will ever remain supreme. If you are in danger, she will hasten to free you. If you are troubled, she will console you. If you are sick, she will bring you relief. If you are in need, she will help you. She does not look to see what kind of person you have been. She simply comes to a heart that wants to love her." — St. Gabriel Possenti Today's Meditation "Let us say boldly with St. Bernard that we have need of a mediator with the Mediator Himself, and that it is the divine Mary who is the most capable of filling that charitable office. It was through her that Jesus Christ came to us, and it is through her that we must go to Him. If we fear to go directly to Jesus Christ, our God, whether because of His infinite greatness or because of our vileness or because of our sins, let us boldly implore the aid and intercession of Mary, our Mother. She is good, she is tender, she has nothing in her austere and forbidding, nothing too sublime and too brilliant. In seeing her, we see our pure nature." —St. Louis de Montfort, p. 42
An excerpt from True Devotion to Mary Daily Verse "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access [by faith] to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us." — Romans 5:1-5 | St. Tarcisius St. Tarcisius (3rd c.) was a boy who lived during the persecution of Roman Emperor Valerian. When the Christians would secretly celebrate daily Mass in the catacombs, a deacon would be sent to carry the Holy Eucharist to the Christians waiting in prison to be executed. At one point there was no deacon to send, and so St. Tarcisius, a twelve-year-old acolyte, was sent to carry the "Holy Mysteries" to the prisoners. One day, on his way, he was stopped by pagan boys his own age with whom he would sometimes play games. They asked him to play, but Tarcisius declined because of the holy mission on which he had been sent. The crowd of boys became curious about what he was carrying, and soon discovered that he was a Christian. In their profane desire to see the holy secret he so carefully guarded, they descended on him as a mob and beat him. Tarcisius was courageous and refused to surrender the Blessed Sacrament. A fellow Christian came to his rescue and carried his bloodied body back to the catacombs. Tarcisius died from his injuries along the way. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Callistus, and his relics are kept in the church of San Silvestro. Legend has it that the consecrated Host disappeared during the attack. St. Tarcisius is the patron of altar boys and first communicants. His feast day is August 15th. | Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Reading 1 Rv 11:19A; 12:1-6A, 10AB God's temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed One." Responsorial Psalm PS 45:10, 11, 12, 16 R. (10bc) The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
The queen takes her place at your right hand in gold of Ophir.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear,
forget your people and your father's house.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
So shall the king desire your beauty;
for he is your lord.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
They are borne in with gladness and joy;
they enter the palace of the king.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold. Reading II 1 Cor 15:20-27 Brothers and sisters:
Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through man,
the resurrection of the dead came also through man.
For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
but each one in proper order:
Christ the firstfruits;
then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;
then comes the end,
when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father,
when he has destroyed every sovereignty
and every authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death,
for "he subjected everything under his feet." Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Mary is taken up to heaven;
a chorus of angels exults.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 1:39-56 Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."
And Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever."
Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.
| Daily Meditation: Luke 1:39-56 All generations will call me blessed. (Luke 1:48) Did you know that letters and historical records from the first century AD all testify that Mary's tomb contains no body? Or that no relics of her exist apart from her shroud? That's some pretty strong evidence backing up the ancient tradition that Our Lady was assumed body and soul into heaven! Think about Mary's life for a moment. She didn't preach to multitudes or perform mighty miracles like the apostles did. She didn't write any great epistles, found any churches, or travel to the ends of the earth. So we shouldn't assume that Mary's assumption was some kind of reward she "earned" by doing all sorts of wondrous deeds. Quite the opposite, in fact. Rather than launch her into a life of miracles and missionary greatness, Mary's yes to the angel introduced her to a different adventure: a pregnancy surrounded by scandal. Giving birth in a stable. Fleeing to Egypt as a refugee. Watching her son perform miracle after miracle even as he endured opposition. She stood by helpless as he suffered a horrible death on a cross, but then rejoiced in his resurrection and eagerly welcomed the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost. Then, at the end of a life lived in faithful humility, she received the ultimate gift of the assumption. Today's feast is both an enduring sign of God's deep love for Mary and a prophetic sign of what awaits us as we follow in her footsteps of humble discipleship. Mary's assumption tells us that God sees each of us. He sees our sacrifices. He sees our faithfulness. He sees our attempts—both successful and unsuccessful—to love as he loves. He sees it all and he honors it all, and he longs for the day when he will bring us, body and soul, into his heavenly courts. So let Mary's example comfort you today. Let it encourage you to say yes to God in ways that may be uncomfortable. Remember that Mary, your mother, understands the cost of discipleship—and the rewards. And she is praying for you every day! "Blessed Mary, full of grace, thank you for blazing the trail of discipleship for all of us!" Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10
Psalm 45:10-12, 16
1 Corinthians 15:20-27 |  Hear AI Read it to you. Updated 7/10/24 | Reflections with Brother Adrian: | In the Holy Scripture we hear today:
""My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever....." end quote. | Anyone who does not "believe in Mary", or anyone who claims that we "worship" Mary, knows very little about Mary and her role in salvation history. Mother Mary is the topmost saint and Christ follower in the world, until today. And I say "until today" because just because we say "until" does not mean tomorrow will be any different. She will ALWAYS be the topmost saint and Christ lover. And for that, we are filled with grace when we pray with her like St. Elizabeth did with Saint John the Baptist in her womb exclaiming: ""Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"
It is in the Gospel of Luke! Saint Elizabeth calls her "the mother of MY LORD". It wasn't made up by the Catholic Church later. Heavens no! We have not made anything up but perpetuated and sometimes aggrandized what has been there from the beginning.
So what is all the hype about the feast we celebrate today? Why is going to Mass today a Holy Obligation, meaning, there could be hell to pay if we do not oblige? What is the assumption? There aren't that many bodies in Heaven, physical bodies that we know were assumed into Heaven, except that of our Lord at His Ascension to Heaven and one more great prophet that was persecuted and was left as the last true prophet, and that was Elijah. There is nowhere in the bible that states the Assumption of Mary. But the Church goes beyond the books of the bible. We are not like protestants who have taken the bible us Catholics wrote and then declare "bible alone" theology. There is no mention of the Holy Trinity concept in the bible, but we have made it a known fact of our creed as well. But there are credible accounts for the assumption, eye witnesses and tradition, and simply faith to assume our Mother is impeccable in Heaven today as she was pure and perfect on earth, and this is where we had already celebrated her "Immaculate Conception" a creation of God not like typical man born into sin, but she is preserved and reserved to be the Ark, the carrier of God.
If you want to take it a step further into science, a mother is said to carry literal parts of her children in her womb implanted by a child, and this means if Christ is Ascended, so has she. She belongs to God as God belongs to her precious body and soul.
What I do not like about protestants is the vile hatred and animosity towards our Mother in Heaven. If they only knew she is the best mother wanting us to die for Love and God is Love, because she died for Love of God. The only "relic" we have is perhaps her shroud, but also, a little one room house that has been preserved for all time...the house of a soul and beautiful little girl, that forever has been called Blessed since the day she touched the earth, from the time Christ entered her body, and is in Heaven, as it is on earth. We have a mother like no other. Your mom is not perfect, but our Mother in Heaven, she is so beautiful, her soul, her smile, her suffering cares for us to turn to God our Father.
Mother in Heaven, please pray for us. Keep us closer and closer to Our Father God and Creator, that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ! |  audio | Random Bible Verse 1
Proverbs 16:19 [Proverbs 16] 19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit Going4th.com
God Bless You! Peace | | |
