Solemnity of
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary“The Virgin Mary is exalted above the choirs of angels;
let all believers rejoice and bless the Lord.”(Antiphon 2 of Morning Prayer, Liturgy of the Hours)
“In their homilies and sermons on this feast the holy fathers and great doctors spoke of the assumption of the Mother of God as something already familiary and accepted by the faithful. They gave it greater clarity in their preaching and used more profound arguments in setting out its nature and meaning. Above all, they brought out more clearly the fact that what is commemorated in this feast is not simply the total absence of corruption from the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary but also the triumph over death and her glorification in heaven, after the pattern set by her only Son, Jesus Christ …”
(From the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus by Pope Pius XII defining the Dogma of the Assumption, November 1, 1950, from the Second Reading, Office of Readings, Liturgy of the Hours).
Art: Himmelfahrt Mariens, Mariano Salvador Maella, by 1819, PD-US author’s life plus 100 years or less, Wikimedia Commons.
