Today the 15th August is the FEAST OF ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. It is also a SOLEMNITY. Mary-Blessed Mother-Blessed Virgin-Holy Virgin Mary-Madonna-Mother of God-Notre Dame-Queen-Our Lady! Mary is the the woman of all named, all faces, all nation. And all Generations shall called me BLESSED was her first word in the Scripture. Though we have little historical data about Marys personality, she stands forth as a potent symbol of what it means to be true follower of Jesus Christ.No other woman has shed so much light on the history of the world and of the Church. No other woman has been so graced by God like VIRGIN MARY. Even today, Mary is as relevant as she has been throughout the 2000 years history of the Church. Mary is also highly revered in Islam. The revelations to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) between A.D 610-632, recorded in the Quran, are considered by our Muslim brethren to be the very voice of God. The 19th Surat is titled MIRY-AM and is the only Surat devoted to a specified woman. It speaks of Mary as the bearer of the Word of God, the Virgin Mother of Jesus whom they honor as a prophet preceding Muhammad. About the death of MARY, we also have no accurate information. According to tradition and the apocryphal Passing of Mary, she lived out her life as a respected member of the Ephesus community under the care of John the Apostle. Jesus said Woman, behold thy Son and to Apostle John John behold thy Mother -Gospel according to St. John 19:25-27. In Ephesus today, one can visit the site where Mary supposedly lived. Another tradition claims Mary died in Jerusalem, where the Church of the Dormition stands today. In 325, Council of Nicene on the Apostolic Creed defended the Virginity of Mary. In 431, the Council of Ephesus where she lived resolved and declared Jesus to be God, a divine person possessing two distinct natures, divine and human. Because Mary gave birth to Jesus who is God, Mary logically is the THEOTOKOS Mother of God. The pronouncement of this dogma was a theological milestone, and Mary gained a highly respected profile in the Church. Marian feast were established, Mary was mentioned in every liturgy, and churches were named after her. In fact, St. Mary Major in Rome, built in the 5th century, is today the largest church in Marys honor. The Apocryphal works, of course, with many non scriptural legends, gradually lost their popular appeal when Pope Gelasius in 495 decreed that only the Scriptures are to be read in public liturgy, but devotion to Mary did not suffer as a result. Thus the first 500 years, Mary, Mother of God, exemplified the perfect disciple and Christian. Years 600 and 1000 are generally called the Dark Ages, significant strides in Marian understanding took place. Liturgical reforms of the time, for example, brought the majesty of the Byzantine East and the Roman imperial courts into Western liturgical worship, and thus Mary - THEOTOKOS, Mother of God - was honored as queen and pictured seated on a throne. With time, an increased popularity and belief in Marys Assumption and her intimacy with Jesus in heaven led believers to consider Mary to be a powerful mediator. This was carried to such a degree that God was seen as a wrathful who forgives only when Mary intercedes. Mary was invoked as Refuge of Sinners and Mediatrix of all Graces. During this period also, five Marian feast were generally observed: Mary, Mother of God (January 1); Marys Birthday (September 8); The Annunciation (March 25); The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (February 2); and the Assumption or Dormition of Mary (August 15). After the East separated from the West in 1094, forming the Orthodox Church, the religious spirit in the West was kept alive in the many monasteries that mushroomed over the countryside. Within these communities, the monks looked to Mary for spiritual inspiration and meticulously preserved her heritage in artfully executed manuscripts. The fruits is a treasured body of Marian literature - treatises, sermons, prayers, liturgical offices, Masses, public proclamations - any of which are extant today. In 1545-1563, the Council of Trent defended the Churchs stand and upheld devotions in honor to Mary. Because of this stand, Mario-logy became a separate branch of theology in Catholic Major training Institute - the Major Seminaries world wide. In 1854, Pope Pius IX declare the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, apparition and visions increased, intensifying Marian devotion. Since then, over 5,000 Marys apparitions all over the world were recorded. e.g > Mary appeared in France in 1830 > Mary appeared in Lourdes in 1858 > Mary appeared at La Salette in 1846 > Mary appeared Knock, Ireland in 1879 > Mary appeared at Fatima, Portugal 1n 1917 > Mary appeared at Aupe, Benue State, Nigeria, 1994 and so no and so forth, signifying that Our Mother is alive in heaven. On the Assumption of the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, Pope Pius XII defined as a truth revealed by God that the Immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, when the course of her life on earth was finished, was taken up body and soul into heaven. Such is the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Exercising the Papal infallibility and with over 500,000 faithfuls gathered in St. Peter square, Pope Pius XII made the following declaration: By the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and defined 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 It was surely fitting, it was becoming, that she should be taken up into heaven and not lie in the grave till Christs second coming, one who had passed a life of sanctity and of miracles such as hers...... who can conceived that God should so repay the debt, which He considered to own to His Mother for the elements of His human body, as to allow the flesh and blood from which it was taken to molder in the grave? Or who can conceive that that virginal frame which never sinned was to undergo the death of a sinner?...... She died, then, because even our Lord and Savior death. But though she died as well as others, she died not as others die; for, through the merits of her Son, by whom she was what she was, by the grace of Christ which in her had anticipated sin, which had filled her with light, which had purified her flesh from all defilement, she had been saved from disease and ,malady, and all that weakens and decays the bodily frame (Cardinal Newman) Jesus and Mary both passed through the gate of death into heaven. In her own way, Mary was crucified with Jesus just as She was born the same way Jesus (Immaculate Conception - Free from both Original and Personal Sin) was born. She patiently stayed on earth, after His Ascension, so long as God willed and assumed into heaven. From her place in heaven she still abides invisibly with us, ever our refuge, our comforter, our hope. Through the Communion of Saints, of which she is the Queen, we share in the joy and glory of her Assumption, to which the Entrance Song of the Mass of August 15 gives us the key. PRAYER: Almighty, ever-living God, You raised to eternal glory the body and soul of the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Your Son. Grant that our minds may always be directed heavenward and that we may deserve to share in her glory. Amen. SOURCE: 1. Lives of the Saints for everyday of the year Illustrated. Catholic Book Publishing Company, By Rev. Hugo Hoever, S.O.Cist., Ph.D. New Jersey. 2. What you should know about Mary, By Charlene Altemose, MSC.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 11:15:59 +0000
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