Our Faith

August 5, 2022 | catholicnewsherald.com

What is the Feast of the Assumption?

On Aug. 15, Catholics and many other Christians celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This significant feast day recalls 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.

Pope (now St.) Pius XII confirmed this belief about the Virgin Mary as the perennial teaching of the Church when he defined it formally as a dogma of Catholic faith in 1950, invoking papal infallibility to proclaim, “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.”

His Apostolic Constitution “Munificentissimus Deus” (“Most Bountiful God”), which defined the dogma, contained the pontiff’s accounts of many longstanding traditions by which the Church has celebrated the Assumption throughout its history.

The constitution also cited testimonies from the early Church fathers on the subject, and described the history of theological reflection on many Biblical passages which are seen as indicating that Mary was assumed into heaven following her death.

Although the bodily assumption of Mary is not explicitly recorded in Scripture, Catholic tradition identifies her with the “woman clothed with the sun” who is described in the 12th chapter of the Book of Revelation.

The passage calls that woman’s appearance “a great sign” which “appeared in heaven,” indicating that she is the mother of the Jewish Messiah and has “the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Accordingly, Catholic iconography of the Western tradition often depicts the Virgin Mary’s assumption into heaven in this manner.

Eastern Christians have also traditionally held Mary’s assumption into heaven as an essential component of their faith. Pius XII cited several early Byzantine liturgical texts, as well as the eighth-century Arab Christian theologian St. John of Damascus, in his own authoritative definition of her assumption.

“It was fitting,” St. John of Damascus wrote in a sermon on the assumption, “that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death,” and “that she, who had carried the creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles.”

In Eastern Christian tradition, the same feast is celebrated on the same date, although typically it is known as the “Dormition” (“falling asleep”) of Mary. Eastern Catholics’ celebration of the Dormition is preceded by a two-week period of fasting that is similar to Lent. Pius XII, in “Munificentissimus Deus,” mentioned this same fasting period as belonging to the traditional patrimony of Western Christians as well. — Catholic News Agency

The Feast of the Assumption recalls when Jesus’ mother was taken up, body and soul, into heaven.

“Assumption of Mary” by Nikolaos Doxaras (1750) on display in the National Gallery of Athens

Daily Scripture readings

JULY 24-30

Sunday: Genesis 18:20-32, Colossians 2:12-14, Luke 11:1-13; Monday (St. James, Apostle): 2 Corinthians 4:7-15, Matthew 20:20-28; Tuesday (Sts. Joachim, Anne): Jeremiah 14:17-22, Matthew 13:36-43; Wednesday: Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21, Matthew 13:44-46; Thursday: Jeremiah 18:1-6, Matthew 3:47-53; Friday (Sts. Martha, Mary & Lazarus): Jeremiah 26:1-9, John 11:19-27; Saturday: Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24, Matthew 14:1-12 JULY 31-AUG. 6

Sunday: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23, Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11, Luke 12:13-21; Monday (St. Alphonsus Liguori): Jeremiah 28:1-17, Matthew 14:13-21; Tuesday (St. Eusebius of Vercelli, St. Peter Julian Eymard): Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22, Matthew 14:2236; Wednesday: Jeremiah 31:1-7, Jeremiah 31:10-13, Matthew 15:21-28; Thursday (St. John Vianney): Jeremiah 31:31-34, Matthew 16:13-23; Friday (The dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major): Nahum 2:1, 3, 3:1-3, 6-7, Deuteronomy 32:35-36, 39, 41, Matthew 16:24-28; Saturday (The Transfiguration of the Lord): Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14, 2 Peter 1:16-19, Luke 9:28b-36 AUG. 7-13

Sunday: Wisdom 18:6-9, Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19, Luke 12:32-48; Monday (St. Dominic): Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28c, Matthew 17:22-27; Tuesday (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross): Ezekiel 2:8-3:4, Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14; Wednesday (St. Lawrence): 2 Corinthians 9:6-10, John 12:24-26; Thursday (St. Clare): Ezekiel 12:1-12, Matthew 18:2119:1; Friday (St. Jane Frances de Chantal): Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63, Isaiah 12:2-6, Matthew 19:3-12;Saturday (Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus): Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32, Matthew 19:13-15

Our faith

CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI 3

Pope Francis

Reflecting on a ‘penitential pilgrimage’ to Canada

Remembrance, reconciliation and healing from the Catholic Church’s past sins committed against Indigenous populations is a reminder that Christians can find hope amid their sins and failures, Pope Francis said.

Returning for the first general audience Aug. 3 following a month-long summer break, the pope reflected on his recent visit to Canada, which he said was “unlike the other journeys” he has made.

The main reason for his visit, he said, “was to meet the Indigenous peoples to express to them my closeness and my sorrow, and to ask for forgiveness for the harm done to them by those Christians, including many Catholics, who in the past collaborated in the forced assimilation and deracination policies of the governments of the time.”

Recalling the motto of the July 24-29 visit, “Walking Together,” the pope said it signified the “path of reconciliation and healing, which presupposes historical knowledge, listening to the survivors, awareness and above all conversion, a change of mentality” in the Church. His visit “was therefore a penitential pilgrimage. There were many joyful moments, but the overall meaning and tone was one of reflection, repentance and reconciliation.”

His meeting in Edmonton with the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples was not only a remembrance of “the good memory of the 1,000-year history of these peoples in harmony with their lands,” but also “the painful memory of the abuse they suffered, also in the residential schools, as a result of cultural assimilation policies.”

The pope affirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment in promoting “appropriate spiritual paths” while respecting the customs and languages of Indigenous peoples. However, he warned of the “colonizing mentality” that exists in today’s world in “various forms of ideological colonization” that threaten “the traditions, history and religious bonds of peoples, erasing differences, focusing only on the present and often neglecting duties toward the weakest and most fragile.

“It is therefore a matter of recovering a healthy balance, a harmony between modernity and ancestral cultures, between secularization and spiritual values,” the pope said.