Our faith The day Mary was assumed into heaven

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 physical departure of the mother of Jesus from the earth, when both her soul and her body were taken into the presence of God.

Pope 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 affirmed the dogma, contained the pope’s accounts of many long-standing traditions by which the Church has celebrated Mary’s 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 that 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” that “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 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 writings by St. John of Damascus, the eighth-century Christian theologian, monk and Doctor of the Church – 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 calendar date, although typically it is known as the Dormition (“falling asleep”) of Mary. Eastern Catholic celebration of the Dormition is preceded by a two-week period of fasting 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

Pope Francis

‘Ask yourself: Am I capable of praise?’

On the feast of Mary’s assumption into heaven, Pope Francis entrusted to her people’s prayers for peace, especially in Ukraine.

“The din of weapons drowns out attempts at dialogue,” the pope told an estimated 10,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square Aug. 15 to pray the Angelus with him.

“The law of force prevails over the force of law” and respect for human rights, “but we must not be discouraged,” the pope said. “Let’s continue to hope and pray because it is God, it is He who guides history. May He hear us.”

While the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Mary’s assumption, body and soul, into heaven, the day’s Gospel reading focused the Visitation, Mary’s decision to rush to visit her cousin Elizabeth when she heard the older woman also was expecting. The passage also includes the Magnificat, when Mary praises the greatness of God and all He has done for her.

“Mary ascends, and the word of God reveals to us what characterized her as she does so: service to her neighbor and praise to God,” Pope Francis told people in the square.

“In other words, Jesus and Mary travel the same road: two lives that ascend upward, glorifying God and serving their brothers and sisters,” the pope said.

Mary’s journey from Nazareth to visit Elizabeth was not short, the pope said. Serving others has a price, which everyone experiences “in the effort, the patience and the worry that taking care of another brings,” whether it is traveling for work to support one’s family or sleepless nights caring for a newborn or volunteering to care for those who can offer nothing in return.

“It is tiring, but it is ascending upward, it is earning heaven,” Pope Francis said.

The Gospel also makes clear how praise – especially of God but also of others –changes the quality of one’s actions and one’s life, he said.

Daily Scripture readings

AUG. 20-26

Sunday: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7, Romans 11:1315, 29-32, Matthew 15:21-28; Monday (St. Pius X): Judges 2:11-19, Matthew 19:16-22; Tuesday (The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary): Judges 6:11-24a, Matthew 19:23-30; Wednesday (St. Rose of Lima): Judges 9:6-15, Matthew 20:1-16; Thursday (St. Bartholomew): Revelation 21:9b-14, John 1:45-51; Friday (St. Louis, St. Joseph Calasanz): Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22, Matthew 22:34-40; Saturday: Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11, 4:13-17, Matthew 23:1-12

AUG. 27-SEPT. 2

Sunday: Isaiah 22:19-23, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20; Monday (St. Augustine): 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8b-10, Matthew 23:1322; Tuesday (The Passion of St. John the Baptist): 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Mark 6:17-29;

Wednesday: 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13, Matthew 23:27-32; Thursday: 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13, Matthew 24:42-51; Friday: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, Matthew 25:1-13; Saturday: 1

Thessalonians 4:9-11, Matthew 25:14-30

SEPT. 3-9

Sunday: Jeremiah 20:7-9, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 16:21-27; Monday: 1

Thessalonians 4:13-18, Luke 4:16-30; Tuesday:

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11, Luke 4:31-37;

Wednesday: Colossians 1:1-8, Luke 4:38-44;

Thursday: Colossians 1:9-14, Luke 5:1-11;

Friday (The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary): Micah 5:1-4a, Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23;

Saturday (St. Peter Claver): Colossians 1:2123, Luke 6:1-5

“Praise increases joy. Praise is like a ladder: it leads hearts upward,” he said. “Praise elevates souls and defeats the temptation to give up.”

“Haven’t you seen how boring people, those who live on gossip, are incapable of praise,” the pope asked the crowd.

“Ask yourself: Am I capable of praise?” he suggested. “How good it is to praise God every day, and others, too! How good it is to live in gratitude and blessing instead of regrets and complaints, to raise our gaze upward instead of keeping a long face!”