Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Happy feast of the Assumption!

Today is a solemnity in the Church calendar--meaning that it among the higher ranking feasts that the Church celebrates--right up there with Christmas and Easter. It commemorates the end of the earthly life of Mary the Mother of God and the assumption of her body and soul into Heaven. In eastern churches, it's often called the Dormition of Mary, or her "falling asleep". (Many believe that God preserved Mary from bodily death and decay and merely took her to Heaven while she slept.)

Interestingly, the Assumption is one of only two doctrines that the Church has ever infallibly declared ex cathedra. Pope Pius XII in 1950 declared that Mary was "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, [who] on completion of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven." The other infallible doctrine is that of Mary's Immaculate Conception which was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

This feast has always been a favorite of mine. As a small child, I grew up attending an old traditional parish where there was an enormous mural of the Assumption over the sanctuary. Even before I was old enough to receive the Sacraments, I remember staring up at that mural and could almost feel as though I were there, present among the angels as Mary's body and soul were assumed into Heaven. Later, August 15 would become a day around which my family and I would volunteer our time at a Marian Shrine in Ohio which commemorated this feast way with great pomp by hosting several thousands of pilgrims and hosts of priests and bishops for an annual 3-day triduum pilgrimage. And if you attended Mass today, you would have heard the Magnificat in the Gospel--the Virgin Mary's joyous prayer she uttered in response to her cousin Elizabeth's greeting. We chose John Michael Talbot's Holy is His Name at our wedding when we placed flowers on Mary's altar.

Today I am simply struck once again by Mary's fiat...entrusting her complete, utter and irrevocable faith and trust in God and His plan.

Today is a day to beg the intercession of the Blessed Mother to allow each of us to surrender our wills to God as she did.

But today is also a day to party like you're really Catholic! The Church desires us to celebrate today in a big way. Good steaks, good wine, good beer, good company. And oh yes...attending Mass is a good idea even if it's not a holy day of obligation.

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.