Friday, August 15 is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Assumption commemorates Mary’s passing from this world unto God. While the dogma of the Assumption was defined infallibly by Pope Pius XII only in 1950, it is a teaching held by the ancient Church and rooted in scriptural revelation.
Having been preserved from sin from the very moment of her conception (“the Immaculate Conception”), Mary had perfect sanctifying grace within her soul, equipping her to be the Mother of our Lord. Thus, Mary’s perfect “yes” to God, strengthened by a unique gift of grace given her, would permit the Word to become Flesh to live within her and dwell among us. As a further consequence of her specially-favored status (being “full of grace”), Mary’s passing from this world is also unique. While pious opinions can be argued on both sides whether she suffered a bodily death or not, the Church infallibly teaches that Mary from all time shared in the realized merit of the Cross of her Son, and thus avoids any corruption of her body in death. In the Eastern Church, the feast is recognized as the “Dormition of Mary”… her ‘falling asleep’, after which her body was carried up, incorrupt, into the glory of heaven. In any case, this is a special privilege belonging to the Mother of God, which returns humanity to its preternatural state before the sin of our first parents, prefiguring the glory we all await in the Resurrection of the Dead.
And so, what this solemnity calls to mind that It is the same glory shared by Mary is promised to the Church. Thus, this feast is not only an opportunity to venerate Mary as the first of the Saints of Heaven, but it is also an opportunity to recommit ourselves to Christian Virtue which perfects the gifts of God within us and prepares us to share in the eternal glory of his Kingdom.
Masses at St. Anthony/St. Dominic for the feast:
Thursday: 4:00 pm at St. Anthony
Friday: 7:30 am and 6:30 pm at St. Anthony
Masses at other Quincy-Area Parishes (as listed in their bulletins, for more info please call the individual parishes):
St. Peter (2600 Maine): Thurs 6:00 pm, Fri 8:00am, 12:10 pm, 6:00 pm
St. Francis Solanus (1721 College Ave.): Thurs 5:30 pm, Fri 6:30 am, 5:30 pm
Blessed Sacrament (1119 S. 7th Street): Fri 8:00 am & 5:30 pm
St. Rose of Lima (Traditional Latin Mass, 1009 N. 8th Street): 12:10pm, 7:00 pm