From the Desk of Father Nathan

A Message from Father Nathan

“My dearest people who are all closer to my heart”

The Feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother

Thursday August 15^th , we are going to celebrate the great feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother.  It’s a holy day of obligation for all Catholics; hence, we are obligated to go to Mass.  Please plan to fulfill your obligation.

Let us learn and refresh the meaning of assumption.  Before that let us learn why we celebrate our Blessed Mother. WE DO NOT WORSHIP OR ADORE OUR BLESSED MOTHER; worship only goes to God.

We VENERATE our Blessed Mother.  Worship goes to God ALONE.  We honor Mary, venerate her, express our love for her but never worship her.

The Catholic Church teaches as dogma that the Virgin Mary “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory”.  Pope Pius dogmatically defined his doctrine on November 1, 1950, in the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus (Latin, “Most Bountiful God”) by exercising papal infallibility.

While the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church believe in the Dormition of the Mother of God (Dormition of the Theotokos or “the Falling Asleep of the Mother of God”), whether Mary had a physical death has not been dogmatically defined.

In Munificentissimus Deus (item 39) Pope Pius XII pointed to the Book of Genesis (3:15) as scriptual support for the dogma in terms of Mary’s victory over sin and death through her intimate association with the “new Adam” (Christ) as also reflected in 1 Corinthians 15:54.

“then shall come to pass the saying that is written.  Death is swallowed up in victory”.

Let us continue to love her and celebrate her.

Learn more about the Assumption of Mary.

A Special Thank You to Our Parishioners That Volunteer to Keep the Church Clean and Beautiful

I am also delighted to inform you that there is a group of volunteers from our parish who have volunteered to clean the church every week.  I am extremely happy about it.  The whole crew namely: Karen Kelly, Regina Cohane, Anthony Brogna, Patricia Halloran, Maryann Kelly, Joy Kelly is doing a fantastic job.  They are committed to work every week.  May God bless them all.

Join the St Gabriel’s Cleaning Crew

They are looking for more volunteers; hence, if you are interested in joining the mission, please contact Ms. Karen Kelly – 845-325-1028.

Your are remembered in my daily prayers every day.

Fr. Sahayanathan Nathan