From the Desk of Father Nathan

A Message from Father Nathan

My dearest people who are all close to my heart!

Prayerful greetings and wishes to you…

Feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother

There are very few feasts we celebrate for our Blessed Mother, one among them is the Assumption of our Blessed Mother which is August 15th.

Since it falls on Saturday this year, it is NOT a holy day of obligation or else it is. The Feast of the Assumption is one of the most important feasts of our Lady.

Catholics believe in the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. We believe that when her earthly life was finished, Mary was taken up, body and soul, into heavenly glory, when the Lord exalted her as Queen of Heaven (Catechism of the Catholic Church #966).

The Assumption is the feast of Mary’s total liberation from death and decay, the consequences of original sin. It is also the remembrance of the day when the Church gave official recognition to the centuries-old belief of Christians about the Assumption of their heavenly Mother.

In the Orthodox Church, the Koimesis, or dormitio (“falling asleep”), of the Virgin began to be commemorated on August 15th in the 6th century.

The observance gradually spread to the West, where it became known as the Feast of the Assumption. By the 13th century, the belief had been accepted by most Catholic theologians, and it was a popular subject with Renaissance and Baroque painters. It was on November 1, 1950, that through the Apostolic Constitution Munificentimus Deus, Pope Pius XII officially declared the Assumption as Dogma of Catholic Faith.

On this important feast day, we try to answer two questions:

1) What is meant by “Assumption”?

2) Why do we believe Mary’s Assumption into heaven, despite the fact that there is no reference to in the bible?

“Assumption” means that after her death, Mary was taken into heaven both body and soul, as a reward for her sacrificial cooperation in the Divine Plan of Salvation.

“On this feast day, let us thank the Lord for the gift of the Mother, and let us pray to Mary to help us find the right path every day”.

-Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Pius XII officially declared the Assumption as a Dogma of Catholic Faith, giving the following reasons).

• Uninterrupted tradition in the Catholic Church starting from the first century. (The first trace of belief in the Virgin’s Assumption can be found in the apocryphal accounts entitled Transitus Mariae (Latin: “The Crossing Over of Mary”), whose origin dates to the second and third centuries.
• The feast is found in all ancient liturgies.
• The belief in the Assumption of Mary is taught by all early Fathers of the Church. Origen (died AD 253), St. Jerome (died AD 419) and St. Augustine (died AD 430).
• Negative evidence that Mary’s tomb was never reported or venerated.
• Evidence of corporal assumption of Enoch (Gn 5:24) & Elijah (2Kgs 2:1).
• Theological reason of her Immaculate Conception and sinless life.

May our Blessed Mother continue to guide Her holy Mother Church the bride of Christ…may our Blessed Mother lead all of her children to Christ….

God bless you all.

– With lots of love and blessing,

Ever at your service.

—Fr. Sahayanathan Nathan