Dear friends in Christ
This year we have the privilege of being able to celebrate Mary's Assumption into Heaven on a Sunday: the feast is transferred from 15th. What we celebrate on this Day each year is summarised by Pope Pius XII when in 1950 he made definitive this doctrine that had been held unofficially by Catholics from the beginning: So then, the great Mother of God, so mysteriously united to Jesus Christ from all eternity by the same decree of predestination, immaculately conceived, an intact virgin throughout her divine motherhood, a noble associate of our Redeemer as he defeated sin and its consequences, received, as it were, the final crowning privilege of being preserved from the corruption of the grave and, following her Son in his victory over death, was brought, body and soul, to the highest glory of heaven, to shine as Queen at the right hand of that same Son, the immortal King of Ages.
If we ask the reason for this highest of privileges accorded to Mary, we look to the early Saints of the Church. In their sermons and speeches on the feast day of the Assumption of the Mother of God, the holy Fathers and the great Doctors of the Church were speaking of something that the faithful already knew and accepted: all they did was to bring it out into the open, to explain its meaning and substance in other terms. Above all, they made it most clear that this feast commemorated not merely the fact that the blessed Virgin Mary did not experience bodily decay, but also her triumph over death and her heavenly glory, following the example of her only Son, Jesus Christ. All that the holy Fathers say refers ultimately to Scripture as a foundation, which gives us the vivid image of the great Mother of God as being closely attached to her divine Son and always sharing His lot.
This weekend we resume the full and normal schedule of Masses and Services in the church which have been suspended or partly suspended, since March. We will only be able to maintain this timetable if there are sufficient volunteers to steward and clean the church at each Mass; also, that there is a full complement of reservations for each of the Sunday Masses. We are very grateful to those who have been consistently generous with their help, but some more Parishioners might be good enough to offer help too.
On this Solemnity of Mary’s Assumption, we ask her prayers, her motherly intercession and protection upon us as individuals and as Parish Family. God bless you, together with His Holy Mother!
Msgr Kevin Hale