Tag: the assumption of the blessed virgin into heaven

Posted in THE ASSUMPTION

Quote/s of the Day – 15 August – The Assumption

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 15 August – Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven

And now death came, not indeed clothed in mourning and sadness, as it comes to others, but adorned with light and joy. But why death, why death? Rather should we say that divine love came to cut the thread of that noble life. And as a lamp before going out, her life, amid these last flickerings, flashed forth more brightly, and then expired. Thus, this beautiful soul, her Son inviting her to follow him, wrapped in the flame of her charity and in the midst of her amorous sighs, breathed forth a greater sigh of love, expired and died and thus that great soul, that beautiful dove of our Lord, was released from the bonds of this life, and entered into the glory of the blessed, where she sits, and will sit, as queen of paradise, for all eternity.

St Alphonsus Liguori

“How can death devour this truly blessed woman,
who gave birth to the Whole Person of the Word of God,
through union with God?
How can hell receive her?
When Christ, who is the way and the truth, said
“Where I am, there will my servant be also, .”
why would there not be a dwelling
for His own Mother with Him,
with an even greater justification?
It is well said, that precious in the sight
of the Lord God of Hosts,
is the death of his saints –
but even more precious,
is the passing of the Mother of God from this life..”

St John Damascene

“As the most glorious Mother of Christ,
our Saviour and our God
and the giver of life and immortality,
has been endowed with life by Him,
she has received an eternal incorruptibility of the body
together with Him who has raised her up from the tomb
and has taken her up to Himself
in a way known only to Him.”

St Modestus of Jerusalem 

“And with regard to ourselves,
how deservedly do we keep
the Feast of the Assumption with all solemnity.
What reasons for rejoicing,
what motives for exultation
have we on this most beautiful day!
The presence of Mary illumines the entire world
so that even the holy city above
has now a more dazzling splendour
from the light of this virginal Lamp.
With good reason,
thanksgiving and the voice of praise,
resound today throughout the courts of Heaven…
let us not complain,
for here we do not have a lasting city
but we seek one that is to come,
the same which the blessed Mary entered today.”

St Bernard of Clairvaux

Now Mary has left the earth, now she is in heaven. From thence this kind mother looks down upon us, who are still in this valley of tears, compassionates us, and promises us her support if we wish for it. Let us pray her always that by the merits of her blessed death she may obtain for us a happy death; and if it please God, that she may obtain for us to die on a Saturday, which is dedicated to her honor, or on a day of the Novena, or of the octave of some of her feasts, as she has obtained for so many of her servants, and especially for St. Stanislas Kostka, for whom she obtained to die on the day of her glorious Assumption.

St Alphonsus Liguori

Posted in FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES

15 August – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven by St Alphonsus Liguori

On this day the Church proposes to us to celebrate two solemn observances in honor of Mary: one, her happy departure from this earth; the other, her glorious assumption into heaven. In the present discourse we shall speak of her departure from this earth, and in the next of her assumption.

How precious was the death of Mary! 1st, On account of the special grace which attended it; 2d, On account of the manner of it.

Death being the punishment of sin, it would seem that the divine mother, all holy and exempt from every stain, should not be subject to death, nor suffer the same misfortune as the children of Adam, who are infected by the poison of sin. But God, wishing Mary in all things to be like to Jesus, required, as the Son had died, that the mother should also die; and because he wishes to give to the just an example of the blessed death prepared for them, he decreed that the virgin should die, but by a sweet and happy death. 

Death is called a passage, since, through death we pass from this short life to life eternal. And, as the dread is great of those who die in doubt of their salvation, and who approach the solemn moment with just fear of passing into an eternal death, thus, on the other hand, very great is the joy of the saints at the end of life, hoping with some security to go and possess God in heaven. A. nun of the order of St. Theresa, when the physician announced to her that death was near, was so full of joy that she said to him: “And how does it happen, sir, that you tell me this good news and ask no fee for it?” St. Lawrence Justinian being at the point of death, and seeing his friends weeping around him, said to them : “Away, away with your tears, this is no time for tears.” Go elsewhere to weep; if you will remain with me you must rejoice, as I rejoice, in seeing the gate of paradise open to unite me with my God. And thus, also, a St. Peter of Alcantara, a St. Louis of Gonzaga, and so many other saints, on hearing that death was at hand, burst forth into ex clamations of joy and gladness. And yet they were not certain of the divine favor, nor secure of their own sanctity, as Mary was secure of hers. But what joy must the divine mother have felt in learning that her death was at hand; she, who had the fullest security of enjoying the divine favor, especially after the angel Gabriel had assured her that she was full of grace, and already possessed God! “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee …. thou hast found grace.” And well did she herself know that her heart was burning continually with divine love, for that as Bernardine de Bustis says, Mary, by a singular grace not granted to any other saint, loved, and was always actually occupied in loving God every moment of her life, and so ardently, that, as St. Bernard says, it required a perpetual miracle to preserve her life in the midst of such burning flames.

Cedrenus, Nicephorus, and Metaphrastes, relate, that the Lord, some days before his death, sent to her the angel Gabriel, the same who once announced to her that she was the blessed woman chosen to be the mother of God: My Lady and Queen, said the angel to her, God has already graciously heard thy holy desires, and he has sent me to tell thee to prepare to leave the earth, for he wishes thee with him in paradise. Come then, to take possession of thy kingdom, for I and all its holy citizens await and desire thee. After receiving this precious intelligence, she imparted it to St. John, and we may imagine with what grief and tender emotion he heard this news; he who for so many years had been near her as a son, and had enjoyed the celestial conversation of this most holy mother. She then visited anew the holy places of Jerusalem, tenderly taking leave of them, especially of Calvary, where her beloved Son had died. And then she returned to her poor dwelling to prepare for death. During this time the angels did not cease to come and visit this their beloved queen, consoling themselves with the thought that they should soon see her crowned in heaven. 

But behold, Jesus himself comes to take his mother to the kingdom of the blessed.

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Novena to Our Lady of the Assumption – Day Eight – 13 August

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Novena to Our Lady of the Assumption

DAY EIGHT

Daily Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ,
Thou has destroyed the power of death
and given the hope of eternal life,
for body and soul.
Thou granted Thy Mother
a special place in Thy glory
and did not allow decay to touch her body.
As we rejoice in the Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
grant us renewed confidence
in the victory of life over death.
Amen

Day 8:
Mary, Queen Assumed into Heaven,
we rejoice that thou art the Queen of Heaven and Earth.
Thou hast given thy holy fiat to God
and thou art the Mother of our Saviour.
Obtain peace and salvation for us
through thy prayers,
for thou have given birth
to Christ our Lord, the Saviour of all mankind.
Intercede for us
and bring our petitions before the Throne of God.
……………………………….
(Mention your request)
Through thy prayers,
may our souls be filled
with an intense desire to be like thee
a humble vessel of the Holy Spirit
and a servant of the Almighty God.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.
Amen

Posted in MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, ROSARY REFLECTIONS and QUOTES, THE ASSUMPTION

Thought for the Day – 17 October – The Fourth Glorious Mystery – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 17 October – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

“Month of the Holy Rosary”
The Fourth Glorious Mystery
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven

“The fourth Book of Kings tells us, that the Prophet Elias was brought up into Heaven in a fiery chariot without having first endured the pains and humiliations of death (Cf 4 Kings 2:11).
Why did God not do likewise in the case of the Blessed Virgin, commanding His Angels to bear her to Heaven before death struck her innocent body?
As St Paul says, it was sin which caused death to enter the world.
From the moment of her conception, Mary was free from the slightest taint of sin, for she was immaculate and full of grace.
Nevertheless, according to the most widely held tradition, Mary chose to die, even as her divine Son had willed to die.
Jesus “was offered because it was his own will” (Isa 53:7).
The same is true in Mary’s case, with only this difference.
Jesus died a cruel death after the most hideous tortures in the midst of a blaspheming and hate-ridden mob.
Nothing like this happened to Mary, although she is called the Queen of Martyrs because of the sword which pierced her soul at the sight of her divine Son, dying in such agony.

Jesus willed, however, that the immaculate body of His Mother would remain intact.
It was only her great love and intense desire of being reunited with her Son, which gradually consumed her mortal life.
Her ever-increasing love for God, broke the bonds of her mortal frame until she went to sleep at last, in the Lord.

If only our death could be the same!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Posted in MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, THE ASSUMPTION

Thought for the Day – 15 August – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 15 August – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven

“The fourth Book of Kings tells us, that the Prophet Elias was taken up into Heaven in a fiery chariot without having first endured the pains and humiliations of death (Cf 4 Kings 2:11).
Why did God not do likewise in the case of the Blessed Virgin, commanding His Angels to bear her to Heaven before death struck her innocent body?
As St Paul says, it was sin which caused death to enter the world.
From the moment of her conception, Mary was free from the slightest taint of sin, for she was immaculate and full of grace.
Nevertheless, according to the most widely held tradition, Mary chose to die, even as her Divine Son had willed to die.
Jesus “was offered because it was His own will” (Isa 53:7).
The same is true in Mary’s case, with only this difference.
Jesus died a cruel death after the most hideous tortures in the midst of a blaspheming and hate-ridden mob.
Nothing like this happened to Mary, although she is called the Queen of Martyrs because of the sword which pierced her soul at the sight of her Divine Son, dying in such agony.

Jesus willed, however, that the immaculate body of His Mother would remain intact.
It was only her great love and intense desire of being reunited with her Son which gradually consumed her mortal life.
Her ever-increasing love for God, broke the bonds of her mortal frame until she went to sleep at last, in the Lord.

If only our death could be the same!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci