SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, SATURDAY AUGUST 15, 2026
- Olivia M. Bannan
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Reading 1
God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne.The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed One.”
REFLECTION
Mary did not suffer from original sin. She was conceived full of grace. This doctrine is known as the Immaculate Conception. God’s supernatural life dwelt in Mary from the very beginning of her existence. She was a pure vessel for the Second Person of the Trinity. It is fitting that she would not experience bodily corruption
The Catechism teaches that Mary was taken body and soul into heavenly glory at the end of her earthly life and exalted by God as Queen. (CCC 966)
Her body did not suffer natural decay or corruption after death. Unlike Jesus who ascended into heaven by His divine power, Mary was taken up by God's grace. The Assumption of Mary.
In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption as a dogma of the Catholic Church. This highest teaching authority is known as "ex cathedra" ( from the Chair of Peter).
“By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ …we pronounce , declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma : that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."
Ninety nine percent of the Bishops responded in favor of this dogma.
The Bible does not explicitly record the event of Mary’s Assumption. The Pope wrote Munificentisdimus Deus in 1950 where he cited reference to the Assumption.
Revelation 12:1 ( "woman clothed with the sun") seen in heavenly glory as a symbolic or secondary scriptural reflection of Mary already assumed body and soul into heaven;
Psalm 132:8, ( "Arise, O Lord, into your resting place: you and the ark, which you have sanctified")....where Mary is seen as the Ark;
Genesis 3:15 (The verse prophesies total enmity between the serpent and the woman and her seed.) Because sin and bodily corruption are the ultimate consequences of Satan’s work, Mary—as the New Eve sharing intimately in Christ's victory—triumphed completely over both sin (in her Immaculate Conception) and bodily death (in her Assumption), and
Luke 1:28, (“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you”)—serves as the foundational seed for the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and, by extension, the Assumption of Mary.)
Almighty and everlasting God,
You have taken up body and soul
into the heavenly glory the Immaculate Virgin Mary,
Mother of Your Son: Grant, we beseech you,
that , ever intent upon heavenly things,
we may be worthy to be partakers of her glory
Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord
who lives and reign with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever
Amen.
(Lourdes Prayer)
God Bless You
Thank you! 🙏