Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother Mary. The Assumption is a source of great hope for us because Mary points the us the way to heaven by following Christ and imitating Him. Mary was taken to heaven, body and soul, after her life on earth was ended because of her Immaculate nature, uniquely protected by God's grace from personal sin. Staying close to Mary, she will lead us on our way to our eternal home in heaven.
My parish Patron is the Assumption of Mary. There is a beautiful image of the Assumption in stained glass high above the altar in our church. This year our parish is celebrating our 150th anniversary! For the past six years, we have had a 40 Hour Devotion in preparation for Mary's Feast Day...40 hours of continuous Eucharistic Adoration in our chapel which is named for Saint Joseph. Every hour is dedicated to a particular intention and each of the many ministries in our parish cover the 40 hours, spending time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. There are hours for intentions such as, the unborn, families, children, our priests, past and present, vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, our country and many more. We have special hours, such as praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy every 3:00 hour, afternoon and early morning. A very special grace was the 3:00 pm hour led by the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy who prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, as well as prayers from Saint Faustina's Diary. Two hours were offered with meditations on the Stations of the Cross, one hour led by a Deacon who will be ordained to the priesthood next year and the other hour by a beautiful Sister. Another grace-filled hour led by our Deacon was the International Family Rosary, prayed in five languages: Arabic, Latin, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. There was a profound sense of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. The intention for that hour was for the Sacred Institution of Marriage. Innumerable graces flow from all these prayers and hours of Eucharistic Adoration for our parish, our priests and our families.
May we seek to imitate Mary's self-sacrificing love, faith and obedience. She chose, with the God’s grace, to preserve her God-given purity throughout her whole life. It is fitting that she who knew no sin should know no decay and should be taken body and soul to be with the Father and her Son. It is fitting that she who stood by Christ under the Cross should stand by Him bodily at the right hand of the Father.
The Queen stands at your right hand, in gold of Ophir. Psalm 45:10
Blessed is she who trusted that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled. May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory. Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, pray for us and all those for whom we pray.
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