The Assumption of Mary
On 1 November 1950, invoking his dogmatic authority, Pope Pius XII defined the dogma: By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, 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. --Wikipedia.
The Assumption of Mary, Mother of God is a holiday of obligation for us, as we commemorate it on August 15.
This Catholic church’s dogma about Mary’s assumption to heaven imbedded in us a strong devotion to the Mother of God. This devotion is an essential part of the Catholic faith, because we firmly believe that through her own body and blood, Jesus was begotten by the Holy Spirit, and God the Son was born human.
As a mother, Mary has a strong relationship with her son. With love and devotion she raised and nurtured Jesus from birth to adulthood, like ordinary mothers do. However, Mary’s obedience to God’s will, made her bore the pains of witnessing her son’s sufferings due to men’s savagery that led to his painful death on the cross.
Then as the Scripture said, the fruit of all her sacrifices was brought forth by Jesus’ glorious resurrection on the third day of his death.
Jesus showed love for his mother, when prior to breathing his last, he entrusted her to one of his disciples John: ‘Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then, he said to the disciple, ’Behold, your mother!’ and from that hour the disciple took her into his own household. (John 19: 26-27)
As mother of the church Mary lead all followers of Jesus to the right path through praying the rosary and meditating on the mysteries of Jesus’ passion and death. With “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus..,” we ask for Mary’s intercession and protection.
In our hearts, we have a sincere faith in Mary as our mother too, whenever we need help as we pray: “Dear Mother of Perpetual Help, from the cross, Jesus gave you to us for our mother. You are the kindest, the most loving of all mothers. Look tenderly on us your children, as we ask you to help us in all our needs specially this one...”
*The Philippines experienced Mother Mary’s powerful intercession during the four days People-Power-Revolution in February 1986 against a dictator.
With strong faith in God and holding rosary beads, the people, faced the government soldiers who had received orders from their Commander-in-Chief to gun down protesters.
That was a historical event because an ocean of people with their religious leaders, nuns, priests and their parishioners stormed heaven by continuously praying the rosary with the image of Our Lady of Fatima held on the stage and the melody of Ave Maria sounded after each decade.
When the soldiers were preparing for an assault, they saw a beautiful woman covered in bright lights, dressed as a nun, standing in front of the tanks. She extended her arms and spoke clearly.
“Dear soldiers, stop! Do not proceed.
Do not harm my children. I am the queen of this land.”
Awestruck, the soldiers dropped their guns and withdrew. On the part of the Military Commander, he realized that if he’d do what the dictator commanded, the blood of millions of unarmed civilians would be in his hands, so he ordered his troop to stop.
That was indeed a divine intervention. Those soldiers claimed that it was the Virgin Mary they saw. The late Cardinal Sin vouches for the accuracy of the apparition and said: “Yes, my heart was telling me that this was indeed Mary. And since they obeyed this woman who appeared to them, and did not follow orders, then President Marcos had nobody to give him power or support. That was the end of him.”
*Reference : Divine Mysteries and Miracles.
