Editorial

Feast of Our Lady's Assumption, 15 August

Michael Gilchrist

Contents - Aug 2009 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Feast of Our Lady's Assumption, 15 August - Michael Gilchrist Caritas in Veritate: Benedict XVI's social encyclical: public life needs Christian principles - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Human rights: Small victories for pro-lifers at the UN - Babette Francis Priesthood: Benedict XVI's Letter to priests: follow example of the Curé of Ars Is this where 'progressive' religious life is heading? - AD2000 REPORT Magisterium: Authentic Catholicism: neither progressive nor conservative - Fr Martin Durham G.K. Chesterton on modernism and orthodoxy Foundations of Faith: Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone): a recipe for doctrinal chaos - Dr Frank Mobbs God's Messengers: Angels: what Scripture and Tradition reveal - Susan McKinley Poetry: Nkosi J - Will Elsin Letters: Pope Pius XII vindicated - Tony Evans Letters: Religious freedom - Fr Brian Harrison OS Letters: Ecumenism? - Moya and Leo Morrissey Letters: Content of faith - Chris Hilder Letters: Moral decline - Frank Bellet Letters: Poems appreciated - Margaret Healy Letters: Appeal - World Congress of Families - Jenny Davies Books: THE WINE OF CERTITUDE: a Literary Biography of Ronald Knox, by David Rooney - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: JESUS, THE APOSTLES AND THE EARLY CHURCH, by Pope Benedict XVI - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: FLOWERS OF HEAVEN: One Thousand Years of Christian Verse, ed. By Joseph Pearce - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: BECAUSE GOD IS REAL: Sixteen Questions, One Answer, by Peter Kreeft - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: ... AND YOU ARE CHRIST'S':The Charism of Virginity and the Celibate Life, Dubay - Br Barry Coldrey Books: This month's selection from AD Books Reflection: Mary in God's plan of salvation - Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August, celebrates the happy departure of Mary from this life and the assumption of her body into heaven. It is regarded by the Church as her principal feast day and a further reminder of her central role in God's plan of salvation.

There is no direct scriptural reference to Our Lady's assumption, but the Scriptures were concerned with establishing the divinity of Christ, not the miraculous assumption of His mother.

While specific details as to the day, year, and manner of Our Lady's death are lacking, the Church has confidently accepted the truth of her assumption on the basis of tradition and doctrinal development.

For example, St Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451) made known to the Emperor Marcian and his wife, the Empress Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened on the request of St Thomas, was found to be empty. The Apostles concluded that the body had been taken up to heaven.

When on 1 November 1950, Pius XII declared infallibly that the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was a dogma of the Catholic Faith, he was confirming what the Church had always believed down the centuries.

Vatican II, in its Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, reaffirmed Pius XII's teaching, that 'the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things (n. 59).'

More recently, the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites a Byzantine reading for the Feast of the Dormition: 'In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.'

Michael Gilchrist: Editor (email address available on request)

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 22 No 7 (August 2009), p. 2