Feast of the Assumption: Dogma Mandatory – Believe Or Know That You Have Lost The Faith!
Wishing all our bloggers and readers a very happy Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven. Feel free to share your favourite prayers, hymns, stories – even your favourite jokes, of the good clean fun variety – to celebrate the Feast.
First, though, click here to read Munificentissimus Deus – the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII defining the dogma of the Assumption in 1950.
Ponder this extract from Munificentissimus Deus: Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare wilfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith. (#45).
In short, anyone who denies the dogma of Our Lady’s Assumption into Heaven, has lost the Catholic Faith. We must believe this important dogma – it is not optional.
Below, my own personal favourite hymn to Our Lady – “I’ll Sing a Hymn to Mary”, sung by Father Francis. It’s impossible to find one with all the verses (not to mention minus a jazzy opening!) but this one comes close; verse # 2, the beautiful “O Lily of the Valley” is omitted, but most of the other (lovely) verses are sung. Enjoy!
Happy Feast everyone!
Comments (19)
Here’s joke with an unexpected punchline. Fun!
And this one is funny, as well…
Happy Feast Day!
Editor,
LOL! Loved the jokes!
Laura,
Here’s another one 😀
Thanks. I read Pius Xll proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption. How beautiful it was!
Mary Anne,
I agree, but it would have been good if the Pope had covered the question of death being a punishment for sin, as Catherine has mentioned. By that I mean covered it more explicitly, since I suppose you could say that the mention of her body being incorrupt in human death does cover that – I hope so, I’ve said that in my answer to Catherine. I hope I’m not wrong!
Happy Feast Day. I always thought death was a punishment for sin and because Our Lady was sinless she didn’t suffer death. After reading the dogma on the Assumption, it sounds like Our Lady did die a human death?
Catherine,
To the best of my knowledge, the Church has never defined the way Our Lady’s life ended, so you can think of it as a human death but one where her body did not deteriorate the way ours will, and she was not to suffer “the tomb” i.e. being buried. I was always taught you can think of it like a human death which was different from the rest, or a “dormition” – like a deep sleep. That’s my own preference, the dormition. It is mentioned in the document defining the dogma.
It’s not a problem if you think of it as human death because although death came into the world as a punishment for the sin of Adam and Eve, She, Our Lady was saved at the moment of her conception and was sinless. Her death would have been momentary, I always think, before being assumed body and soul into Heaven. The concept of dormition makes more sense to me, though, She just fell into a deep sleep and was taken up to Heaven.
Catherine, Laura,
Some commentators (Taylor Marshall is one) quote Munificentissimus Deus to argue that Our Lady did die, but others take a more nuanced approach. This article is interesting on the subject.
https://aleteia.org/2018/08/15/did-mary-die-before-being-assumed-into-heaven-the-saints-weigh-in/
Happy Feast day everyone, hope Our Lady showers blessings upon you all.
As to the question about Our Lady dying a natural death, it seems to be the consensus of opinion among the more prominent theologians that she did experience this. The difference between Our Lady and the rest of us, however, is that she CHOSE to experience death in perfect imitation of her Divine Son, Our Lord. We, on the otherhand, have no such choice and so we must suffer death as a result of sin. Still, we can unite our death to that of Our Lord in a great and final act of love and trust. Please God, we will be granted the grace to do just that as the shutters come down on our earthly lives. A great devotion to Our Lady and St. Joseph will unquestionably obtain that grace for us.
A happy feast day to one and all:
Leitourgos,
Thank you!
Happy Feast everyone!
O Mother Blest – one of my great favourites!
Happy Assumption Day!
Josephine,
O Mother Blest… Love it! We sang it at the end of Mass this evening in Glasgow. Beautiful.
A very happy Feast of the Assumption to everyone at CTS!
Dear friends
The I’ll sing a hymn to Mary and the Ave Maria by Schubert make my eyes fill with tears every time. They’re beautiful beyond words and they really lift one’s soul.
I love the fact that the Church defined and proclaimed the Dogma of Our Lady’s Assumption body and soul into Heaven in recognition of her profound importance in salvation history.
Pope Venerable Pius Xll’s remarks in Munificentissimus Deus: Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare wilfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith. (#45).
They are truly wonderful and uplifting words and leaves it beyond any doubt regarding those Catholics who have lapsed into Apostasy and Heresy.
I pray for the day when we have a pope of this calibre again in the Church.
Ave Maria!
Every blessing
Michael 🙏
Michael,
I agree – those hymns, and others posted here, do touch the soul.
Some years ago, I tuned into a radio conversation as I was about to set off driving. The person interviewed was a composer, but I missed her name and location. I tuned in as she was being asked what had caused her to convert to Christianity. She replied that, although she could explain how she composed her music, knowing the combination of notes which would create a particular sound, she could not account for the effect her music had on individuals. That – she came to realise – had to have come from something outside of her musical talent and her reflections led her away from her atheism to believing in God / Christianity.
On another topic…
On my way home from Mass tonight I encountered two horrendous smashes on the motorway. I’m sure there must have been serious injuries, so please remember a prayer for all those involved. Thank you.
Dear Editor
My prayers are with them and their loved ones.
Michael 🙏
Michael,
Thank you.
And thanks to everyone who contributed to this Feast Day thread today – now closed to comments.
Comments are closed.