Education in Faith
Education in Faith encompasses the following areas: Religious Education, Prayer, Liturgy and Sacraments.
The Feast of the Assumption of Mary -
15th of August
This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. During remote learning the students will learn about this important event in our Church’s history. Below is some information that you may like to read and discuss with your child/ren throughout this week.
On the 15th of August, the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Assumption of Our Lady when according to our faith, the Holy Mother, “having completed her course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”.
The Assumption signals the end of Mary’s earthly life and marks her return to heaven to be reunited with Jesus. While the bodies of both Jesus and Mary are now in heaven, there is a difference between the Assumption and the Resurrection. Where Jesus arose from the tomb and ascended into heaven by his own power, Mary’s body was taken up to heaven by the power of her Son.For this reason we use different words to describe each event. One is the Ascension of Christ and the other, the Assumption of Mary.
There is absolutely no relic of Our Lady’s body in existence; nor has any person or city ever claimed possession of such a relic. From the earliest times of the Church, the faithful venerated the remains of the Saints. Relics of the Apostles and of thousands of martyrs are preserved in shrines and caskets. The sacred remains of Mary could not have been lost or neglected.
In addition there was also the solid and deep-rooted conviction among the first Christians that something extraordinary happened to Our Lady at the moment of her departure from this life. This found expression in writings, sermons, devotional practices, and prayers to Mary “assumed into heaven”, and was followed by churches, religious orders, cities and nations across the world dedicating or consecrating to her under the title of Assumption.
Unlike the scripture of Mary's Immaculate Conception, the event of the Assumption is not explicitly stated in the Bible. The teaching that 'at the end of her earthly course, Mary was assumed into heavenly glory, body and soul' was defined by Pius XII in 1950.
Please stay safe.
Mark MacGregor
PARISH NEWS