Dear friends in Christ,
On the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, Year C (August 15, 2025), I bring you greetings and God’s blessings!
Introduction
The Dogma (official teaching of faith and morals proclaimed by the Magisterium) of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) is one of the four Marian Dogmas – Mother of God (theotokos), Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On 1 November 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed it in his Encyclical Munificentissimus Deus, detailing that like Enoch (Cf. Gen. 5:21-24) and Elijah (Cf. 2 Kgs. 2:11), “having completed the course of her earthly life [she] was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”
Takeaway Lessons
1. The Assumption of the BVM teaches us that glorified in body and soul, Mary is already in the state that will be ours after the resurrection of the dead.
2. The celebration teaches us that where Our Mother is, we too may be; it also stirs up the desire for holiness in us to meet with Our Lady in the beatific vision.
3. The assumption challenges us as a pilgrim Church to take up a life of prayer, especially the rosary and other Marian Devotions.
4. Mary’s Assumption reminds us that her Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, Purity, and humility are the tickets we need to make heaven.
5. This celebration calls us to be ambassadors of the BVM and assures that with our Mother in heaven, the victory over sin and death is ours through Christ.
Conclusion
The Quran (Q 50:23) also bears testimony to the bodily Assumption of the BVM. The event demonstrates God’s power over nature. Mary spared the couple at Cana in Galilee the embarrassment of a shortage of wine (Cf. John 2:1-11). Her assumption reminds us that our homeland is in heaven, just as it invites us to place our trust beyond this earthly sojourn. May this celebration increase our devotion to the Angelus, a miniature Christmas and Easter, because it reveals Jesus’ nativity and concludes by recalling his passion and glorious resurrection. May Our Lady BVM intercede for us “now and at the hour of our death.”
