SacredSpace102fm was a weekly programme produced by "Come & See Inspirations" in West Limerick. The programme included inspirational music, chat, interviews, what’s on locally and not so locally and a reflection on the Sunday gospel reading of the day. It was presented by John Keily, regular panelists, contributors and invited guests. Programmes are available to be listened to online on our podcast pages.
This week Fr
Frank Duhig joins us to begin series of reflections on the Mass. He concludes
his reflection with the last words of Jesus that are used at the beginning of
each Mass ‘In the name of the Father and the son and the Holy Spirit’
You can listen to a podcast of the reflection of Fr Frank excerpted from the programmeHERE.
We also
replay a reflection of ‘Mary our Mother’ which was originally broadcast in August
2017. Geraldine Creaton & Shane Ambrose share their thoughts on the role
Mary plays as our protector and evangeliser.
You can listen to a podcast of the reflection of Geraldine excerpted from the programme HERE.
We also include
a recording made during the recent Knock Novena of the Eucharistic blessing and
healing prayers
You can listen to a podcast of the Eucharistic Blessing and healing prayers excerpted from the programmeHERE.
You can listen to the podcast of this week's full programmeHERE.
On this week's programme Fr. Seamus Enright C.Ss.R., Rector of the Redemptorist Community, Mount St. Alphonsus, Limerick joins John to speak about their upcoming Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help which takes place from June 14th - 22nd. We also have our regular celestial guides and reflection on the Sunday Gospel.
You can listen to the podcast of this week's full programme HERE.
The Saint Next Door: Living the Beatitudes Fr. Seamus Enright C.Ss.R., Rector of the Redemptorist Community, Mount St. Alphonsus, Limerick shared with John a little about the history of the devotion to Our Lady under the title of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and where the original icon came from. He also explained that the Redemptorists have a papal mandate to promote devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help and how and when the Limerick Novena came about. The theme for this year's Novena is The Saint Next Door: Living the Beatitudes which is based on Pope Francis's Apostolic Exhortation on the call to holiness in today's world which is entitled Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Exult) available HERE. Holiness is not the reserve of clergy and religious. It is, in fact, the baptismal calling of each and every Christian. This theme will be unpacked by looking at holiness in the context of the beatitudes which are a portrait of Jesus and a depiction of a true disciple.
You can listen to a podcast of this reflection excerpted from the programme HERE.
You can find out more details about the Novena and watch the Novena online on their website HERE.
Gospel - John 14:15-16,23-26
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever. ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him. Those who do not love me do not keep my words. And my word is not my own: it is the word of the one who sent me. I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.
On this week's programme we repeat part of a programme originally broadcast in May 2014 when we reflected on various teachings on Mary in the church and her role in salvation history as set out in catholic theology. We also have our regular reflection on the Sunday Gospel as well as some liturgical odds and ends.
You can listen to the podcast of this week's full programme HERE.
May, the Month of Mary
SS102fm has had programmes on various individual devotions to Mary over the last couple of years. But, as May is traditionally the month of Mary on this week's programme, Lorraine leads us through a reflection on Catholic's understanding of Mary in salvation history and in the church. Using the book 'Introduction to Mary - The Heart of Marian Doctrine and Devotion' by Mark Miravalle we looked at what is devotion to Mary and Mary in Scripture (Old Testament pre-figurements of Mary and Mary in the New Testament). We then looked at two key Marian doctrines: (1) Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother; and (2) the Immaculate Conception. Both of these Marian doctrines (indeed, all Marian doctrines) are centred around Christ and what He has done for us. If you would like to read the first two chapters of Mark Miravalle's book (and other works on Mary), it is available HERE. The book is available to buy HERE. Do Catholics Worship Mary? Catholic Culture - Mary, What you need to know Catholic Culture - May, the month of Mary EWTN - Vatican II on Mary - Lumen Gentium
Notices The Benedictine Community in Stamullen will be hosting another 3 days of Perpetual Adoration from 24th May to 26th May in atonement and reparation for the outcome and implications of the abortion referendum. We will be asking Our Lady to intercede for Ireland, for faith and life, that God's Will be done here and indeed further afield. If you would like to join us please let us know by texting back on this number - 086-8389989.
Bring flowers of the rarest
Bring blossoms the fairest,
From garden and woodland and hillside and dale;
Our full hearts are swelling,
Our glad voices telling... The praise of the loveliest flower of the vale!
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today!
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
By tradition, May is the month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary - Theotokas. The month of May is the "month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to Our Blessed Lady," and it is the occasion for a "moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world [pay] to the Queen of Heaven. During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God's mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance" (Paul VI: Encyclical on theMonth of May, no. 1).
O God, who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary bestowed on the human race the grace of eternal salvation, grant, we pray, that we may experience the intercession of her, through whom we were found worthy to receive the author of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
On this the January 1st, the Octave Day of Christmas, the Church celebrates the role of Mary in the mystery of Christmas under her most ancient title Theotokos (Mater Dei, God-bearer, Mother of God.).
"The transcendent omnipotence of divinity is entrusted to the gentle intimacy of maternity, even to a certain unassuming and gentle young woman. It’s not, of course, that Mary was the source of God as such (the opposite is the case). The meaning of “Mother of God” is that the person to whom she gave birth in human flesh, whom she nursed and raised, was and is God".
Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis
Solemnity if Mary, Mother of God
Vatican Basilica
Tuesday, 1 January 2019
“All who heard were amazed at what the shepherds told them” (Lk 2:18). To be amazed: this is what is asked of us today, at the conclusion of the Octave of Christmas, as we continue to contemplate the Child born for us, lacking everything yet abounding in love. Amazement is what we should feel at the beginning of each year, for life is a gift that constantly gives us a chance to make a new start, even from the most lowly of circumstances. Today is also a day to be amazed by the Mother of God. God appears as a little child, held in the arms of a woman who feeds her Creator. The statue before our eyes depicts the Mother and Child so close as to appear as one. That is the mystery we celebrate today, which gives rise to boundless amazement: God has become one with humanity forever. God and man, always together, that is the good news of this new year. God is no distant lord, dwelling in splendid isolation above the heavens, but love incarnate, born like us of a mother, in order to be a brother to each of us, to be close to us: the God of closeness. He rests on the lap of his mother, who is also our mother, and from there he pours out upon humanity a new tenderness. Thus we come to understand more fully God’s love, which is both paternal and maternal, like that of a mother who never stops believing in her children and never abandons them. God-with-us, Emmanuel, loves us despite our mistakes, our sins, and the way we treat our world. God believes in mankind, because its first and preeminent member is his own Mother. At the beginning of the year, let us implore from Mary the grace to be amazed at the God of surprises. Let us renew the amazement we felt when faith was first born in us. The Mother of God helps us: the Mother who gave birth to the Lord, now presents us, reborn, to the Lord. She is a mother who generates in her children the amazement of faith, because faith is an encounter, not a religion. Without amazement, life becomes dull and routine, and so it is with faith. The Church too needs to renew her amazement at being the dwelling place of the living God, the Bride of the Lord, a Mother who gives birth to her children. Otherwise, she risks turning into a beautiful museum of the past. A “Church museum”. Our Lady instead gives the Church the feel of a home, a home in which the God of newness dwells. Let us receive with amazement the mystery of the Mother of God, as the inhabitants of Ephesus did at the time of the Council. Like them, let us acclaim her “Holy Mother of God”. From her, let us allow ourselves to be gazed upon, to be embraced, to be taken by the hand. Let us allow ourselves to be gazed upon. Especially in times of need, when we are entangled in life’s knots, we rightly lift our eyes to Our Lady, to Our Mother. Yet first, we should let ourselves be gazed upon by Our Lady. When she gazes upon us, she does not see sinners but children. It is said that the eyes are the mirror of the soul; the eyes of Mary, full of grace, reflect the beauty of God, they show us a reflection of heaven. Jesus himself said that the eye is “the lamp of the body” (Mt 6:22): the eyes of Our Lady are able to bring light to every dark corner; everywhere they rekindle hope. As she gazes upon us, she says: “Take heart, dear children; here I am, your Mother!” This maternal gaze, which instils confidence and trust, helps us to grow in faith. Faith is a bond with God that engages the whole person; to be preserved, it needs the Mother of God. Her maternal gaze helps us see ourselves as beloved children in God’s faithful people, and to love one another regardless of our individual limitations and approaches. Our Lady keeps us rooted in the Church, where unity counts more than diversity; she encourages us to care for one another. Mary’s gaze reminds us that faith demands a tenderness that can save us from becoming lukewarm. Tenderness: the Church of tenderness. Tenderness is a word that today many want to remove from the dictionary. When faith makes a place for the Mother of God, we never lose sight of the centre: the Lord, for Mary never points to herself but to Jesus; and our brothers and sisters, for Mary is mother. The gaze of the Mother, and the gaze of every mother. A world that looks to the future without a mother’s gaze is shortsighted. It may well increase its profits, but it will no longer see others as children. It will make money, but not for everyone. We will all dwell in the same house, but not as brothers and sisters. The human family is built upon mothers. A world in which maternal tenderness is dismissed as mere sentiment may be rich materially, but poor where the future is concerned. Mother of God, teach us to see life as you do. Turn your gaze upon us, upon our misery, our poverty. Turn to us thine eyes of mercy. Let us allow ourselves to be embraced. From Mary’s gaze, we now turn to her heart, in which, as today’s Gospel recounts, she “treasured all these things and pondered them” (Lk 2:19). Our Lady, in other words, took everything to heart; she embraced everything, events both good and bad. And she pondered all these things; she brought them before God. This was her secret. In the same way, she now takes to heart the life of each of us: she wants to embrace our every situation and to present it to God. In today’s fragmented world, where we risk losing our bearings, a Mother’s embrace is essential. How much dispersion and solitude there is all around us! The world is completely connected, yet seems increasingly disjointed. We need to entrust ourselves to our Mother. In the Scriptures, Our Lady embraces any number of concrete situations; she is present wherever she is needed. She visits her cousin Elizabeth; she comes to the aid of the newlyweds in Cana; she encourages the disciples in the Upper Room… Mary is a cure for solitude and dispersion. She is the Mother of con-solation: she stands “with” those who are “alone”. She knows that words are not enough to console; presence is needed, and she is present as a mother. Let us allow her to embrace our lives. In the Salve Regina, we call her “our life”. This may seem exaggerated, for Christ himself is “life” (cf. Jn 14:6), yet Mary is so closely united to him, and so close to us, that we can do no better than to put our hands in hers and to acknowledge her as “our life, our sweetness and our hope.” And in the journey of life, let us allow ourselves to be taken by the hand. Mothers take their children by the hand and lovingly introduce them to life. But how many children today wander off on their own and lose their way. Thinking they are strong, they get lost; thinking they are free, they become slaves. How many, forgetting a mother’s affection, live in anger with themselves and indifference to everything! How many, sad to say, react to everything and everyone with bitterness and malice! Life is such. Showing oneself “malicious” even seems at times to be a sign of strength. Yet it is nothing more than weakness. We need to learn from mothers that heroism is shown in self-giving, strength in compassion, wisdom in meekness. God himself needed a Mother: how much more so do we! Jesus himself gave her to us, from the cross: “Behold your mother!” (Jn 19:27). He said this to the beloved disciple and to every disciple. Our Lady is not an optional accessory: she has to be welcomed into our life. She is the Queen of peace, who triumphs over evil and leads us along paths of goodness, who restores unity to her children, who teaches us compassion. Mary, take us by the hand. Clinging to you, we will pass safely through the straits of history. Lead us by the hand to rediscover the bonds that unite us. Gather us beneath your mantle, in the tenderness of true love, where the human family is reborn: “We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God”. Let us together pray these words to Our Lady: “We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God”.
Mary, Virgin and Mother,
you who, moved by the Holy Spirit,
welcomed the word of life
in the depths of your humble faith:
as you gave yourself completely to the Eternal One,
help us to say our own “yes”
to the urgent call, as pressing as ever,
to proclaim the good news of Jesus.
Filled with Christ’s presence,
you brought joy to John the Baptist,
making him exult in the womb of his mother.
Brimming over with joy,
you sang of the great things done by God.
Standing at the foot of the cross
with unyielding faith,
you received the joyful comfort of the resurrection,
and joined the disciples in awaiting the Spirit
so that the evangelizing Church might be born.
Obtain for us now a new ardour born of the resurrection,
that we may bring to all the Gospel of life
which triumphs over death.
Give us a holy courage to seek new paths,
that the gift of unfading beauty may reach every man and woman.
Virgin of listening and contemplation,
Mother of love, Bride of the eternal wedding feast,
pray for the Church,
whose pure icon you are,
that she may never be closed in on herself
or lose her passion for establishing God’s kingdom.
Star of the new evangelization,
help us to bear radiant witness to communion, service, ardent and generous faith,
justice and love of the poor,
that the joy of the Gospel
may reach to the ends of the earth, illuminating even the fringes of our world.
Mother of the living Gospel,
wellspring of happiness for God’s little ones, pray for us.
Today we celebrate the beautiful feast of the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Why do we celebrate this feast? Mary is the Mother of the Son of God, and as such, is our Mother too. Just as we celebrate the birthday of our natural mother, it is fitting that as a Church we celebrate the birthday of our Mother in the order of grace.
What is the best gift we can give our Heavenly Mother (or to phrase it another way: what do you give to the Woman who has everything)? All our Heavenly Mother asks of us is our love and our time. She does not expect grand gestures and big presents. She would very much appreciate if we took the time to speak with her today and to speak with her Son too. She would love if we honoured her birthday by performing little acts with great love today. Love is at the heart of Christianity and at the heart of our veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She, like all of us, was created out of love and for love and as the Mother of God she loves us all equally and continues to intercede for us with her Son. What are you going to do for your Heavenly Mother today?
May 21 marks the memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church, added to the Roman calendar this year by Pope Francis.The annual memorial is intended to foster Marian devotion among Catholics. Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said this celebration will help promote affection for Christ and his mother.
“This celebration will help us to remember that growth in the Christian life must be anchored to the Mystery of the Cross, to the oblation of Christ in the Eucharistic Banquet and to the Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Redeemed,” he said in a March 3 letter.
The Church should have the attitude of a wife and a mother, the Pope said. Without its feminine dimension, the Catholic Church risks becoming an old boy’s club and incapable of love, Pope Francis said.
The Church must “remain female” and “have this attitude of a wife and mother” who nurtures her children, the Pope said in his homily on May 21 during a morning Mass commemorating the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church.
“When we forget this, it becomes a masculine church; without this dimension, it sadly becomes a church of old bachelors, who live in this isolation, incapable of love, incapable of fruitfulness,” the Pope said.
...............Without this dimension, “the Church loses its true identity and becomes a charitable organization or a soccer team or something, but not the Church,” he said.
Like a mother, the Church also goes “along the path of tenderness” and knows how to convey wisdom through the language of “caresses, of silence, of the gaze that knows compassion,” the Pope said.
All Christians in some way are called to “go along the same path,” being someone who is “gentle, tender, smiling, full of love,” Pope Francis said.
On this weeks programme John and Shane explore thoughts and devotions around the month of May and Marian devotion with a vox pop from around the world from Totus2us and with a reflection from Mary Keating. In addition we have our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel, saints of the week and other liturgical odds & ends. You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE. There is something about Mary
May is the month of Mary but what does that mean to people? On this weeks programme we looked around for some ordinary, every day thoughts and reflections from people to share about this woman who has been remembered for over 2000 years, depicted in more art than any other human and to whom many have such an intimate relationship.
First up we have some reflections from a website called Totus2us. It is a website and series of podcasts online which describes itself as giving voice to faith, hope and love from all around the world, especially among St John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI & Pope Francis's 'dearest young people'. Dedicated to Our Lady, Totus2us wants to highlight what's good, true and beautiful, to help us to pray and not be afraid to follow Jesus Christ. There are voices from 125 countries so far on over 40 audio Totus2us podcasts. Every day someone new from around the world tells us something about what Our Lady means to them. So on SS102fm this morning we put together a medley/vox pop of some of the reflections shared by Totus2us.
Secondly SS102fm friend Mary Keating joins us to share her thoughts and reflections on Mary as Mother prompted by the new feast day put into the liturgical calendar by Pope Francis on the Monday after Pentecost Sunday. The Blessed Virgin Mary is so much the image of mother, from the very moment of her yes to the angel taking the risk of an unplanned pregnancy up to a mothers role to the handing on of faith to children up to the time of our death when she is praying and accompanying us into that final journey.
You can listen to Mary's reflection excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.
Gospel - John 15: 9-17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Reflections on this weeks gospel: Word on Fire Sunday Reflections Centre for Liturgy English Dominican Liturgical odds & ends Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 2; 6th week of Easter Saints of the Week May 7th - Apparition of the Holy Cross over Jerusalem May 8th - Bl John Sullivan SJ May 9th - Bl Karolina Gerhardinger May 10th - St Comgall - depending where you are, it could also be the Ascension of the Lord (see below) May 11th - St Criotin of Macreddin May 12th - St Pancras Liturgical jigs & reels The Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord celebrates the day on which Jesus Christ, 40 days after His rising from the dead, ascended bodily into heaven. This feast which has been traditionally celebrated on the 40th day after Easter Sunday which is always a Thursday. However, the actual day of celebration can vary from country to country and even from diocese to diocese. In Ireland, the UK, South Africa, Australia and parts of the USA, the various Catholic Bishops’ Conferences, in accordance with canon law, petitioned the Holy See to allow the celebration to be transferred to the following Sunday. In other places, the solemnity is still celebrated on the Thursday. The celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13th is not celebrated this year as the Sunday/Ascension takes precedence.
Our Lady of Advent Patron of the Unborn Sr Maria Paul PDDM
All months of the year are devoted to God. Some months have additional themes to help deepen our faith and trust in our God. In May we give thanks for Mary, Mother of God. The month of May is the "month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to Our Blessed Lady," and it is the occasion for a "moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world [pay] to the Queen of Heaven. During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God's mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance" (Paul VI: Encyclical on the Month of May, no. 1).
Bring flowers of the rarest
Bring blossoms the fairest,
From garden and woodland and hillside and dale;
Our full hearts are swelling,
Our glad voices telling...
The praise of the loveliest flower of the vale!
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today!
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
There are many and varied hymns and songs to Mary and three years ago we posted a short series of some of your favourites. You will find them under the tag Songs for Mary's month
In Marian devotions, the Faith takes on a special relationship to the poor - Karl Rahner, studying the phenomenon of Marian apparitions, points out that all these apparitions have one thing in common: in every case, Mary appears to a poor person. In every alleged apparition that has become accepted in popular devotion, the person Mary appears to is someone insignificant in the world’s eyes.
In his homily for New Year's Day - the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God - Pope Francis said the motherhood of Mary reminds us that God is close to humanity “The year opens in the name of the Mother.” Pope Francis focused on Mary, the Mother of God, in his homily for the Mass of her Solemnity, the first of the secular New Year. Calling Mary “the Mother of God” he said, reminds us “there is no longer God without man; the flesh Jesus took from His Mother is our own, now and for all eternity.”
The great miracle of Christmas, the Pope continued, is that “man is no longer alone; no more an orphan but forever a child.” This is the novelty presented to us by the liturgy at the beginning of the new year. Knowing that we are children of God helps us to realize that “humanity is precious and sacred to the Lord. Henceforth, to serve human life is to serve God.” Turning explicitly to the Gospel, Pope Francis reflected on the fact that Bible says of Mary only that she “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” She remained silent in the face of the great miracles and wonders of Christmas. In this, Mary follows in the footsteps of her Son, the Eternal Word of God, Who chose to become an infant, Who did not speak. “This silence tells us that, if we would ‘keep’ ourselves, we need silence,” the Pope said. “As we look” on the crib “in silence, we let Jesus speak to our heart… To set aside a moment of silence each day to be with God is to ‘keep’ our soul.” The Holy Father noted that Mary pondered both the joys and sorrows of life, dwelling on them, “with God,” in her heart. She pondered them by always turning them over to God. When we do that, the Pope said, “God, Who keeps us in His heart, then comes to dwell in our lives.” At the beginning of the new year, the Pope continued, “we too, as Christians on our pilgrim way, feel the need to set out anew from the centre, to leave behind the burdens of the past and to start over from the things that really matter.” The point of departure, he said, is the Mother of God. “Devotion to Mary is not spiritual etiquette, it is a requirement of the Christian life.” Pope Francis said, “If our faith is not to be reduced merely to an idea or a doctrine, all of us need a mother’s heart.” He concluded his homily with the prayer: “May the Mother, God’s finest human creation, guard and keep this year, and bring the peace of her Son to our hearts, and to the world.”
On this weeks programme, Geraldine Creaton joins John and Shane in advance of the celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin to reflect on the role of Mary in the story of salvation. We have a rather abbreviated reflection on this weeks Sunday gospel as well as our regular discussion on the saints of the week and other liturgical odds and ends. You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE. 15th August - Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Dormition of the Birth-giver of God
Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did. If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother - St Maximilian Kolbe
On this weeks programme Geraldine Creaton from the Emmanuel Community returns to join John and Shane to reflect on the role of Mary - the simple Jewish woman who became the linchpin to the story of salvation. You can listen to the discussion and reflection excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE. August 15th is the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorated by the Orthodox churches as the Dormition (or Falling asleep) of the Virgin Mary. The dogma was officially declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950 in the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus. The apostolic constitution traces out the ancient understanding of the dogma going back through the centuries and emphasises that its official declaration by Pope Pius XII was seen as only the official confirmation of a belief long held in the Tradition of the church rather than as something new. Rather than something imposed by Pius XII, consultation was made with the bishops and on May 1, 1946, a letter "Deiparae Virginis Mariae," was issued which asked "Do you, venerable brethren, in your outstanding wisdom and prudence, judge that the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin can be proposed and defined as a dogma of faith? Do you, with your clergy and people, desire it?" with a response very much in the affirmative.
So, Pius XII declared that:
"Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination,(47) immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.......after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; 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......
Dormition of the Theotokas According to Orthodox tradition, the apostles were miraculously gathered from the various countries in which they were preaching the gospel to be at the bedside of the BVM as she passed from earth to heaven
Shout, O David, and declare: * What is this present feast? * And he says: Today has Christ * unto the mansions above * translated her from whom He was born without seed * and whom I have extolled * in the Book of the Psalms * as daughter, child of God, * and as a virgin as well. * And for this reason do mothers and daughters * and brides of Christ now rejoice and say: * Rejoice, O Lady who were translated * unto the royal courts on high. (Source)
Gospel - Matthew 14:22-33
After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boatand precede him to the other side,while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore,was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night,he came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to him in reply,"Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened;and, beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter,and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying,"Truly, you are the Son of God."
