Posted on 07/31/2005 1:02:50 PM PDT by Siobhan
Prayer of Consecration
In union with all mankind, in communion with the entire Church, and with our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, we address to you O Father, this supplication especially for our country, through the heart and the hands of the Virgin Mary.
Father, send your Holy Spirit, so that each one of us might become an instrument of your peace,
From hunger and war, deliver us! From nuclear war, from incalculable self destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us!
From the sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us!
From discouragement, from hatred and from the degradation of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us!
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us!
From the readiness to trample on the Commandments of God, deliver us!
From the attempt to extinguish the very truth of God in human hearts, deliver us!
From the loss of consciousness of good and evil, deliver us!
From the sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us!
Mother of Christ and Mother of all peoples, we ask for your protection and your intercession. Pray to your Son for us, to send the Holy Spirit in abundance, the Spirit of Truth who is the source of Life. Welcome the Spirit for us and with us as you did on the feast of Pentecost with the first disciples. Mother you know and share our sufferings and hopes.
Today we entrust the whole world to you. We pray for you to accompany us on our path. Like John the apostle, we wish to accept you into our homes, to learn from you how to resemble Jesus. We entrust all our people to you, starting with those who are the weakest and who suffer the most: the unborn children, those whose life is menaced, those born in poverty, the young people searching for a sense to their life, the refugees, the unemployed, those tried by sickness, the families who are divided, elderly persons deprived of assistance and all those who are alone and without hope.
May the infinite saving power of Redemption rise up once more in the history of the world, the power of the Merciful Love of the Father! May the Holy Spirit transform consciences! May He heal our memories and purify our hearts. May the Lord always reign among us, He who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
AMEN.
Mary, Queen Assumed into Heaven, I rejoice that after years of heroic martyrdom on earth, you have at last been taken to the throne prepared for you in heaven by the Holy Trinity.
Lift my heart with you in the glory of your Assumption above the dreadful touch of sin and impurity. Teach me how small earth becomes when viewed from heaven. Make me realize that death is the triumphant gate through which I shall pass to your Son, and that someday my body shall rejoin my soul in the unending bliss of heaven.
From this earth, over which I tread as a pilgrim, I look to you for help. I ask for this favor: (Mention your request).
When my hour of death has come, lead me safely to the presence of Jesus to enjoy the vision of my God for all eternity together with you.
Ping
Many thanks! I understandably regard the Assumption as a "very special Feast Day" each year!
Frank, MI
Maeve
Thank you, my sweetest rose. Bail ó Dhia is Mhuire duit.
ping
The Assumption of the Virgin with Saints
Pietro Perugino
1500. Oil on panel
Galleria dell' Accademia, Florence, Italy
All Orthodox icons I have seen follow this canon: the Blessed Virgin is asleep in the Lord; her Soul is separate and held by Christ, leaving no doubt as to Her death. That is Dormition. The Catholic imagery of the Assumption, in contrast, presents a death-defying ascension into Heaven of a living Blessed Mother. I don't know how different the underlying theology is, despite the late adoption of the doctrine of Assumption by the Catholic Church, but the visual contrast between the two views is striking.
In the west there are many images of the empty tomb of Our Lady corresponding to her empty tomb in Jerusalem (which is maintained by the Greek Orthodox). And these are often joined with an image of her rising to heaven being carried by angels -- but never of her own volition.
ping, bump, bttt
Friday, August 5 is the feast of Our Lady of the Snows -- the devotion recalling the vision by Pope Liberius, who ordered the construction of the basilica of St. Mary Major on the site of the miracle he witnessed (reproduced every August 5 by a shower of flower petals inside the basilica).
The basilica is a sort of novena in stone, for its apse contains a mosaic relating to the Assumption, namely the Coronation of the virgin, by the Franciscan Jacopo Torriti.
"I don't know how different the underlying theology is, despite the late adoption of the doctrine of Assumption by the Catholic Church, but the visual contrast between the two views is striking."
As Orthodox Christians, we are free to believe in the Assumption as a thelogoumenon, a pious belief, but the Orthodox Church has never declared that belief dogma. Most Orthodox Christians I know believe that Panagia was assumed into heaven. That belief is very ancient in the East and I suspect that it was that theologoumenon which prompted the dogmatic pronouncement of the Latin Church. As I understand the Tradition, no one saw this Assumption, only her empty tomb after the burial. All Orthodox people, so far as I know, believe that Panagia in fact died and the August 15th Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is a feast of her death.
The renaissance art posted here illustrates the intensity of the belief in the Assumption in the West centuries prior to its incorporation into the Catholic doctrine in 1950.
Although the art is relatively modern, -- late renaissance, -- the belief indeed is ancient and dates from the discovery of the empty tomb:
At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when bishops from throughout the Mediterranean world gathered in Constantinople, Emperor Marcian asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople to be enshrined in the capitol. The patriarch explained to the emperor that there were no relics of Mary in Jerusalem, that "Mary had died in the presence of the apostles; but her tomb, when opened later . . . was found empty and so the apostles concluded that the body was taken up into heaven."In the eighth century, St. John Damascene was known for giving sermons at the holy places in Jerusalem. At the Tomb of Mary, he expressed the belief of the Church on the meaning of the feast: "Although the body was duly buried, it did not remain in the state of death, neither was it dissolved by decay. . . . You were transferred to your heavenly home, O Lady, Queen and Mother of God in truth."
(Source: THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY: A BELIEF SINCE APOSTOLIC TIMES)
A Doctor of the Catholic Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori, wrote two discourses on the Assumption of Mary, which are part of his book, "The Glories of Mary." Pope Pius XII quoted from this book in Munificentissimus Deus, the apostolic constitution which declared and defined the dogma of Our Lady's Assumption. In Discourse VII, he wrote:
Death being the punishment of sin, it would seem that the Divine Mother all holy, and exempt as she was from its slightest stain should also have been exempt from death, and from encountering the misfortunes to which the children of Adam, infected by the poison of sin, are subject. But God was pleased that Mary should in all things resemble Jesus; and as the Son died, it was becoming that the Mother should also die; because, moreover, He wished to give the just an example of the precious death prepared for them, He willed that even the most Blessed Virgin should die, but by a sweet and happy death.
I highly recommend that Catholics read these discourses as part of this novena.
Legend has it that during the funeral procession, a man attempted to upset the bier on which the Theotokos' body was resting. As he moved to do so, an angel severed his hand at the wrist. One of the Apostles, Peter, I think, restored the man's hand to it's proper function.
"Let me clarify that the Catholic belief is that Blessed Mary did experience death as well. Assumption means that she was taken up to Heaven body and soul incorrupt following her death."
This is as I understand Latin belief. Some of the Western Art on the subject seems to show otherwise, but I suppose that's "artistic license".
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