Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 8-15-02, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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[Salvation]

August 15, 2002
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Psalm: Thursday Week 36 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Reading II Gospel

Reading I
Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon beneath her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have salvation and power come,
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed One."

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 45:10, 11, 12, 16

R. (10bc) The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
The queen takes her place at your right hand in gold of Ophir.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear,
forget your people and your father's house.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
So shall the king desire your beauty;
for he is your lord.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
They are borne in with gladness and joy;
they enter the palace of the king.
R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.

Reading II
1 Cor 15:20-27

Brothers and sisters:
Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through man,
the resurrection of the dead came also through man.
For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
but each one in proper order:
Christ the firstfruits;
then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;
then comes the end,
when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father,
when he has destroyed every sovereignty
and every authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death,
for "he subjected everything under his feet."

Gospel
Lk 1:39-56

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."

And Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever."

Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.

[patent]

>>>>Well, that didn't turn out like it did in my preview.

I strongly dislike this preview for that reason. They give you these narrow columns and you can't count on it looking the same when you post.

patent

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

The belief had always existed in the Church since the death of the last Apostle in ~100 AD. Both the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption are taught implicitly through Old Testament typology and explicitly by the Fathers of the Church. Many confuse defining of a doctrine as inventing of a doctrine and that isn't the case. Just as the Church didn't invent the Trinity when it defined the Trinity in 325 AD and didn't invent the Bible in 405 AD when it closed the canon of the Bible.

Why did it take so long for Munificentissimus Deus to be issued? Hard to say but perhaps one reason is the fact that the exact details of the end of the Blessed Virgin Mary's earthly life are not known. Disputes still exist as to whether or not Mary actually died and then was Assumed or if Mary was Assumed as Elijah and Enoch were, without dying.

[Codie]

Thanks.Did you know that White's sister converted to Catholicism?

[Codie]

i>The belief had always existed in the Church since the death of the last Apostle in ~100 AD. Both the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption are taught implicitly through Old Testament typology and explicitly by the Fathers of the Church. Many confuse defining of a doctrine as inventing of a doctrine and that isn't the case. Just as the Church didn't invent the Trinity when it defined the Trinity in 325 AD and didn't invent the Bible in 405 AD when it closed the canon of the Bible.

I've read the Church Fathers,and I can only agree with them.

Why did it take so long for Munificentissimus Deus to be issued? Hard to say but perhaps one reason is the fact that the exact details of the end of the Blessed Virgin Mary's earthly life are not known. Disputes still exist as to whether or not Mary actually died and then was Assumed or if Mary was Assumed as Elijah and Enoch were, without dying.

The time gap is not a major stumbling block for me. As I said,it was just a curiosity.Thanks for giving me a historical perspective,and not 8 or 9 Bible verses.

[Salvation]

That's the point that's missed, rather deliberately, too.

I tend to agree with you that many Protest-ants do practice selective reading and listening when discussing the Bible. They are always rapt to quote passages out of contest to support a certain premise, but when it comes to the entire discourse of Mary's story they seem to not read and listen with their hearts. My opinion only.

[Salvation]

Check out the commentary in #10. Here the imagery of that text is focused in three ways:
the image represents Mary, the Virgin
the image represent the Church
the image can represent Israel.

I found this a fascinating commentary, since I has also podered the image of Mary fleeing into the desert.

[Salvation]

OH! Thank you for those beautiful pictures!

[Salvation]

And thank you for clarifying those terms that some lurkers (as well as participants) find disturbing!

[Frumanchu]

I'm not sure I'm up to the task of defending my view here. I say this simply because of the nature of Catholic dogma (you are right, NYer...the bulk of Catholic doctrines are as inter-related as an Appalachian coal town) and it ciruity. If I try to debate against Marian doctrine on the basis of Scripture, I am responded to with Tradition. You do not accept Scripture as the sole authority...and I do not accept Tradition as authoritative above Scripture. I'm told that Marian doctrines are implicit in the Scriptures and only the Church has the authority to properly and correctly interpret them. It all comes back to "it is so because the Catholic Church says it is so." Only the Catholic Church can correctly derive from Scripture that only the Catholic Church can correctly derive from Scripture.

Again, I'm not sure I'm up to the task of defending my position when both sides cannot agree on a single authoritative source from which to settle the matter.

[Sock]

Assumpta est Maria in caelum – die XV Augusti

[Salvation]

I simply do not accept her as the Catholic Church does in a mediatory role.

Why not? Maybe you had better re-read the Wedding at Cana story again! Who mediated with Jesus to do something because the bridegroom had run out of wine?

Who did not wish to perform His first miracle there?
And who further asked (prodded) by saying to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you." (Paraphrasing)

Of course, Mary has a mediatory role as you can plainly see in this account. (Or are you denying the Bible here?)

[Salvation]

# 20 is excellent!

[Domestic Church]

"Although Satan has lost this power to act in the world, he still has time left, between the resurrection of our Lord and the end of history, to put obstacles in man's way and frustrate Christ's action. And so he works ever more frenetically, as he sees time run out, in his effort to distance everyone and society itself from the plans and commandments of God. "

Well, we certainly can see this going on with the ongoing crisis and subcommittee documents surfacing.

[Salvation]

The Truth about Mary

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Scripture explicitly tells us that Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be followed: 2 Thessalonians 2:15, 3:6, 1 Corinthians 11:2, 1 Peter 1:25. Scripture also tells us that not everything Jesus said or did is recorded: John 21:25. So does one reject Scripture in order to adhere to a man made doctrine, Sola Scriptura, or does one instead accept Scripture as it is written and behave as instructed by Almighty God?

[Cap'n Crunch]

De Maria Numquam Satis!

What a great feast day!

[Desdemona]

"...both sides cannot agree on a single authoritative source from which to settle the matter."

Why does there need to be a single authoritative source? Usually the best answers come from a study of many sources.

[pseudo-justin]

Why was it not proclaimed until the 50's?"

The Dogma of the assumption was not proclaimed until this century, for several reasons. There were numerous theological points to be discussed, points stemming back from over the whole history of Christian thought, and there were numerous scriptures to be taken into account. With so many factors to consider, and the Church being so extremely careful, and so desirous that all opinions be heard, the ordinary teaching of the Church, already received by so many faithful for many centuries, was not promulgated in an extraordinary way until this century.

Those who talk like this view suddenly appeared out of thin air in the 20th century are evidently ignorant of the doctrine's long and respectable history

[Desdemona]

"Those who talk like this view suddenly appeared out of thin air in the 20th century are evidently ignorant of the doctrine's long and respectable history"

Some of us lament, regularly, the wretched state of education in the faith. At one point all things purgatory and Marian were kind of on the outs. It just so happened, I was a victim.

[Salvation]

Especially when one reads the writings of Calvin, Luther and Zwingli concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This is so true, because they all professed profound belief in the Marian doctrine. I will try to find the references that quote Calvin, Luter and Swingli.