Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate this day every year, for several reasons:
  1. Mary was conceived without Original Sin. In accordance with God’s plan for salvation, Mary should be a pure vessel bringing forth the Son of God, because Jesus is sinless. He deserved a tabernacle (womb) free from sin.
  2. Mary never sinned during her entire lifetime. Because she was born without Original Sin, she did not have the concupiscence (tendency to sin) like the rest of us. She was “full of grace” and could therefore resist all temptation, unlike us.
  3. Because Mary was free from sin, her body should not, and would not, experience corruption in the grave, as noted by Pope Pius the XII in his Apostolic Constitution, Munificentissimus Deus:
[Mary,] by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body (MD 5).
So, for these reasons, Catholics celebrate Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, where we believe ... Read more...

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