In this month of August, with the celebration of Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15th), we keep the great feast of Mary's being taken into heaven, body and soul. And this is not to be thought of so much as an ending, as it is a new beginning.
Pope Benedict XVI wrote that “precisely because Mary is with God and in God, she is very close to each one of us. While she lived on this earth she could only be close to a few people. Being in God, who is actually ‘within’ all of us, Mary shares in this closeness of God.” Our Lady “knows our hearts, can hear our prayers, can help us with her motherly kindness. She always listens to us and, being Mother of the Son, partici- pates in the power of the Son and in his goodness. We can always entrust the whole of our lives to this Mother.” The Blessed Mother’s birth into heaven gen- erates in us “an ever new capacity to await God’s future” (Saint John Paul II). “Mary lifted herself up to such lofty heights of heaven and that the Word reached down from the highest pinnacle of heaven and took her in." (Ambrose Autpert, 784)
Bishop David A. Zubik is overjoyed to join all the Catholic bishops of Pennsylvania in reinstating the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, starting August 15, 2021, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.