On Sunday, the day after my high school class reunion in Western Pennsylvania, my maternal grandmother and I went to the 10:30 a.m. Mass (a.k.a. "the late Mass"!) at St. Patrick Church in the village of Noblestown.
On the liturgical calendar was the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the day Catholics celebrate our belief that, after her time on earth was complete, the mother of Jesus was assumed body and soul into heaven.
Sunday morning's Gospel reading was the account from Luke Chapter 1 in which, after learning she was to be the mother of Jesus, Mary "set out and traveled to the hill country" to the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth.
The passage provides much of the Hail Mary prayer as well as Mary's beautiful (and revolutionary) proclamation known as The Magnificat:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on 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 forever.”
For reflections on Sunday's scriptures and the Assumption, visit City Father, Deacon Greg, Father Mulcahy, Bishop Gumbleton, Busted Halo, Fr. Jboy, Sr. Jo-Anne and Fr. Tito.
Assumption Flashbacks: 2009, 2008 and Bertha.
On the liturgical calendar was the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the day Catholics celebrate our belief that, after her time on earth was complete, the mother of Jesus was assumed body and soul into heaven.
Sunday morning's Gospel reading was the account from Luke Chapter 1 in which, after learning she was to be the mother of Jesus, Mary "set out and traveled to the hill country" to the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth.
The passage provides much of the Hail Mary prayer as well as Mary's beautiful (and revolutionary) proclamation known as The Magnificat:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on 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 forever.”
For reflections on Sunday's scriptures and the Assumption, visit City Father, Deacon Greg, Father Mulcahy, Bishop Gumbleton, Busted Halo, Fr. Jboy, Sr. Jo-Anne and Fr. Tito.
Assumption Flashbacks: 2009, 2008 and Bertha.
The image above is "The Holy Virgin in Old Age" or "La sainte Vierge âgée" by James Tissot. It is from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
1 comment:
Amen! The Magnificat never gets old! Thank you for posting it.
Thank you for sharing that beautiful image, as well. I'd never seen it!
You should consider submitting it to my Marian blog!
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