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Mary in the News: August 18, 2017
By Michael Duricy
Read recent items about Mary in both Catholic and secular news. Also see International Marian Research Institute news and updates.
Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute Features
Updates
The next annual meeting of the Mariological Society of America (MSA) will be held May 15-18, 2018 at the Bergamo Center in Dayton, Ohio. The theme of this year's conference will be: The Blessed Virgin Mary's Relationship to the Sacraments of Healing and Christian Vocation. The Call for Papers will last until October 15, 2017.
Mary in Media: Books, Films, Music, etc.
New Marian Group on Facebook
From the Marian Treasure Chest
The article below was sent by Brother John Samaha with the following comment: "Blessings for the feast of Mary's Assumption!"
Mary's Assumption Pertains to Us by Brother John Samaha, S.M.
Like every doctrine of faith, Mary's Assumption into heaven body and soul is about us too. Mary is our model in faith, charity, and perfect union with Christ. She teaches us how to live in a faith-filled and loving way.
Mary's Assumption teaches us how to live with hope even in dying, how to anticipate our eternal destiny. The Solemnity of the Assumption, observed on August 15, celebrates the completion of Mary's transformation by the Holy Spirit, being taken to heaven not only in soul but also in body.
Mary's Assumption brings us hope because it reminds us that what happened to Mary is our destiny too. The Preface of the Mass declares that the Assumption is "the beginning and the image of Your Church's coming to perfection and a sign of sure hope and comfort for Your people."
We are the Church. Mary's bodily assumption is a harbinger of what will happen to us. What God has done for Mary gives us hope and comfort in what He will do for us.
St. Paul reminds us that even in this life believers are already being transformed into the image of Christ. "All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory as from the Lord who is Spirit." (2 Cor 3:18) This transformation affects not only our souls but also our bodies. "We groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies." (Rom 8:23) Our bodies will be conformed to the body of Christ. "He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorious body by the power that enables Him also to bring all things into subjection to Himself." (Phil 3:21) This transformation results from Jesus' victory over the power of sin and death in His own death and Resurrection.
The opening prayer for the August 15 Eucharistic Liturgy asks that "always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory." Living in tune with God as Mary did, we will also undergo the transformation of both our souls and our bodies.
The post communion prayer requests that "through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom you assumed into heaven, we may be brought to the glory of the Resurrection."
When celebrating the Solemnity of Mary's Assumption in 2010 Pope Benedict XVI offered this clear description in his homily. "The Mother of God is inserted to such a degree in the mystery of Christ that she shares in the resurrection of her Son with her whole being already at the end her life, she lives what we hope for at the end of time."
While admiring Mary in her glorious destiny, we are invited to recognize that the loving Lord has willed for our final destiny to live through faith in perfect union with Him.
Our predecessors in faith professed their firm hope in "the resurrection of the body" in the Apostles Creed and in the Nicene Creed. We rarely think about the resurrection of our bodies. Yet this article of faith greatly encourages us, comforts us at the death of loved ones, and raises our awareness of the value of our bodies.
The Assumption of Mary vividly reminds us that our lives have a special destiny with God.
Marian Events
Twenty-First Annual Mariological Symposium
Theme: Five-Hundred Years of History and Faith of Protestantism
Location: Marianum, Viale Trenta Aprile, 6 - 00153 Roma
Date: October 3-6, 2017
The program will include the presentation of the fifteenth Pro Ancilla Domini award and the inauguration of the new library at the Marianum. For more information email marianum@marianum.it.
Mary in the Catholic Press
Angelus: On the Feast of the Assumption (Zenit website) August 15, 2017
... Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I wish to entrust once again to Mary Queen of Peace, whom we contemplate today in the glory of Paradise, the anxieties and sorrows of the populations that in so many parts of the world suffer from natural disasters, from social tensions, and from conflicts. May our celestial Mother obtain for all consolation and a future of serenity and concord! …
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Mary in the Secular Press
The director and editors of All About Mary under the auspices of the International Marian Research Institute do not necessarily endorse or agree with the events and ideas expressed in this feature. Our sole purpose is to report on items about Mary gleaned from a myriad of papers representing the secular press.
The Marianist Bicentennial (Alive) Summer 2017
"I am begging you to send me to America, as Moses of old sent Joshua and Caleb into the Promised Land, to investigate the country."
Thus wrote Marianist Father, Leo Meyer to his superior, Father Jean Chevaux in 1848. Father Chevaux complied with the request, and a year later, Father Meyer and Marianist Brother Charles Schultz arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio. Four more brothers soon joined them.
It was the beginning of the American chapter of the story of the Society of Mary, a religious congregation of men dedicated to the Blessed Mother and now marking two-hundred years of service to the Church...."
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