"those He justified, He also glorified" (Rom
8:30)Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant we pray, that always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory.
What was given to Mary, is offered to us: to share in the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. Unlike the Gaga song of "being on the edge of glory," we Christians are offered the possibility of being in the center of glory. But do we believe it?
Eastern and Western Christians observe on the same day the glorious move
of Mary from this world to the next. The Eastern Christians call today's feast
the "Dormition," the falling asleep of the Theotokos and the assumption to
heaven. In the West, we refer to this feast as the Assumption. That Mary,
without decay of the human, was called to heaven body and soul, by God.
A long held sacramental is the blessing herbs and fruits on the Assumption feast. As sacramentals the Church teaches that there is a level of divine protection from "bad things happening to the person using them in good faith." (Here is the Church's encouragement and thinking for priests praying the blessing of herbs and flowers).
The prayers (see the link below) connects what the Church does today with the ancient Jewish customs ordained by God through Moses. The Church holds that when the Apostles accompanied Saint Thomas to Mary's tomb, upon opening it, discovered that her body was not there. Thomas hadn't been absent the Virgin died. While there was no body present there were herbs and flowers. Sacramantally we teach that Mary's influence and power remains in the Church today as the power of herbs and flowers nourish the body and soul.
Our faith holds that "... the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all guilt of original sin, on the completion of her earthly sojourn, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the universe, that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and the conqueror of sin and death" (Lumen Gentium, 59).
As Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina said, "Go to the Madonna. Love her! Always say the Rosary. Say it well. Say it as often as you can! Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains necessary graces!"
The Blessing of Herbs (of the Latin Church)
The Blessing of Herbs (of the Byzantine Church)
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