THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY - DOGMA AND HOLYDAY...........

In the Salvation History of Humankind, the life of Mary of Nazareth, looms large.  A quiet, unassuming, innocent, teenage girl, chosen by God the Father of All Creation, to be the Mother of the Christ, was conceived immaculately free from sin, to be the worthy vessel to bear the Son of God; one of the two major, "sensus fidelium", Dogmas in the history of Catholic-Christianity.  Today we liturgically celebrate the feast that is the book-end to the dogma of the, Immaculate Conception; as the popular belief of the Faithful from the earliest years of the Community of Believers, in the holiness and fidelity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to God's Plan of Redemption, in the Solemnity of the Assumption.  The Assumption of Mary, is according to Sacred Tradition, the abiding belief of Catholic-Christians, that at the conclusion of her natural, human life, the Blessed Mother of the Son of God Jesus the Christ, did not merely die, and undergo the aftermath of human death by burial of her body.  Instead, we as Disciples and Faithful Witnesses to the purposes of Christ's Paschal Mystery of Salvation and Resurrection for Humankind, affirm our belief that Mary the Mother of God, was assumed undefiled, Body and Soul, into Heaven.  The Dogma of the Assumption of Mary, was the loyal belief and commemoration, for multitude centuries, unofficially, until August 15, 1950; when it was declared the official Dogma of the Church, by Pope Pius IX.  As a Holyday of Obligation equal to Sundays, in the heart and heat, of summer in much of the World, the Assaumption is perennially in its 61 year liturgical commemoration, the most lightly attended Holyday of the year, as most persons are still on summer vacations, including in Rome, where most citizens are outside the city, escaping the oppressive August heat, and even the Holy Father is customarily on his summer holiday, usually at the papal estate in Castlegandolfo.  However, undeniably, the Assumption is one of the essential dogmas in Catholic-Christian history.  It also shares in addition to book-end status with the Immaculate Conception, primary important in our definition of Salvation History, both the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, are the only two Faith Beliefs, in the whole of the Church's existence, solely the two Dogmas to be declared Infallibly, as a papal pronouncement concerning, "the faith and morals", of the Catholic Church, "ex cathedra", as teachings we are required to give our assent of faith to as Catholic-Christian Believers.  "The Dormition", or Falling Asleep if the Blessed Virgin Mary, her glorious, wholistic, Assumption into Heaven, we celebrate and commemorate today, is a belief that binds us to the redemptive actions of the Supreme Being of the Universe, "Our Lord and Our God"...........Masses for this Assumption Day, Monday August 15th, Here At Our Lady Of Lourdes Church In Sacramento / Del Paso Heights / Rio Linda / Elverta / Robla /, Will Be Celebrated At  8 a.m. & 7 p.m.,   Fr.  Troy