FEAST DAY OF THE ASSUMPTION:
15th August
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, You have destroyed the power of death and given the hope of eternal life for body and soul. You granted your Mother a special place in your glory, and did not allow decay to touch her body. As we rejoice in the Assumption of Mary, grant us renewed confidence in the victory of life over death. Amen
DAY 1
Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, we believe in your triumphant assumption into heaven where the angels and saints acclaim you as Queen of Heaven and earth.
We join them in praising you and bless the Lord who raised you above all creatures. With them we honor you.
We are confident that you watch over our daily lives and we ask that you intercede for us now.
(Mention your request)
We are comforted by our faith in the coming Resurrection and we look to you for prayers and comfort.
After this earthly life, show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb, O kind, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us. Amen
DAY 2
Assumed into Heaven, we venerate you as the Queen of Heaven and earth.
As you tasted the bitterness of pain and sorrow with your Son on earth, you now enjoy eternal bliss with Him in Heaven.
Loving Queen, intercede for us in our needs.
(Mention your request)
We praise Jesus for giving us such a loving mother.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us. Amen
DAY 3
O Mother, Assumed into Heaven, because you shared in all the mysteries of our Redemption here below, Jesus has crowned you with glory.
With your most glorious and powerful intercession, help us O loving Mother and present to Jesus our request.
(Mention your request)
O Queen assumed into Heaven, pray for us. Amen
DAY 4
O Dearest Mother Mary, Assumed into Heaven, God placed you at His right hand that you may intercede for his little ones as the Mother of God.
In the midst of all the saints you stand as their Queen and ours — dearer to the Heart of God than any creation. You pray for your children and grant us every grace won by our loving Savior on the Cross.
Please intercede for us in our needs and ask Jesus to grant our request if it be for the good of our souls.
(Mention your request)
O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us. Amen
DAY 5
O merciful and loving Mother, may your glorious beauty fill our hearts with a distaste for earthly things and an ardent longing for the joys of Heaven.
May your merciful eyes glance down upon our struggles and our weakness in this vale of tears.
Hear then loving Mother, our request and plead to Jesus for us.
(Mention your request)
Crown us with the pure robe of innocence and grace here, and with immortality and glory in Heaven.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us. Amen
DAY 6
Mary, our dear Mother and mighty Queen, take and receive our poor hearts with all their freedom and desires, all the love and all the virtues and graces with which they may be adorned.
All we are and all we might be, all we have and hold in the order of nature as well as of grace, we have received from God through your loving intercession.
Help us dear Mother to surrender to God all that we have, including our petitions.
(Mention your request)
Our Lady and Queen, into your gentle hands, we entrust all, that it may be returned to its noble origin.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us. Amen
DAY 7
Mary, Queen of every heart, accept all that we are and bind us to Jesus with the bonds of love so that we may be yours forever and may be able to say in all truth: “I belong to Jesus through Mary”.
Our Mother, Assumed into Heaven and Queen of the Universe, ever-Virgin Mother of God, obtain for us what we ask, if it be for the glory of God and the good of our souls.
(Mention your request)
Our Mother, assumed into Heaven, we love you. Give us a greater love for Jesus and for you.
O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us. Amen
DAY 8
Mary, Queen Assumed into Heaven, we rejoice that you are the Queen of Heaven and Earth. You have given your holy fiat to God and became the Mother of our Savior.
Obtain peace and salvation for us through your prayers, for you have given birth to Christ our Lord, the Savior of all mankind.
Intercede for us and bring our petitions before the Throne of God.
(Mention your request)
Through your prayers, may our souls be filled with an intense desire to be like you, a humble vessel of the Holy Spirit and a servant of the Almighty God.
Pray for us O Queen Assumed into Heaven
DAY 9
O Blessed Mother Assumed into Heaven, after years of heroic martyrdom on earth, we rejoice that you have at last been taken to the throne prepared for you in Heaven by the Holy Trinity.
Lift our hearts with you in the glory of your Assumption above the dreadful touch of sin and impurity.
Teach us how small earth becomes when viewed from heaven. Make us realize that death is the triumphant gate through which we shall pass to your Son and that someday our bodies shall rejoin our souls in the unending bliss of heaven.
From this earth, which we tread as pilgrims, we look to you for help.
In honor of your Assumption into Heaven, we ask for this favor….
(Mention your request)
At the hour of our death, lead us safely to the presence of Jesus to enjoy the vision of God for all eternity together with you.
Pray for us O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen
Discourse on the Feast of the Assumption
Written By St. Alphonsus Liguori
Meditation on the Death of Mary
On this day the Church celebrates, in honour of Mary, two solemn festivals; the first is that of her happy passage from this world; the second, that of her glorious Assumption into Heaven. In the present discourse we shall speak of her happy passage from this world; and in the next of her glorious Assumption.
How precious was the death of Mary! Firstly, on account of the special graces that attended it. Secondly, on account of the manner in which it took place. Death being the punishment of sin, it would seem that the Divine Mother—all holy, and exempt as she was from its slightest stain— should also have been exempt from death, and from encountering the misfortunes to which the children of Adam, infected by the poison of sin, are subject.
But God was pleased that Mary should in all things resemble Jesus; and as the Son died, it was becoming that the Mother should also die; because, moreover, He wished to give the just an example of the precious death prepared for them, He willed that even the most Blessed Virgin should die, but by a sweet and happy death.
Let us, therefore, now consider how precious was Mary’s death: first, on account of the special favours by which it was accompanied; secondly, on account of the manner in which it took place.
First point—There are three things which render death bitter: attachment to the world, remorse for sins, and the uncertainty of salvation. The death of Mary was entirely free from these causes of bitterness, and was accompanied by three special graces, which rendered it precious and joyful. She died as she had lived, entirely detached from the things of the world; she died in the most perfect peace; she died in the certainty of eternal glory.
And in the first place, there can be no doubt that attachment to earthly things renders the death of the worldly bitter and miserable, as the Holy Ghost says: “O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man who hath peace in his possessions!”(Eccl. 41:1).
But because the Saints die detached from the things of the world, their death is not bitter, but sweet, lovely, and precious; that is to say, as Saint Bernard remarks, worth purchasing at any price, however great. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” (Apoc. 14:13).
Who are they who, being already dead, die? They are those happy souls who pass into eternity already detached, and, so to say, dead to all affection for terrestrial things; and who, like Saint Francis of Assisi, found in God alone all their happiness, and with him could say, ‘My God and my all.’ (Deum meus et omnia).
But what soul was ever more detached from earthly goods, and more united to God, than the beautiful soul of Mary? She was detached from her parents; for at the age of three years, when children are most attached to them, and stand in the greatest need of their assistance, Mary, with the greatest intrepidity, left them, and went to shut herself up in the temple to attend to God alone.
She was detached from riches, contenting herself to live always poor, and supporting herself with the labour of her own hands. She was detached from honours, loving an humble and abject life, though the honours due to a queen were hers, as she was descended from the kings of Israel.
The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, that when her parents left her in the temple, she resolved in her heart to have no father, and to love no other good than God.
(From The Glories of Mary)
CATHOLIC ARROWS 