The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

"By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."

- Pope Pius XII

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The Assumption and the World by Bishop Fulton Sheen

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Love in its nature is an Ascension in Christ and an Assumption in Mary. So closely are Love and the Assumption related that a few years ago the writer, when instructing a Chinese lady, found that the one truth in Christianity which was easiest for her to believe was the Assumption. She personally knew a saintly soul who lived on a mat in the woods, whom thousands of people visited to receive her blessing. One day, according to the belief of all who knew the saint, she was "assumed" into heaven. The explanation the convert from Confucianism gave was: "Her love was so great that her body followed her soul." One thing is certain: the Assumption is easy to understand if one loves God deeply, but it is hard to understand if one loves not.

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Since the imperfection of life comes from remoteness to the source of life and because of sin, it follows that the creature who is preserved from Original Sin is immune from that psychological division which sin begets. The Immaculate Conception guarantees a highly integrated and unified life. The purity of such a life is threefold: a physical purity which is integrity of body; a mental purity without any desire for a division of love, which love of creatures apart from God would imply; and finally, a psychological purity which is immunity from the uprising of concupiscence, the sign and symbol of our weakness and diversity. This triple purity is the essence of the most highly unified creature whom this world has ever seen.

Caritas in Veritate--in small doses

Fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom (cf. Jn 8:32) and of the possibility of integral human development. For this reason the Church searches for truth, proclaims it tirelessly and recognizes it wherever it is manifested. This mission of truth is something that the Church can never renounce. Her social doctrine is a particular dimension of this proclamation: it is a service to the truth which sets us free. Open to the truth, from whichever branch of knowledge it comes, the Church's social doctrine receives it, assembles into a unity the fragments in which it is often found, and mediates it within the constantly changing life-patterns of the society of peoples and nations.

On confessing the same sins

Someone asked Pope Benedict XVI why we should go to confession regularly if we always seem to be confessing the same sins anyway. He answered, “It is true: Our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same; in order to live in cleanliness, in order to start again. Otherwise, the dirt might not be seen, but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul, for me myself. …. Confession is only necessary in the case of a serious sin, but it is very helpful to confess regularly in order to foster the cleanliness and beauty of the soul and to mature day by day in life.”

National Catholic Register

When was the last time you went to confession?

I remember Fr. Marin's allocutio two or three weeks ago. He stressed on the importance of confession. We cannot forgive ourselves with some hocus-pocus introspection. Nor can we ask others to forgive us. The only way we know for sure that our sins have been forgiven is by receiving it from Christ himself, and that is what we receive when we go for confession. 

From Fr. Z:

Jesus Christ, God and Savior, gave us the Sacrament of Penance, of Reconciliation.

This is the ordinary means by which He desires us to seek forgiveness for our actual, post-baptismal sins.

There is no sin that any limited little mortal can commit which is so bad that God cannot forgive it.

Christ gave His own power to forgive sins to the Church He established, the Catholic Church.

Priests exercise this ministry in the Church, acting by virtue of their ordination, as "another Christ".

When you confess your sins to a priest and he gives you absolution, you sins are taken away… not merely covered over or set aside.  They are no more.  You may remember them in sorrow, but they no longer harm your relationship with God.

Mortal sins break your saving friendship with God.  Mortal sin places you at risk of eternal separation from God and the happiness of heaven… forever.

Confession and absolution repairs that rupture and returns you to a state of friendship with God.

Awareness of mortal sin should drive you to a confessional.

In our weakness we will sometimes put off going to confession.  Perhaps fear or embarrassment keeps us away.   Time slips by.  Days become weeks become months become years.  

Then you die and go to your judgment.

So … maybe the priest is not friendly or the confession schedule is a little narrow…. so what?  A better confessor is some distance away… so?  It is a little hard… not convenient… too much to do….  And?

What is a moment of embarrassment, what is an interruption of your oh-so-important routine compared to the eternity of heaven or of hell?

You do not know the moment when your reckoning will come, friends.

Have you fallen into the trap, willingly or innocently, of going to "general absolution" without making a confession of your sins in the proper way?

The Sacrament of Penance heals your soul, strengthens you against sin, and – simply on the basic level of peace of mind – works wonders. 

I will never forget one somewhat slow afternoon in a confessional… just a bit bored…  I heard someone get in and slid open the window.  "Bless me Father, I have sinned.  It has been sixty years since my last confession…."

When we were finished he wept and said "I’m free."

Our question:

When was the last time you went to confession?

On the mentally handicapped, 'eating food cooked by Buddhists" and holding hands during the Our Father