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Pastor's Page 2021-08-15

Dear St. Gabriel Parishioners:

 

  • Next Sunday, August 15 – uniquely this year, fall on the Lord’s Day and the Church will celebrate this Feast in a special way.  In honoring this special feast of our Blessed Mother Mary, we will pray the Rosary before all Masses.

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin MaryBody and Soul into Heaven – reminds us of the special privilege and reward of our Blessed Mother of her faithfulness to God in her life.  May her son, Jesus’ gift of the “Living Bread”, help us also to be one day with him and our blessed Mother as we also open to receive and remain faithful to Him. 

  • It is not often that the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary falls on a Sunday. The Assumption of Mary, Mother of the Lord, into heaven is a consoling sign of our hope.  In looking to her, carried up amid the rejoicing of angels, human life is opened to the perspective of eternal happiness. Our own death is not the end but rather the entrance into life that knows no death.

For Catholic Christians, the belief in the Assumption of Mary flows from our belief in, and understanding of, Mary’s Immaculate Conception.  We believe that if Mary was preserved from sin by the free gift of God, she would not be bound to experience the consequences of sin and death in the same way that we do.  We believe that because of the obedience and fidelity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the end of her earthly life, she was assumed both body and soul into heavenly glory.

From the 13th century to the present, there is certain and undisputed faith in the Assumption of Mary in the universal Church.  In 1950, Pope Pius XII taught infallibly "Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."

 

The Catholic feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15, and Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos (the falling asleep of the Mother of God) on or around the same date.  Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that Mary died a natural death, that her soul was received by Christ upon death, and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her death and that she was taken up into heaven bodily in anticipation of the general resurrection.

 

In presenting the "great sign" of the "woman clothed with the sun," the first reading from the Book of Revelation (11:19; 12:1-6, 10) says that she "was with child and ... cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery" (12:2).

 

In the second reading for today's feast (1 Corinthians 15:20-27), St. Paul addresses a problem among the Corinthians: their denial of the resurrection of the dead apparently because of their inability to imagine how any kind of bodily existence could be possible after death.

 

Mary is a model for each of us, and her Assumption into heaven reminds us that there is hope for you and me.  What happens to the Virgin daughter of Nazareth at the end of her earthly pilgrimage will happen to each of us if we are faithful and obedient as she was.

The Gospel for today's feast (Luke 1:39-56) invites us into the extraordinary story of two women sharing their faith, hope, and happiness as they prepare for motherhood.  It is an occasion for celebration between Elizabeth, who is old and barren, and Mary, a young betrothed virgin -- a story of God's ability to both give and sustain life.  Our God causes life to surge forth from barren wombs and empty tombs.  Mary's trip to the hill country of Judah is also a manifestation of the coming kingdom.

  • Congratulation St. Gabriel Parishioners. We met our parish goal for 2021 Annual Catholic Appeal.  A BIG word of thanks to the many families who have, once again, helped support this year.  If you didn’t have an opportunity of filling your commitment envelope yet, please join with many of your parishioners to help put our parish beyond our goal; because whatever over our goal will be used to upgrade our parish sound and video system.  OR you may contribute directly for the “Sound and Video System Project”; please see the bulletin for more information.

While enjoying the “Summer rest”, please don’t forget our parishes – St. Gabriel and Prince of Peace

Have a wonderful week with Jesus Presence and His abundant Grace.

Christ’s Peace, 
Fr. Phuong Hoang

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