Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., will serve as principal celebrant and homilist August 15 in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, for the 12:10 p.m. Mass commemorating the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven is August 15.
The Solemnity of the Assumption, which is the patronal feast of the Diocese of Trenton and the namesake of the diocesan see, is a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics, which means that Catholics are obliged to attend Mass either on the vigil (the evening before) or on the day itself.
Dedicated Masses will be celebrated in churches throughout Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean Counties, and, in some locations, will be followed by processions to nearby waterways for a special Blessing of the Waters ritual). Click HERE to read more about parishes that will be holding a Blessing of the Waters.
The Church teaches that because of the Blessed Mother’s unique and privileged relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, she was assumed body and soul into heaven when her life on earth was ended. The doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven was defined and declared “divinely revealed dogma” (that is, infallible and beyond doubt) by Pope Pius XII in his 1950 apostolic constitution “Munificentissimus Deus” (Nov. 1, 1950).
In his annual message for the Assumption, Bishop O’Connell writes of Mary, Mother of the Church: Hers was a life of humility and total openness to the Word of God and the Word made Flesh. Hers was a life of unconditional love for God and for her own Son. Hers was a life of discipleship, following Jesus to the very end, to the Cross, where life’s sorrows pierced her very heart. Click HERE to read the full message.