Readings and Themes for the Week of August 15, 2010

Readings for Faith Sharing
Week of August 15, 2010,
The Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary

Reading I Revelation 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab

A woman is clothed with the sun and crowned with stars.

Psalm 45

"The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold."

Reading II 1 Corinthians 15:20-27

Christ is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Gospel Luke 1:39-56

As David danced before the ark, so John leaps in his mother’s womb in the presence of the Lord in the womb of Mary.

THEME:

God’s power among us gives us strength.

Mary’s joyful song of praise, her Magnificat, resounds throughout this great festival in honor of her assumption into heaven. Let us be attentive, as was the Blessed Virgin Mary, to God’s word of comfort, peace, and challenge for all who long to see the face of God.

Questions of the week

Question for Children:

How does your relationship to the Blessed Virgin Mary help your faith?

Question for Youth:

Mary said YES to God, to cooperating with God’s plan for her life.

What do you think God wants for our life?

How well are you cooperating with God’s plan?

Question for Adults:

In your own words, how would you describe the role of Mary in the work of Christ?

Bulletin Bites
"More blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb."

On November 1, 1950 Pope Pius XII, in his Encyclical Letter Munificentissimus Deus, proclaimed, declared and defined to be 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." Some ask why, how, when, and where? Those are fair questions. The simple answer is "It’s a mystery!" But it is more important to ask, "Why not?" Why would Jesus not want to honor the young girl who accepted God’s call to be his mother [at great risk to her life], who carried him in her womb and gave birth to him in a cave, who watched him grow and was with him when he died on a cross and who rejoiced at his Resurrection by assuming her uncorrupted body to be with him in heaven for eternity? The world would be a much better place if we all honored our parents, family, friends, and strangers who often do so much for us that we do not appreciate. Once again, Jesus reveals to us that gratitude is the beginning of generosity.