We join Catholics throughout the world to celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Aug. 15. It is a holy day of obligation, and four Masses will be celebrated: the 7 p.m. vigil Mass on Thursday, Aug. 14, plus 7:30 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15.

Because it signifies the Blessed Virgin’s passing into eternal life, the Assumption is considered the greatest of all Marian feasts.

From our Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.”⁵⁰⁸ The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:

In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.”

Click here for the Mass readings.