Pope Benedict XVI marks Feast of the Assumption in Castel Gandolfo
The Feast of the Assumption is celebrated by Christians of East and West, and for
the Catholic Church, the dogma of the Assumption was proclaimed in 1950. Pope Benedict
XVI called these things to mind in his remarks to the faithful ahead of the angelus
prayer at noon on Monday, the Feast of the Assumption, telling the faithful that
in Mary we see the goal towards which all people are making their way, who know how
to bind their lives to Jesus’ own, who know how to follow Him as Mary did. “This feast,”
he said, “speaks therefore of our future: it tells us that we too will be with Jesus
in the joy of God and invites us to have courage, to believe that the power of the
Resurrection of Christ can work in us as well, and make us men and women who every
day try to live as resurrected, carrying the light of goodness into the darkness of
evil in the world.”
After the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, Pope benedict
greeted pilgrims in many languages, including English:
I offer a warm welcome
to the English-speaking visitors gathered for this Angelus prayer on the Solemnity
of the Assumption of Our Lady. May the example and prayers of Mary, Queen of Heaven,
inspire and sustain us on our pilgrimage of faith, that we too may attain the glory
of the Resurrection and the fulfilment of our hope in her Son’s promises. Upon you
and your families I invoke the Lord’s richest blessings!
Before the
traditional noonday Angelus, Celebrating Mass at 8 AM on the Feast of the Assumption
in the Pontifical parish at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict reflected on Mary as the
true Ark of the Covenant – as the New Testament tells us – for she carried the Son
of God within her very self. The Pope went on to note that we, too, are recipients
of the love of God, and must do as Mary did: accept Christ in faith, be enlightened
and guided by His word, follow Him every day.
At the end of the Mass, Benedict
XVI inaugurated a plaque in the Church commemorating the recently completed restoration
work, including a new bronze doors, and a plaque on the town hall that bears an inscriprion
of the Pope’s greeting to Castel Gandolfo on his arrival July 7. Listen