Celebration of beautiful feasts in August

This month of August offers us some very beautiful feasts which we celebrate annually and I would like to review just three of these feasts.
 
The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord falls this year on Sunday, Aug. 6 and as such this feast is celebrated instead of the usual Sunday in Ordinary Time. We find the accounts of the Lord’s Transfiguration in Matthew 17: 1-8, Mark 9: 2-8 and Luke 9: 28-36.
 
The second feast of this month is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary which falls on Tuesday, Aug. 15 and it is a Holy Day of Obligation for all baptized Catholics who have achieved the age of reason, that is, seven years of age.
 
The Assumption was defined as a dogma of our Catholic Faith by Pope Pius XII in 1950 and, as such, we are required to believe this doctrine as Catholics. While this truth of our Faith was defined as an infallible truth in 1950, the Catholic Church had believed this from Apostolic times and has been and continues to celebrate this truth liturgically. The Catechism of the Catholic Church best describes this infallible truth and why we celebrate it with such devotion. “‘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’.  The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.” (CCC, 966)
 
What Our Blessed Lady received at the moment of her earthly death, perfect and eternal happiness in heaven in her body and soul, we hope, pray and strive for the same in our own earthly lives. She is our best example of holiness and she is our best intercessor with her Son for us.
 
The third feast of the month is The Passion of St. John the Baptist which falls on Tuesday, Aug. 29. While the feast is not a Holy Day, I urge you, if possible, to participate at Mass that day. St. John the Baptist is the bridge between the Old and New Testaments, he is the last of the Old Testament prophets and he is the divinely chosen Precursor of the Savior whose vocation it was to identify the promised Savior and to prepare a people fit for Him.  So committed was John to his vocation that he died a martyr’s death for the sake of the truth about the need to repent and turn away from sin. Who better for us to listen to daily when we are tempted to sin? St. John the Baptist is our constant reminder of why we have the chance for heaven and Who has given this eternal gift to us.
 
Finally, by the end of August our Catholic schools will have resumed and I wish to thank all of our parents for entrusting to us your children to be further taught the truths of our precious Faith and all those necessary and secular subjects they will need to be good, holy and productive citizens. I thank all our school teachers, administrators and support staff for your continued devotion and dedication to this essential apostolate of our Church. May God bless all of you during this new school year.