The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the patronal feast of South Africa. This doctrine of the church was affirmed dogmatically by Pope Pius XII in 1950 in his Encyclical Munificentissimus Deus, where he taught 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.” May our devotion to Mary in her Blessed Assumption, the sign of our own destiny as Christians, strengthen us in hope, and bring down many blessings, through Our Lady’s intercession, on our community of Faith. May St Bernadette, who now enjoys the heavenly company, in body and soul, of the one she looked upon in vision at Lourdes, pray for us to this glorious Mother!
We pray that amidst the sufferings and joys of this our earthly pilgrimage St Paul’s words, which apply most fully already to Mary, may also be our strength and hope: “I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:6).