On 15 August we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A celebration of Mary’s assumption of her body and soul into heaven and the hope of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time. The Church has placed great importance on this feast day thus marking it as one of two Holy Days of Obligation (aside from every Sunday of the year).

Mass times for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary at St Mary Star of the Sea: -

Thursday 15 August 7am & 12:30pm

This month of August is also traditionally dedicated by the Church to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart is an act both of venerating and imitating Mary’s interior life of her joys, sorrows, virtues and deep love for God and Jesus her Son. This is a good time to draw closer to our Lady and to make or renew our consecration to her Immaculate Heart.

May our devotion to the Heart of Mary and our imitation of her love and virtue lead us to a deeper love and union with God.

For further reading go to: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/liturgical-holidays/solemnity-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary.html

Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

O MARY, Virgin most powerful and Mother of mercy, Queen of Heaven and Refuge of sinners, we consecrate ourselves to thine Immaculate Heart.

We consecrate to thee our very being and our whole life; all that we have, all that we love, all that we are. To thee we give our bodies, our hearts and our souls; to thee we give our homes, our families, our country. We desire that all that is in us and around us may belong to thee and may share in the benefits of thy motherly benediction. And that this act of consecration may be truly efficacious and lasting, we renew this day at thy feet the promises of our Baptism and our first Holy Communion. We pledge ourselves to profess courageously and at all times the truths of our holy Faith, and to live as befits Catholics who are duly submissive to all the directions of the Pope and the Bishops in communion with him. We pledge ourselves to keep the commandments of God and His Church, in particular to keep holy the Lord’s Day. We likewise pledge ourselves to make the consoling practices of the Christian religion, and above all, Holy Communion, an integral part of our lives, in so far as we shall be able so to do.

Finally, we promise thee, O glorious Mother of God and loving Mother of men, to devote ourselves whole-heartedly to the service of thy blessed cult, in order to hasten and assure, through the sovereignty of thine Immaculate Heart, the coming of the kingdom of the Sacred Heart of thine adorable Son, in our own hearts and in those of all men, in our country and in all the world. As in heaven, so on earth. Amen.