As harvest season commences and signs of nature’s corruptibility slowly emerge through withering crops and flowers, the Church offers a feast celebrating incorruptibility and the “first fruits” of God’s creation: the Assumption.
The doctrine that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven stems from apostolic tradition, with St. John Damascene, a sixth-century Church Father, teaching that God preserved Mary’s body from death’s state by “transferr(ing her) to (her) heavenly throne.”
Pope Pius XII explains in Munificentissimus Deus, his 1950 document defining the dogma, that by virtue of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, it is fitting God “preserved (Mary) free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.” Here are five ways we can honor Mary by making her feast day special.
Rest
Treat the day — a holy day of obligation in the United States — as a Sunday by worshipping God and breaking from your normal work routine. Ensure you attend Mass. Then savor the summer feast by spending time with family and friends, cultivating leisure and pursuing your favorite hobbies.
Get out on the water
Various traditions associate this solemnity with water. One of them emerged in the 15th century after an Italian bishop became stranded at sea on the Assumption. Invoking Mary’s intercession, the prelate cast his episcopal ring into the stormy water, and the sea immediately calmed. This began a tradition of blessing the waters on Mary’s feast. Commemorate this custom by relishing your local body of water: Take a walk around a nearby lake or creek, go boating or swimming, or have a picnic by the water!
Feast
Plan a festive meal. In addition to the blessing of the waters — after which Europeans traditionally eat seafood — it was long traditional to bless herbs and “first fruits” on the Assumption, which falls at the beginning of the harvest season. The custom was associated with a legend that, several days after Mary’s passing, the apostles discovered flowers in place of her body. Honor these traditions by incorporating fruits, herbs and seafood into the day’s menu. Start the morning with a fruit salad and blueberry pancakes. Make a dinner of seafood or meat marinated with fresh herbs. Finish your feast with a light and airy dessert fit for the heavens: an angel food cake or pavlova, topped with fruit!
Pray the Rosary
Recite the Glorious Mysteries and ponder the fourth mystery: the Assumption. To aid your meditation, read how Scripture depicts Mary, body and soul, in heaven — she is “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rv 12:1) — and reflect that Mary’s assumption reinforces the hope of our own bodily resurrection. Finally, as the Church prays for all seafarers and fishermen during the blessing of the waters, consider offering your Rosary for all those who make their livelihood from the waters.
Make a Marian altar and crown Mary
Prepare for the solemnity by creating a Marian altar — a space to honor Mary — in your home. Place a Marian statue or image in a prominent spot, surround her image with flowers and candles, and crown her with a floral wreath on the solemnity. Consider selecting flowers associated with Mary and her virtues: lilies for innocence, roses for beauty, irises for hope and fidelity to God’s will. Use this space to pray and honor Mary throughout the remainder of the month.
