15 August 2025 (Jumaat) / Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary / The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Solemnity, Holy Day of Obligation

15 August 2025 (Jumaat)

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Solemnity, Holy Day of Obligation.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Revelation 11: 19; 12: 1-6, 10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 45: 10, 11, 12, 16
Second Reading: First Corinthians 15: 20-27
Gospel: Luke 1: 39-56

First Reading : Revelation 11:19,12:1‐6,10

The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child, so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had made a place of safety ready. Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, ‘Victory and power and empire for ever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ.’

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 45: 10, 11, 12, 16

R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.

10 The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.

R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.

11 Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father’s house.

R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.

12 And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore.

R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.

16 They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king.

R. The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.

Second Reading : 1 Corinthians 15:20‐26

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first‐fruits of all who have fallen asleep. Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ; but all of them in their proper order: Christ as the first‐fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power. For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet.

Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Mary has been taken up into heaven; all the choirs of angels are rejoicing.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Luke 1:39‐56

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ And Mary said: ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour; because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid. Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name, and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him. He has shown the power of his arm, he has routed the proud of heart. He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away. He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy according to the promise he made to our ancestors of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’ Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.

For our reflection today:

1. The Assumption of Mary! (Song before the Gospel).
"Let us all rejoice in the Lord!" (Entrance Antiphon).
With these words from today's Eucharistic liturgy, I greet the parish of Castel Gandolfo, within whose confines I spend my summer days, far, in a sense, from my daily work desk in Rome and, at the same time, in constant contact with it. On this occasion, I wish to thank, once again, all the inhabitants of Castel Gandolfo: the Pastors of souls, the parishioners, and also the visitors who come here to see us during the holidays. I wish to express my gratitude for the great cordiality and understanding shown to me during this period. I too feel a cordial connection with your community and today I wish to bear witness to this, taking advantage of the occasion of this, your feast day, which is, at the same time, a great solemnity for the entire Church. I come, therefore, to pay—in the celebration of the Most Holy Sacrifice among you—a special veneration to the mystery of the Assumption of the Mother of God. a mystery so dear to the heart of every Christian, so "far away" and, at the same time, so full of promise, so capable of stimulating our hearts to hope.
2. Truly, it would be difficult to find a moment when Mary could have uttered with greater rapture the words she spoke once after the Annunciation, when, having become the virginal Mother of the Son of God, she visited the house of Zechariah to minister to Elizabeth:
"My soul magnifies the Lord... / because the Mighty One has done wonders for me, / whose name is holy" ( Luke 46:49).
If these words had their full and superabundant purpose on Mary's lips when she, Immaculate, became the Mother of the Eternal Word, today they reach their definitive summit. Mary, who, thanks to her faith (enhanced by Elizabeth), entered at that moment, still under the veil of mystery, into the tabernacle of the Most Holy Trinity, today enters the eternal dwelling, in full intimacy with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the beatific vision, "face to face." And that vision, as an inexhaustible source of perfect love, fills her entire being with the fullness of glory and happiness. Thus, the Assumption is, at the same time, the "crowning" of Mary's entire life, of her unique vocation among all members of humanity to be the Mother of God. It is the "crowning" of the faith that she, "full of grace," demonstrated during the Annunciation and that Elizabeth, her relative, emphasized and exalted during the Visitation.
Truly we can repeat today, following the Apocalypse: «The temple of God which is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Testament was seen in its temple... I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: "Now has come salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ" (Rev 11:19; 12:10).
The Kingdom of God in her who always desired to be only "the handmaid of the Lord." The power of her Anointed One, that is, of Christ, the power of the love that he brought to earth like a fire (cf. Lk 12:49); the power revealed in the glorification of her who, through her "fiat," made it possible for him to come to this earth, to become man; the power revealed in the glorification of the Immaculate Conception, in the glorification of his own Mother.
3. "Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as through man came death, through man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own rank. Christ is the firstfruits; then those of Christ at his coming" ( 1 Cor 15:20-23).
The Assumption of Mary is a special gift of the Risen One to his Mother. If, indeed, "those who are Christ's" will receive life "when he comes," it is right and understandable that this participation in the victory over death should be experienced first of all by her, the Mother; she, who is "Christ's " in a more complete way, since, indeed, he belongs to her, as a son belongs to his mother. And she belongs to him; she is, in a special way, "Christ's" because she was loved and redeemed in a completely unique way. She who, in her own human conception, was Immaculate —that is, free from sin, the consequence of which is death—should she not, by that very fact, be free from death, the consequence of sin? That "coming" of Christ, of which the Apostle speaks in today's second reading, was it not "meant" to be accomplished, in this one exceptional case, so to speak, "immediately," that is, at the moment of the conclusion of earthly life? For her, I repeat, in whom her first "coming" had been accomplished in Nazareth and on the night of Bethlehem? Hence, that end of life, which for all men is death, in Mary's case Tradition rather calls it dormition.
"Assumpta est María in caelum, gaudent Angelí! Et gaudet Ecclesia!"
4. For us, today's solemnity is like a continuation of Easter, of the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord. And it is, at the same time, the sign and source of the hope of eternal life and the future resurrection. We read about this sign in the Apocalypse of St. John:
"And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman wrapped in the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Rev 12:1).
And even though our life on earth unfolds constantly in the tension of that struggle between the Dragon and the Woman, of which the same book of Holy Scripture speaks; even though we are daily subjected to the struggle between good and evil, in which man has participated since original sin—that is, from the day he ate "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," as we read in the Book of Genesis (2:17; 3:12)—even though this struggle sometimes takes on dangerous and terrifying forms, nevertheless, this sign of hope remains and is constantly renewed in the faith of the Church.
And today's feast allows us to look at that sign, the great sign of the divine economy of salvation, with confidence and with much greater joy.
It allows us to await that sign of victory, to ultimately not succumb to evil and sin, while we await the day when everything will be fulfilled by the One who brought victory over death: the Son of Mary. Then he "will hand over the Kingdom to God the Father, having destroyed all rule and authority and power" ( 1 Cor 15:24). He will put all enemies under his feet and, as the last enemy, will annihilate death (cf. 1 Cor 15:25).
Dear brothers and sisters, let us joyfully participate in today's Eucharist! Let us receive the Body of Christ with confidence, remembering his words: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (Jn 6:54).
And let us venerate today the one who gave Christ our human body: the Immaculate and Assumed into heaven, who is the Spouse of the Holy Spirit and our Mother! (SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II Parish of Castel GandolfoFriday, 15 August 1980).

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)