Mass Readings
Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 15th August, 2025Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday’s Readings
Feast of the Day; 08-15- The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Solemnity
C/f A short reflection of this saint can be found below today’s Readings and Reflection.
FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of Apocalypse 11:19, 12:1-6, 10
A woman adorned with the sun, standing on the moon.
The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Then came flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and an earthquake, and violent hail.
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 for her to be looked after in the twelve hundred and sixty days.
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.’,
now that the persecutor, who accused our brothers day and night before our God, has been brought down.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 44: 10-12, 16 R/v 2
Response On your right stands the queen, in garments of gold.
1. The daughters of kings are among your loved ones. On your right stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words: forget your own people and your father’s house. Response
2. So will the king desire your beauty: He is your lord, pay homage to him.
They are escorted amid gladness and joy; they pass within the palace of the king. Response
SECOND READING
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 15:20-27
Christ as the first fruits and then 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.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
Mary has been taken up to heaven; all the choirs of heaven are rejoicing.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 1:39-56 Glory to you, O Lord.
The Almighty has done great things for me and he has exalted the lowly.
Mary set out at that time 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.
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Reflection 15th August, The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Luke 1:39-56
Mary’s Assumption reminds us of our own heavenly destiny. Her earthly life reminds us of our own baptismal calling. In today’s gospel reading, Mary physically carries Jesus in her womb to Elizabeth, her older cousin. As disciples of the Lord, we are all called to carry Jesus to others. Our baptismal calling is to become bearers of the Lord’s presence to all. Mary gives expression to our own baptismal calling. As the first disciple of her son, she shows what it means to follow in the Lord’s way. Mary could bring the Lord to Elizabeth because, at the moment of the annunciation, she had given herself over to God’s purpose for her life and she had consented to allow the Holy Spirit to overshadow her, to take hold of her. To the extent that we give ourselves over to God’s purpose for our lives and allow the Holy Spirit to overshadow us, we too will become people who bring the Lord to others.
When Mary reached her destination and greeted Elizabeth, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Mary’s way of relating to Elizabeth resulted in Elizabeth being filled with the Holy Spirit. We too are called to relate to others in ways that help them to become filled with the Holy Spirit, that open them up more fully to the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives. In response to Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth declares Mary blessed because of her faith, ‘Blessed is she who believed’. Mary’s faith showed itself in love, in a journey of loving concern to her older, more vulnerable, pregnant cousin. She shows us that genuine faith always expresses itself in loving service of others. Just as Mary’s presence filled Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth’s way of relating to Mary filled Mary with a spirit of prayer. Because of the way Elizabeth welcomed Mary, Mary prayed her great prayer, the Magnificat. Mary’s prayer shows her to be a woman who hungers for a new justice on earth, where the lowly are exalted, the hungry are filled, and oppressive powers are overcome. Mary shows us that genuine faith expresses itself not only in love but in hunger for justice.
If Mary’s life shows us the shape of our own faith journey, her assumption shows us our final destiny, beyond this earthly life. The feast of her assumption celebrates her full sharing in the risen life of Christ. She gives us hope that, in the words of today’s second reading, ‘all will be brought to life in Christ’. As one who now shares fully in the Lord’s risen life, we can confidently turn to her, asking her to pray for us now so that we can be the complete disciple of the Lord that she was and to pray for us at the hour of our death so that we too can come to share in the Lord’s risen life to the full.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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Feast of the Day: Aug 15th :The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
From the earliest centuries there have been stories, traditions and artistic impressions of what the Assumption of Our Lady could mean. The feast itself originated in Jerusalem before the fifth century as the “Falling-Asleep (Dormition) of the Mother of God.” Eastern theology has tended to focus on the ‘dormition’ or “going to sleep” of the mother of God. It was adopted in Rome in the mid-seventh century and was renamed the “Assumption” in the next century.
Patrick Duffy gives some of the background here.
The Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady celebrates Mary’s entry into heaven.
In Irish, it is called ‘Lá Fhéile Naomh Muire san Fhómhar’, that is, “The Feast Day of Our Lady in the Harvest Time“. This theme is expressed in the liturgy of the day.
(The image right is The Assumption of Our Lady by Antonio Correggio>)
The Dormition of the Theotokos
Although the New Testament does not make any reference to the last days of Mary’s life, celebrations of Mary’s death, was called her “Going to sleep” (Greek koimesis / Latin dormitio), began to appear from the 4th to the 6th centuries. From the 6th century, the Great Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (the God bearer) was celebrated on 15th August throughout the Byzantine 
In the West, the Roman sacramentaries (Gelasian and Gregorian liturgical books) have prayers for Masses for the Dormition of Our Lady for the same day, indicating that the feast was celebrated in Rome during the 7th century.
Different Spiritualities of the Assumption of Mary
However, the spiritualities of East and West took a somewhat different focus. Eastern spirituality had no doubt that Mary died, and that Jesus resurrected her on the third day and then brought her to heaven. Later Roman Catholic piety tended to the opinion that, since death is a consequence of sin, it would have been more fitting, in the case of Our Lady, that her freedom from original sin and from personal sin would have protected her from the general law of death (argumentum ex congruentia or suitability, fittingness arguments).
Munificentissimus Deus
On 1 November 1950, Pope Pius XII in the Apostolic Constitution ‘Munificentissimus Deus’, defined the Assumption of Mary into heaven as a divinely revealed dogma, saying “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”. However, this left open the question of whether Mary died before her Assumption. But the more common opinion of the early Fathers was that she did die.
Preface of the Mass
The core of Catholic faith is expressed in the Preface of the Mass for Solemnity of the Assumption:
‘Today the virgin Mother of God was taken up into heaven to be the beginning and the pattern of the Church in its perfection, and a sign of hope and comfort for your people on their way. You would not allow decay to touch her body, for she had given birth to your Son, the Lord of all life, in the glory of the Incarnation.’
The Readings
The first reading for the Solemnity from the Book of Revelation 12:1-6 sees Mary as united with the victory of Christ: ‘A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head…. Victory and power and empire for ever have been won by our god, and all authority for his Christ.’
The second reading 1 Cor 12:20-26 explicitly mentions Jesus as the “first-fruits”, giving hope that we will be included in the rest of the harvest.
Harvest
Traditional Irish piety saw Mary as Queen of the Harvest. Like her son Jesus, she is a kind of “first-fruits” and we, the faithful, hopefully, are the rest of the harvest. Patrick Kavanagh gives beautiful expression to how he hoped to participate in this harvest in one of his early poems, entitled I May Reap.
I who have not sown,
I too By God’s grace may come to harvest
And proud As the bowed Reapers At the Assumption
Murmur thanksgiving.
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Biblical words for Today
‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. ‘
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do [it].”
‘My soul glorifies the Lord.
~ Luke 1:38 ~
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