Vigil for the Solemnity of the Assumption 3

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION THIRD VIGIL

Immaculate Conception Parish 15 August 2015, 7:00 PM to 12:00 MN

Solemnity of the Assumption Third Vigil

Introduction

Opening Verse

Hymn: Dakilang Tanda

Opening Prayer

Psalmody

Brief Silence

First Reading (from Sacred Scripture)

Brief Silence

Second Reading (from homilies of the Popes)

Silent Meditation (5 to 10 minutes)

Rosary

Hymn: Salve Regina

Intercessions

The Lord’s Prayer

Closing Prayer

Blessing

Closing Hymn: Paalam sa Inang Birhen

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Kami ay pagpalain, Birheng maawain. Kami ay kalingain, Mahal na Ina naming.

Immaculate Conception Parish Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary

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INTRODUCTION

The circumstances of the Dormition of the Mother of God were known from apostolic times. The Catholic Church teaches as dogma that the Virgin Mary “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”. Many see in the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady the root reason for her Assumption, body and soul, into heaven. The two privileges are intimately linked together. This doctrine was dogmatically defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus by exercising papal infallibility.

This solemnity celebrates that God has indeed “lifted up the lowly” – Mary has been assumed body and soul into heaven. Mary was lifted up by God because of her faithfulness to God’s saving mystery, her generosity of life toward others, and her acknowledgement of God as the source of her grace and goodness. When we too are faithful, humble, and generous as Mary models for us, like her we are lifted up to share in “a place prepared by God” where “in Christ shall all be brought to life”.

This third vigil is being offered for the poor, the sick, the needy and those who suffer.

Let us all stand and begin our vigil.

OPENING VERSE

God, () come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me.

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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: (All bow at the words Glory to…) as it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever. Amen.

HYMN

Dakilang tanda ang sumikat sa langit, babaeng nararamtan ng araw. S’ya’y nakatuntong, sa maliwanag na buwan, labindalawang bituin ang kanyang korona.

Ref: Dakilang tanda, ikaw O Maria, kahanga-hanga ang iyong tagumpay.

At bakit ganyan ang iyong kagandahan, bakit nga ganyan ‘yong pag-aalab? Tinatanghal ka ng tanang nilalang, Kinalulugdan kang kawangis ng Manlilikha (R.)

Ina ng habag at Ina ng pag-ibig, sa ‘yo nagniningas ng liwanag. Sa ‘yo’y may apoy, bumubukal ang buhay, Ang sangnilikha’y nabubuhay sa ‘yong tagumpay. (R.)

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray [that with the help of Mary’s prayers we too may reach our heavenly home]. (Pause for silent prayer.)

Father in heaven, all creation rightly gives you praise, for all life and all holiness come from you.

In the plan of your wisdom, she who bore the Christ in her womb

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Lord of heaven and earth, you crowned Mary queen of heaven, may all the dead rejoice in your kingdom with the saints

forever. (R.)

THE LORD’S PRAYER

(All sing the Lord’s Prayer in English, Tagalog or Latin.)

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray.

All –powerful and ever-living God, you raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul to the glory of heaven. May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

BLESSING

May the all-powerful Lord grant us a restful night and a peaceful death. Amen.

CLOSING HYMN

Paalam Inang Birhen, Kasing ningning ng buwan. Paalam na, paalam. Kami ay bendisyunan, Kami ay bendisyunan.

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Kaya’t ilingon mo sa amin Ang mga mata mong maawain, At saka kung matapos aming pagpanaw, Ipakita mo sa amin: Ang iyong Anak na si Hesus.

O magiliw, maawain, matamis na Birheng Maria.

Pray for us, o holy Mother of God That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

INTERCESSIONS

Let us praise God our almighty Father, who wished that Mary, his Son’s mother, be celebrated by each generation. Now in need we ask:

(R.) Mary, full of grace, intercede for us.

O God, worker of miracles, you made the immaculate Virgin Mary share, body and soul, in your Son’s glory in heaven, Help all of us to fix our thoughts on things above and

make us worthy to share this glory. (R.)

You made Mary our mother. Through her intercession grant strength to the weak, healing to the sick, comfort to the sorrowing, pardon to sinners, salvation and peace to all. (R.)

You made Mary mother of mercy, may all young people, especially those who are faced

with trials, feel her motherly love. (R.)

You wished Mary to be the mother of the family in the home of Jesus and Joseph, may all mothers of families foster love and holiness

through her intercession. (R.)

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was raised body and soul in glory to be with him in heaven.

May we follow her example in reflecting your holiness and join in her hymn of endless life and praise.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

PSALMODY

Ant. Christ ascended into heaven / and prepared an everlasting place / for his immaculate Mother, / alleluia.

Psalm 113 Praise the name of the Lord

He has cast down the mighty and has lifted up the lowly (Luke 1:52).

a Praise, O servants of the Lord, b praise the name of the Lord! A May the name of the Lord be blessed B both now and for evermore! c From the rising of the sun to its setting D praised be the name of the Lord! a High above all nations is the Lord, b above the heavens his glory. A Who is like the Lord, our God,

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B who has risen on high to his throne c yet stoops from the heights to look down, D to look down upon heaven and earth? a From the dust he lifts up the lowly, b from his misery he raises the poor A to set him in the company of princes, B yes, with the princes of his people. c To the childless wife he gives a home D and gladdens her heart with children. a Glory to the Father, and to the Son, B and to the Holy Spirit: c as it was in the beginning is now D and will be forever. Amen.

Ant. Christ ascended into heaven / and prepared an everlasting place / for his immaculate Mother, / alleluia.

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FIRST READING

From the first Book of Chronicles 1Chr 15:3-4, 15-16:16:1-2

David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring the ark of the LORD to the place which he had prepared for it. David also called together the sons of Aaron and the Levites. The Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders with poles, as Moses had ordained according to the word of the LORD. David commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their kinsmen as chanters, to play on musical instruments, harps, lyres, and cymbals, to make a loud sound of rejoicing. They brought in the ark of God and set it

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After the silent meditation, all kneel to pray the rosary beginning with the First Glorious Mystery.

ROSARY

Let us all kneel and pray the Five Glorious Mysteries.

All kneel to pray the Five Glorious Mysteries of the rosary beginning immediately with the First Glorious Mystery. (Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory Be). Each mystery is to be led by a different member of the congregation.

After the Glory Be of the Fifth Glorious Mystery, all stand to sing the Salve Regina

SALVE REGINA

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae; vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria.

or

O Santa Maria, O Reyna’t Ina ng Awa, Ika’y aming buhay, pag-asa’t katamisan. Sa ‘yo nga kami tumatawag, pinapanaw na ‘nak ni Eva; Sa ‘yo rin kami tumatangis, dini sa lupang bayang kahapis-hapis.

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retracted by the past but attracted towards the future, towards God, where Christ, and behind him Mary, has preceded us.

By looking at Mary's Assumption into Heaven we understand better that even though our daily life may be marked by trials and difficulties, it flows like a river to the divine ocean, to the fullness of joy and peace. We understand that our death is not the end but rather the entrance into life that knows no death. Our setting on the horizon of this world is our rising at the dawn of the new world, the dawn of the eternal day.

"Mary, while you accompany us in the toil of our daily living and dying, keep us constantly oriented to the true homeland of bliss. Help us to do as you did".

Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends who are taking part in this celebration, let us pray this prayer to Mary together. In the face of the sad spectacle of all the false joy and at the same time of all the anguished suffering which is spreading through the world, we must learn from her to become ourselves signs of hope and comfort; we must proclaim with our own lives Christ's Resurrection.

"Help us, Mother, bright Gate of Heaven, Mother of Mercy, source through whom came Jesus Christ, our life and our joy. Amen".

End of the reading from a homily on the Assumption by Pope Benedict XVI

SILENT MEDITATION

Five to ten minutes of silence to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.

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within the tent which David had pitched for it. Then they offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. When David had finished offering up the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

BRIEF SILENCE

SECOND READING

From a Homily on the Assumption by Pope Benedict XVI

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the oldest Marian Feast, returns every year in the heart of summer. It is an opportunity to rise with Mary to the heights of the spirit where one breathes the pure air of supernatural life and contemplates the most authentic beauty, the beauty of holiness. The atmosphere of today's celebration is steeped in paschal joy. "Today", the antiphon of the Magnificat says, "the Virgin Mary was taken up to Heaven. Rejoice, for she reigns with Christ for ever. Alleluia". This proclamation speaks to us of an event that is utterly unique and extraordinary, yet destined to fill the heart of every human being with hope and happiness. Mary is indeed the first fruit of the new humanity, the creature in whom the mystery of Christ – his Incarnation, death, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven - has already fully taken effect, redeeming her from death and conveying her, body and soul, to the Kingdom of immortal life. For this reason, as the Second Vatican Council recalls, the Virgin Mary is a sign of certain hope and comfort to us (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 68). Today's feast impels us to lift our gaze to Heaven; not to a heaven consisting of abstract ideas or even an imaginary heaven created by art, but the Heaven of true

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reality which is God himself. God is Heaven. He is our destination, the destination and the eternal dwelling place from which we come and for which we are striving.

St Germanus, Bishop of Constantinople in the eighth century, in a homily given on the Feast of the Assumption, addressing the heavenly Mother of God said: "You are the One who through your immaculate flesh reunited the Christian people with Christ… Just as all who thirst hasten to the fountain, so every soul hastens to you, the Fountain of love, and as every man aspires to live, to see the light that never fades, so every Christian longs to enter the light of the Most Blessed Trinity where you already are". It is these same sentiments that inspire us today as we contemplate Mary in God's glory. In fact, when she fell asleep in this world to reawaken in Heaven, she simply followed her Son Jesus for the last time, on his longest and most crucial journey, his passage "from this world to the Father" (cf. Jn 13: 1).

Like him, together with him, she departed this world to return "to the Father's House" (cf. Jn 14: 2). And all this is not remote from us as it might seem at first sight, because we are all children of the Father, God; we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus and we are all also children of Mary, our Mother. And we all aspire to happiness. And the happiness to which we all aspire is God, so we are all journeying on toward this happiness we call Heaven which in reality is God. And Mary helps us, she encourages us to ensure that every moment of our life is a step forward on this exodus, on this journey toward God. May she help us in this way to make the reality of heaven, God's greatness, also present in the life of our world. Is this not basically the paschal dynamism of the human being, of every person who wants to become heavenly, perfectly happy, by virtue of Christ's Resurrection? And might this not be the beginning and anticipation of a movement that involves every human being and the entire cosmos? She, from whom God took his flesh

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and whose soul was pierced by a sword on Calvary, was associated first and uniquely in the mystery of this transformation for which we, also often pierced by the sword of suffering in this world, are all striving.

The new Eve followed the new Adam in suffering, in the Passion, and so too in definitive joy. Christ is the first fruits but his risen flesh is inseparable from that of his earthly Mother, Mary. In Mary all humanity is involved in the Assumption to God, and together with her all creation, whose groans and sufferings, St Paul tells us, are the birth-pangs of the new humanity. Thus are born the new Heaven and the new earth in which death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more (cf. Rv 21: 1-4).

What a great mystery of love is presented to us once again today for our contemplation! Christ triumphed over death with the omnipotence of his love. Love alone is omnipotent. This love impelled Christ to die for us and thus to overcome death. Yes, love alone gives access to the Kingdom of life! And Mary entered after her Son, associated with his Glory, after being associated with his Passion. She entered it with an uncontainable force, keeping the way behind her open to us all. And for this reason we invoke her today as "Gate of Heaven", "Queen of Angels" and "Refuge of sinners". It is certainly not reasoning that will make us understand this reality which is so sublime, but rather simple, forthright faith and the silence of prayer that puts us in touch with the Mystery that infinitely exceeds us. Prayer helps us speak with God and hear how the Lord speaks to our heart.

Let us ask Mary today to make us the gift of her faith, that faith which enables us already to live in the dimension between finite and infinite, that faith which also transforms the sentiment of time and the passing of our existence, that faith in which we are profoundly aware that our life is not