I heartily welcome you all to the month of August 2024. This month allows us to pause and reflect on how far and well we have come in our journey of faith and the level of spiritual growth we have attained during the earlier part of the year, so we can strive to do better in the remaining part of the year. Very significant celebrations in the life of the Church this month are:
• Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ (August 6)
• Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Aug. 15).
These two great feasts draw our attention to the profound mystery of the experience of the beatific vision after our earthly sojourn. At the Transfiguration, our Lord Jesus Christ revealed his glorified self to Peter, James and John who were with him on Mount Tabor, giving them a foretaste of heaven. The Solemnity of the Assumption enlivens in us the hope that we too like our Blessed Mother who was assumed body and soul into heaven, will one day become partakers of the heavenly banquet. Other feast days in this month are: St. Alphonsus Ligouri (1st August), St. Dominic (8th August), St. Lawrence (10th August), St. Maximilian Kolbe (14th August), St. Pius X (21st August), Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (22nd August), St. Bartholomew (24th August), St. Augustine of Hippo (28th August), Martyrdom of John the Baptist (29th August).
… Solemnity of the Assumption
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) was declared a dogma of faith by Pope Pius Xll on 1st November 1950 and it is one of the four dogmas of our faith concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast is observed as a Holy Day of Obligation on August 15 every year. The Church teaches in this dogma of our faith that our Blessed Mother, who was preserved from all stain of original sin from the moment of her conception, having completed the course of her earthly life, was by the power of God taken into heaven body and soul since her sinless body could not be allowed to suffer the corruption of the grave. The other dogmas concerning our blessed mother are BVM as Mother of God, Immaculate Conception and Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us like the Blessed Virgin Mary strive towards perfection so that we too may merit eternal happiness.
Archbishop’s intention for August 2024
• For Youths We pray for youths that they may maximise their opportunities, have gainful employment, and that their talents, skills, and other resources may be harnessed towards building a better nation.
• Most. Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Lagos.
