Divine Mass in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on the occasion of the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in soul and body

From the speech of His Excellency Bishop Mar Yulian Yacoub Murad during the Divine Mass held in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on the occasion of the Feast of the Assumption of Our Mother, the Virgin Mary, into heaven in soul and body:

With Pope Francis declaring that this year is dedicated to prayer, the best person from whom we can learn to pray is our mother, the Virgin Mary

Jesus ascended to heaven by his divine power, while the Virgin was moved, soul and body, to heaven by the authority of her Son

The woman clothed with the sun,crowned with stars,invites us to contemplate Mary crowned with glory next to her divine Son, She invites us to realize the future that the Lord, risen from the dead and ascending to heaven, is still opening before us.

Freedom lies in the lover’s acceptance of God’s will. Mary is the new Eve filled with grace. In her we learn the meaning of Christian freedom. It is greater than mere freedom from sin. Freedom is a new spiritual form for reading reality to understand life.

Freedom cannot be lived in its depth and totality if we do not adopt the logic of love, unconditional love, a pure heart, and living hope, joy, and faith in the coming kingdom of Christ.

Today we honor Mary, Lady of the Assumption, Queen of Heaven, Lady of Deliverance. We turn to her as the Mother of the universal and human Church and ask her to help us be faithful in freedom.

Today we celebrate this feast and look at Mary, remembering the Magnificat, in which she says that God never forgets the promises of His mercy and love for humanity.

Mary is worthy of being blessed because she believed and did what was told to her by the Father

In it, proof appeared that all of the Lord’s promises are true, by crowning her with glory

Mary shows us that hope is a reality

This feast today is not only about Mary, who passed into glory.

We celebrate our hope in the Kingdom and bear witness with our faith and hope in our destiny and future as children of the Kingdom.

And Mary deserved to be this first person, firstly because she was the mother of Christ and secondly because she was the mother of humanity

If she was the first to move to heaven, then let her open the way for us and guide us

Therefore, Mary is our constant intercessor because she is our guide and role model who rescues us from misfortunes and hardships at all times and leads us to life.

May Mary remove the specter of war from our country, and return every inch of this country to its people

We pray, pleading and asking our mother, the Virgin Mary, for peace in our country and in all the countries of this region

For the sake of Lebanon, for the sake of Gaza, and for the sake of all countries suffering from wars, calamities and hardships

Amen