The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

15th August

Today, the 15th August is the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast is celebrated with great devotion and fanfare, sometimes for the full week leading up to August 15th.  The Church celebrates the feast in several towns and villages, including Qrendi, Mqabba, Gudja, Ħal Għaxaq, Ħ’Attard, Mosta and Rabat in Gozo. The well-known sanctuary Ta’ Pinu in Gozo is also dedicated to Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This feast is known as the Feast of the Assumption because Mary was given the singular privilege of being raised to heaven with both body and soul.

Talk with the children about Mary, Mother of God.

Ask them:  What do you know about Mary, Mother of Jesus?

Get them to identify stories from Mary’s life that we find in the Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles:

  • The Annunciation of the Lord
    • The Visitation of Mary
    • Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem
    • The Presentation in the Temple
    • Jesus is lost in Jerusalem
    • Mary at the Wedding at Cana
    • Mary at the Foot of the Cross
    • Mary at Pentecost

What do we admire in Mary?

Listen to the children’s ideas. Get them to realise, maybe for the first time, that everything started when Mary, a girl a bit older than them, believed in the words of Angel Gabriel and she said “YES” to what God wanted from her.

The Feast of Assumption is God’s prize to this Mother that BELIEVED and with lots of love and humility, kept on living the words she told Gabriel: “May it be done to me according to your word.”

Let the children mention a story from Mary’s life that you have already mentioned. If the children are very young, pray  the Hail Mary. If they are older, pray the fourth Glorious mystery of the Rosary: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. Mary reminds us and teaches us that we should imitate Christ in everything that we do. This feast is very important to the Maltese people because it was on this day, 15th August 1942, that a ship full of food supplies arrived in Malta, saving the Maltese nation from starvation during the war, better known as ‘il-Konvoj ta’ Santa Marija’. The Maltese prayed a lot to the Virgin Mary, and this was a special blessing.

Today we are going back in time! During the war, a time that we surely do not remember but that our grandparents or great-grandparents cannot forget!

Watch these two videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju2pnJGFyig u https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWT8m4I1if4).  Then, ask your grandparents or great-grandparents to  tell you what they remember about this event and encourage them to tell you more about it. Together as a family, pray the Hail Mary and to help us become more like her.

How to use this space

God speaks to us in many ways, including through the Saints of the Church. Here you will find useful background and activities to better understand the holy life, helping you to connect the saints to daily life in a meaningful way.