Mass will be celebrated at Saint-François de Sales church at 1PM on Saturday August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Acadians chose Mary as their patron saint under the title of Our Lady of the Assumption, and August 15 as their national feast day, during their first congress in 1881. "And so the star of Mary shines bright on their flag with its French and papal colours and the '
Ave Maris Stella' rings out like a national anthem" (
CCCB, 1984).
“Blessed is she who believed” (
Luke 1:45). Indeed, Mary herself proclaims "henceforth all generations will call me blessed” in her offering of the
Magnificat (
Luke 1:48).
Mary, united to God through her assumption, guides us in our journey to unite ourselves to God, to the many rooms Jesus Christ has offered to us in our Father's house (
John 14:2).
"Mary is the dawn and the splendour of the Church triumphant; she is the consolation and the hope of people still on the journey...Let us entrust ourselves to her Motherly intercession, that she may obtain that God strengthen our faith in eternal life; may she help us to live the best way the time that God has given us with hope" (
Benedict XVI, 2012 Homily on the Solemnity of the Assumption).