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Having been taken into heaven both spiritually and bodily, the Virgin Mary helps believers to grow in “Christian hope” during their earthly lives, Pope Benedict XVI taught on the Feast of the Assumption.
The Pope celebrated Mass at Castel Gandolfo’s parish church of St. Thomas of Villanova on the Aug. 15 solemnity. During his homily, he said Mary's intercession with God can “help us to live well and with hope the time that God gives to us” on earth.
In remarks reported by Vatican Radio, he noted that the virtue of Christian hope “is not just nostalgia for Heaven,” but a “living and active desire for God here in the world.” That desire “makes us indefatigable pilgrims,” providing “the courage and strength of faith” through “the power of love.”
The Pope also observed that by entering the fullness of life with God, the Virgin Mary was not leaving behind the faithful on earth, but instead becoming closer to all.
Dogmatically defined in 1950, the assumption of the Virgin Mary's body and soul into heaven is a perennial part of the Church's faith, Pope Benedict told pilgrims who joined him to pray the Angelus at his summer residence later in the day.
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