Gloria in Excelsis Deo

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
(Holy Day of Obligation)

The crowning of Our Lady by Paulo Veneziano
On this day the Church celebrates, in honor of Mary, two solemn festivals; the first is that of her happy passage from this world; the second, that of her glorious Assumption into Heaven.

Death being the punishment of sin, it would seem that the Divine Mother all holy, and exempt as she was from its slightest stain should also have been exempt from death, and from encountering the misfortunes to which the children of Adam, infected by the poison of sin, are subject. But God was pleased that Mary should in all things resemble Jesus; and as the Son died, it was becoming that the Mother should also die; because, moreover, He wished to give the just an example of the precious death prepared for them, He willed that even the most Blessed Virgin should die, but by a sweet and happy death.

Excerpt taken from a sermon by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church