Catholics Unite

Join

The Assumption

snowmoon13
snowmoon13 Posts: 165 Member
in Social Groups
Anyone else taking to the water today?

I usually try and get to the sea this year the community pool will have to do... it has been unseasonably cold here so the waters will be colder than you would think possible in August..

A blessed day to all

Replies

  • snowmoon13
    snowmoon13 Posts: 165 Member
    In some coastal areas, the seas are also blessed on this day, especially in fishing communties. The passages from the 21st chapter of the Gospel of St. John in which Jesus went fishing with His Apostles are read, along with sections of Luke 5. The Magnificat is prayed and then the sea is sprinkled with Holy Water and the Sign of the Cross made over it. It is believed that to swim in the waters blessed on this day is curative.
  • freder1ck
    freder1ck Posts: 44 Member
    Interesting. I hadn't heard about that.
  • GymPoet
    GymPoet Posts: 107 Member
    I've never heard that either.
  • grassette
    grassette Posts: 976 Member
    Sounds Acadian. Their national holiday is the feast day of the Assumption, and the benediction of the sea is part of it. Are you in an Acadian area? New Brunswick or Louisiana?
  • snowmoon13
    snowmoon13 Posts: 165 Member
    No just a Jersey girl who grew up with this tradition... Our local church sponsors a bus trip to a mass said on the board walk then into the deep... I am in the burbs outside of NYC maybe it is the multi culture influence of the area...

    Who's in for next year?

    http://www.longstravel.com/local12/Assumption Mass Aug 15.pdf
  • GymPoet
    GymPoet Posts: 107 Member
    I found this so interesting that I Googled to learn more and found this:
    It has been reported on various Catholic websites that the term “Our Lady” in Aramaic could be translated as pilot, leader or guide, and that Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) is the oldest of Mary’s many titles.

    Not sure if that is reliable info.

    I never thought of a maritime Mary.
  • grassette
    grassette Posts: 976 Member
    I found this so interesting that I Googled to learn more and found this:
    It has been reported on various Catholic websites that the term “Our Lady” in Aramaic could be translated as pilot, leader or guide, and that Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) is the oldest of Mary’s many titles.

    Not sure if that is reliable info.

    I never thought of a maritime Mary.

    Stella Maris is a title that I grew up with. Many folk songs in French refer to Mary as protector of fishermen and those who go out to sea. When the men were out on the fishing boats facing the danger of the seas, the prayers of their families would rise to the Virgin to protect them and bring them home safe, or failing that, bring them safe to heaven.

Categories