AUGUST 2026

Dear Rev. Fathers, Religious, and People of God,

The month of August brings us two important celebrations: the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, Mary, and the Independence of our motherland. On the 15th of August, we celebrate the glorious taking up into Heaven, body and soul, of Our Blessed Mother Mary. On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven as a dogma of faith, saying:

“We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

She was pure and sinless, and therefore she was exempt from decay, which is the wages of sin. Waiting for the final resurrection of all bodies on the last day is a consequence of original sin. Mary was kept untouched by original sin and the corruption that follows it. Jesus, who was the Son of Mary and from whom He received His own flesh and body, would never allow the body of His beloved mother to be subjected to the corruption of the tomb. It is fitting that Jesus and Mary should both be in Heaven, body and soul together, without passing through the humiliation of corruption. Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, and Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, both speak of the glories of Mary. The doctrine of the Assumption is a source of great hope for us—that one day we shall also rise with our bodies and be where our Heavenly Mother is.

In this month, we have an added motive for rejoicing: it is the anniversary of the happy day on which India, our country, attained her independence from foreign domination. To be politically free is a great joy, but freedom will mean little if we continue to be oppressed by a thousand forms of slavery, and above all, by the slavery of sin. At this juncture, we have a duty to pray for our national leaders. We must learn to appreciate their sacrifice and the hard work they do for the well-being of our nation and the citizens of India.

May God bless our country and its people,

Yours devotedly in Christ,

+L. Thomas Aquinas

Bishop of Coimbatore