The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Vigil

1 Chronicles 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2 | They brought in the ark of God and set it within the tent which David had pitched for it.

David gathered all Israel together to bring the ark of God up to the place he had prepared for it. David called together the sons of Aaron and the sons of Levi. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the shafts on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered in accordance with the word of the Lord.

  David then told the heads of the Levites to assign duties for their kinsmen as cantors, with their various instruments of music, harps and lyres and cymbals, to play joyful tunes. 

  They brought the ark of God in and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered holocausts before God, and communion sacrifices. And when David had finished offering holocausts and communion sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

Psalm 132:6-7, 9-10, 13-14 | Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your strength.

  At Ephrata we heard of the ark;

  we found it in the plains of Yearim.

  ‘Let us go to the place of his dwelling;

  let us go to kneel at his footstool.’

Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your strength.

  Your priests shall be clothed with holiness;

  your faithful shall ring out their joy.

  For the sake of David your servant

  do not reject your anointed.

Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your strength.

  For the Lord has chosen Zion;

  he has desired it for his dwelling:

  ‘This is my resting-place for ever;

  here have I chosen to live.’

Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your strength.

1 Corinthians 15:54b-57  | God gave us victory through Jesus Christ.

When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the words of scripture will come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. So let us thank God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Happy are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

Luke 11:28 

Luke 11:27-28  | Blessed is the womb that carried you!

As Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’

'Scripture readings taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd, and used by permission of the publishers'