QUEENSHIP OF MARY

 QUEENSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY AUGUST 22

INTRODUCTION

Pope Pius XII established this feast in 1954. But Mary’s queenship has roots in Scripture. At the Annunciation, Gabriel announced that Mary’s Son would receive the throne of David and rule forever. At the Visitation, Elizabeth calls Mary “mother of my Lord.” As in all the mysteries of Mary’s life, she is closely associated with Jesus: Her queenship is a share in Jesus’ kingship. We can also recall that in the Old Testament the mother of the king has great influence in court.

THE THEOLOGY OF THE QUEENSHIP OF BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (MAMA MARIA)

In the fourth century, Saint Ephrem called Mary “Lady” and “Queen.” Later Church fathers and doctors continued to use the title. Hymns of the 11th to 13th centuries address Mary as queen: “Hail, Holy Queen,” “Hail, Queen of Heaven,” “Queen of Heaven.” The Dominican rosary and the Franciscan crown as well as numerous invocations in Mary’s litany celebrate her queenship. Now, the feast is a logical follow-up to the Assumption, and is now celebrated on the octave day of that feast. In his 1954 encyclical To the Queen of Heaven, Pius XII points out that Mary deserves the title because she is Mother of God, because she is closely associated as the New Eve with Jesus’ redemptive work, because of her pre-eminent perfection, and because of her intercessory power.

As Saint Paul suggests in Romans 8:28–30, God has predestined human beings from all eternity to share the image of his Son. All the more was Mary predestined to be the mother of Jesus. As Jesus was to be king of all creation, Mary, in dependence on Jesus, was to be queen. All other titles to queenship derive from this eternal intention of God. As Jesus exercised his kingship on earth by serving his Father and his fellow human beings, so did Mary exercise her queenship. As the glorified Jesus remains with us as our king till the end of time (Matthew 28:20), so does Mary, who was assumed into heaven and crowned queen of heaven and earth.The mother of a king is a queen who receives honor in her son’s realm

THE THEOLOGY OF MOTHERHOOD AND QUENSHIP OF MARY

Mary is both a queen and a mother, but she is more mother than queen. Mary’s Queenship and “mothership,” or motherhood, spark to life simultaneously. In the very moment Mary becomes a mother at the Annunciation, she also becomes a queen. The Archangel Gabriel tells Mary that her Son will sit on “the throne of his ancestor David” and that “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). Since Jesus is a king, and since He is conceived in the womb of Mary, and since in Israel the mother of a king was always a queen, (the daughter not necessarily so), Mary becomes a queen. Some texts from the early centuries of the Church call Mary the “domina,” the female of “dominus,” Latin for “master” or “Lord.”

It is not royal blood, but her motherly relationship, that makes Mary a queen. And since nothing is excluded from the realm of Christ the King, Mary is the Queen of that same realm, including both heaven and earth. This realm was not earned through violent conquest or political machinations. The Kingdom of Christ the King was purchased through a blood sacrifice of the King Himself who died on the cross. Soldiers were not killed so that Christ could walk over their corpses on the battlefield in order to rule a vanquished people from a secular throne. No. Christ humbly allowed Himself to be murdered so that He could rise forty hours later and ascend into heaven to be seated, like a king, at the right hand of the Father. 

Mary is that heavenly queen in the mysterious vision of the Book of Revelation in which appears “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev 12:1-3). The complex symbolism of this crowned empress encompasses Mary, Israel, and the Church Herself. Mary’s coronation, the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the rosary, has not been defined dogmatically but has been celebrated liturgically and depicted in art since early medieval times. The most ancient depiction of Mary as queen is a mosaic from the 500s in a small church in the historic center of Rome! But the feast day of her Queenship was only placed in the Church’s calendar in 1954. Vatican II stated unequivocally that “Mary was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the universe…” (Lumen Gentium, 59). After the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, the octave of Mary’s Assumption was abrogated but is still recalled in her Queenship being commemorated eight days after August 15, showing the link between the two celebrations. 

Earthly kings, queens, and kingdoms, so present throughout the lived history of mankind, are, more cosmically, images or signs of the structure of authority that lies behind all creation. Mankind naturally organizes its public life to ensure peaceful co-existence with others, to promote order and tranquility, and to foster the common good in a thousand ways. This secular response of establishing a structure to manage together what cannot be managed alone is universal and always includes certain leaders to represent the organized community. All of this has a religious equivalent. A sacred canopy hangs over the world. A timeless, divine mega-structure encompasses under itself all of the smaller, temporary civic structures. The man anointed as king, the woman crowned as queen, the order they impose through a just rule in a secular polity, point to something else—an underlying, and overarching, sacred polity in which God rules His creation like a fatherly king. In this timeless theological union, the feminine presence is felt. The queen mother is there, interceding with her King-Son on behalf of His subjects. She worships with them but also receives their honor. The accolades directed at her are deflected, mirror-like, to the greater One to whom she is holy daughter, holy mother, holy spouse and holy queen, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

SOME POPES ON THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY

Pope Pius XII in the Papal Encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam proposed the traditional doctrine on the Queenship of Mary and established this feast for the Universal Church. Pope Pius IX said of Mary's queenship: "Turning her maternal Heart toward us and dealing with the affair of our salvation, she is concerned with the whole human race. Constituted by the Lord Queen of Heaven and earth, and exalted above all choirs of Angels and the ranks of Saints in Heaven, standing at the right hand of Her only-begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, she petitions most powerfully with Her maternal prayers, and she obtains what she seeks."

And Pope Pius XII added the following: "We commend that on the festival there be renewed the consecration of the human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Upon this there is founded a great hope that there will rejoice in the triumph of religion and in Christian peace... ...Therefore, let all approach with greater confidence now than before, to the throne of mercy and grace of our Queen and Mother to beg help in difficultly, light in darkness and solace in trouble and sorrow...   . . Whoever, therefore, honours the lady ruler of the Angels and of men - and let no one think themselves exempt from the payment of that tribute of a grateful and loving soul - let them call upon her as most truly Queen and as the Queen who brings the blessings of peace, that She may show us all, after this exile, Jesus, who will be our enduring peace and joy."

THE STAND AND IMPLICATION OF BLESSED VIRGIN MARY’S QUEENSHIP

The crowning of Mary as Queen of all creation is the culmination of all the privileges granted to our Lady. The Mother of God, assumed body and soul into heaven, is raised by the Most Holy Trinity above the choirs of angels and all the saints: Greater than you, only God, exclaim the Christian people.

A messianic psalm sings of the King's glory, and also of the glory of the Queen: Thou art the fairest of the children of Adam; grace is poured out on thy lips, for God has blessed thee forever and ever…Thy throne, O God, is forever, without end; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy reign (Psalm 45:3-7). Then the psalmist turns to the Queen: Listen, daughter, and see, give ear, forget thy people and the house of thy father, and the King will give thee beauty; he is thy Lord, turn to him… She is brought to the King, the bejeweled daughter of the King, radiant with glory, in robes of gold, trimmed in rich colors. With her virginal court following in procession…in happiness and rejoicing she is brought into the palace of the King (Psalm 45:11-16).

The liturgy applies this psalm to Christ and Mary in heavenly glory. This interpretation is based on passages in the Gospels that refer explicitly to our Lady. At the Annunciation, St. Gabriel reveals to Mary that her Son will reign forever over the house of Jacob and his reign will have no end (Lk 1:33). Mary is to be mother of a son who, at the very instant of his conception as man, is King and Lord of all creation; and the mother who is to give birth to him will share in his kingship. St. Elizabeth, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, proclaims in a loud voice: Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to visit me? (Luke 1:43). And in his vision, St. John describes a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars (Rev 12:1). According to the Church's liturgy and tradition, this woman is Mary, who with Christ defeats the infernal dragon and is enthroned as Queen of the universe.

The certainty that Mary is the mother of god and mother of all mankind is what grounds our filial trust in her powerful intercession. The Christian people have always attested to Mary's exalted glory as a sharer in Christ's royalty. Like him, it is hers by birth (as Mother of the King) and by right of conquest (as his faithful co-worker in the Redemption). Our Lord has placed in her hands the superabundant merits He gained by his death on the Cross, so that she might distribute them according to God's Will.

The Queenship of Mary is a consoling truth for all mankind, especially when we feel deserving of divine punishment as a just penalty for our sins. The Church invites us to have recourse to Mary, our Mother and our Queen, in all our necessities. The certainty that Mary is the Mother of God and Mother of all mankind is what grounds our filial trust in her powerful intercession, and encourages us to get up after our falls.

As this series on our Lady's life comes to an end, we invoke her with the words of an ancient prayer: “Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy; our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping…." We place all our trust in Mary, because a mother always hears the supplications of her children. “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mother of God," we tell her, “when you stand in the sight of the Lord, to speak well of us" (cf. Jer 18:20). Our Lady will always speak well of us before the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and obtain from God all that we need—above all, the grace of final perseverance, which will open to us the gates of heaven: “Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

ACT OF CONSECRATION

O Mary Immaculate Queen, glorious Queen of the Universe, most powerful Virgin, merciful Mother of a merciful God and refuge of sinners, we consecrate ourselves to thy Royal and Immaculate Heart. It is through thee that Jesus Christ our King has come into the world to save it. It is also through thee that He is to reign over the world.

In order to obtain this great benefit for ourselves and all mankind, we come to thy feet to consecrate to thee our persons, our lives, all that we are, all that we have, all that we love. Keep us, enlighten us, dispose of us, reign over us.

May all hearts and all homes willingly proclaim thee as their Immaculate Queen.

PRAYER

O Mary Immaculate Queen, look down upon this distressed and suffering world. Thou knowest our misery and our weakness. O Thou who art our Mother, saving us in the hour of peril, have compassion on us in these days of great and heavy trial. Jesus has confided to thee the treasure of His Grace, and through Thee He wills to grant us pardon and mercy. In these hours of anguish, therefore, thy children come to Thee as their hope.

We recognize thy Queenship and ardently desire thy triumph. We need a Mother and a Mother's Heart. Thou art for us the luminous dawn which dissipates our darkness and points out the way to life. In thy clemency obtain for us the courage and the confidence of which we have such need.

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, Thou Who didst crown with glory in Heaven the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Savior, grant that all her children on earth may acknowledge her as their Sovereign Queen, that all hearts, homes, and nations may recognize her rights as Mother and as Queen. Amen.

Mary, Queen of the Universe, in your Son’s Kingdom, the faithful struggle to be faithful and to be fruitful. We are under your regal yet maternal care. May we please both our King and Father, and you, our Queen and Mother, since all parents are deserving of their children’s honor.

Rev Fr Utazi Prince Benignus Zereuwa

utaziprince@yahoo.com