Collect: Father, you have given us the mother of your Son to be our queen and mother. With the support of her prayers may we come to share the glory of your children in the kingdom of heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Vrigin Mary
Old Calendar: Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Sts. Timothy, Hippolytus & Symphorian, martyrs
The faithful, under the guidance of an unerring Catholic instinct, have ever recognized the queenly dignity of the Mother of "The King of kings and Lord of lords": the Fathers, the Doctors of the Church, Popes, down through the centuries, have given authoritative expression to this truth and the crowning testimony to this common belief is to be found clearly expressed in the wonders of art and in the profound teaching of the liturgy. In their turn theologians have shown the fitting nature of this title of Queen as applied to the Mother of God, since she was so closely associated with the redemptive work of her Son and is the Mediatrix of all graces. Pius XII, by his encyclical letter of October 11, 1954, granted the unanimous desire of the faithful and their pastors and instituted the feast of the Queenship of Mary, giving sanction thus to a devotion that was already paid by the faithful throughout the world to the sovereign Mother of heaven and earth.
Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar this feast was celebrated on May 31 and today was the feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is now celebrated on the Saturday following the Second Sunday after Pentecost. It was also the commemoration of Sts. Timothy, Hippolytus and Symphorian. St. Timothy is a Roman martyr put to death in 303 or 306 during the last persecution. His body lies at St. Paul's-Outside-the-Walls, near that of the great Apostle. The history of St. Hippolytus, martyred at Ostia, near Rome, remains extremely obscure; it is probably in error that he is called bishop of Porto. St. Symphorian was a martyr of Autun, put to death while still a young man in the second or third century. He is one of the great saints of Gaul and several churches were built in his honor. His Acts appear to be genuine.
Without doubt, then, does our holy Virgin possess a dignity that far transcends all other creatures. In the eyes of her Son she takes precedence over everyone else. In order to help us understand the preeminence that the Mother of God enjoys over all creation, it would help to remember that from the first moment of her conception the holy Virgin was filled with such a plenitude of grace as to surpass the graces enhancing all the saints. Recall what our predecessor Pius IX, of blessed memory, wrote in his Bull Ineflabilis Deus: "More than all the angels and all the saints has God ineffable freely endowed Mary with the fullness of the heavenly gifts that abound in the divine treasury; and she, preserving herself ever immaculately clean from the slightest taint of sin, attained a fullness of innocence and holiness so great as to be unthinkable apart from God Himself, a fullness that no one other than God will ever possess."
Spurred on by piety and faith, may we glory in being subject to the rule of the Virgin Mother of God; she bears the royal sceptre in her hand, while her heart is ever aflame with motherlove.
Excerpted from Ad Caeli Reginam, Pius XII.
Things to Do:
O God, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.
A suitable hymn may be inserted at this point.
Psalm 107 (108) |
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Praise of the Lord and a plea for help |
My heart is ready, O God my heart is ready. I shall sing and make music. Awake, my glory! Rise up, harp and lyre! We will awaken the dawn. I will proclaim you to the peoples, O Lord, sing of you to the nations: for your kindness is great, it reaches the heavens; great is your faithfulness, high as the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory stretch over the earth. Give deliverance to your beloved, let your right hand bring safety answer my prayer! God has spoken from his holy place: I shall triumph, dividing Shechem, measuring off the vale of Succoth. Gilead is mine, mine is Manasseh; Ephraim my helmet, Judah my sceptre. But Moab shall be my wash-basin, on Edom I will place my sandal; I will cry in triumph over the Philistine. Who shall lead me to the fortified city? Who shall lead me to Edom? Surely you, God although you rejected us. Will you not come out, O God, with our armies? Give us help in our troubles, for vain is the help of man. With God we shall triumph he will trample our enemies. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
Canticle | Isaiah 61-62 |
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The prophet rejoices over the new Jerusalem | |
I will rejoice with joy in the Lord, and my spirit shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and wrapped me round with the robe of justice, like a bridegroom decked with a crown, like a bride adorned with her jewels. Just as the earth sends up its shoots, and the garden makes its seeds to sprout, so the Lord God will make justice spring up and praise before all the nations. For Sions sake I will not be silent, for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still until her justice comes forth as brightness, and her salvation is lit up like a torch. And the Gentiles shall see your justice, and all the kings see your glory. You shall be called by a new name, chosen by the mouth of the Lord. You shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. No longer called Forsaken, your land no longer called Desolate, you will be called My pleasure in her, and your land The Wedded; for the Lord has been well pleased with you, and your land will receive its bridegroom. For as a young man takes a virgin to wife, so will your sons take you; and as a husband takes joy in his spouse, so your God will rejoice at you. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
Psalm 145 (146) |
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The blessedness of those who hope in the Lord |
Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life, make music to my God as long as I exist. Do not trust in princes to save you, they are only sons of men. One day their breath will leave them, they will return to the ground; on that day perish all their plans. Happy the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth and all that is in them, who keeps faith for ever, who gives justice to the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord frees prisoners, he gives light to the blind, he raises the fallen. The Lord loves the upright, cares for strangers, sustains orphans and widows; but the wicked he sends astray. The Lord will reign for all ages, your God, O Sion, from generation to generation. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
Short reading | Deuteronomy 4:39 - 40 © |
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Understand this today, therefore, and take it to heart: the Lord is God indeed, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other. Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today. |
Canticle | Benedictus |
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The Messiah and his forerunner | |
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption. He has raised up the sign of salvation in the house of his servant David, as he promised through the mouth of the holy ones, his prophets through the ages: to rescue us from our enemies and all who hate us, to take pity on our fathers, to remember his holy covenant and the oath he swore to Abraham our father, that he would give himself to us, that we could serve him without fear freed from the hands of our enemies in uprightness and holiness before him, for all of our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High: for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his path, to let his people know their salvation, so that their sins may be forgiven. Through the bottomless mercy of our God, one born on high will visit us to give light to those who walk in darkness, who live in the shadow of death; to lead our feet in the path of peace. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
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Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. |
Lord, remember the new covenant, which has been sealed with the blood of the Lamb. May your people receive forgiveness for their sins and move ever forward towards redemption. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen. |
May the Lord bless us and keep us from all harm; and may he lead us to eternal life. |
A M E N |