Feast of the Queenship of Mary
by Catherine Fournier
The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Feast Day: August 22
Young Families
Mary was assumed into Heaven by Jesus and the angels. That means she was carried. Jesus ascended into Heaven, which is a different word, He went up to Heaven by His own power. Mary doesn't have that kind of power, so Jesus carried her.
After she was assumed into Heaven, Jesus took His Mother to a throne next to His own. Since he is King and Lord of all, then as His Mother, she was to become Queen. Jesus, God our Father and the Holy Spirit placed a beautiful crown of twelve stars on her head. All the angels and saints sang wonderful songs praising her as their Queen.
Mary bowed to the Most Holy trinity, and again sang her prayer of praise, the Magnificat.
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.He has cast down the might from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever."
The Blessed Virgin Mary now shares in the glory of her resurrected Son, because she had a part in His work of saving souls. She was His Mother, she carried Him in her womb, gave Him birth, raised Him through childhood and into adulthood and stayed with Him when He was on the Cross. She is Queen to all of us.
She obtains all graces for us through her prayers. As our mother and as Jesus's Mother, she will always interceed for us to her Son, and lead us closer to Him. So we should pray to her in all our needs, and everyday.
Practiced Families
The coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven fulfilled more than her own prophecy that "all generations will call me blessed." As mother to Jesus, Our Savior and Redeemer, she crushed the power of sin, death and lies.
Her ancestor Judith's actions anticipated hers, so the words spoken to Judith were also a prophecy of what Mary would do; "Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, who guided your blow to the head of the chief of our enemies. Your deed of hope will never be forgotten by those who tell of the might of God. May God make this for your everlasting honour, rewarding you with blessings, because you risked your life when your people were being oppressed, and you averted disaster, walking uprightly before our God."
On another level, it prophecises yet another triumph of Mary's yet to come. At the end of the world, in the final battle, Mary, crowned with twelve stars, will crush the head of the serpeant beneath her feet. She will defeat the Enemy with humility, love and Truth, by the power of God, against which nothing can stand.
Experienced Families
Four years after he declared the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, Pope Pius Xii, in an encyclical letter Ad Caeli Reginam, decreed and instituted the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be celebrated. He formalized the Church's tradition from the earliest centuries of Mary's Queenship in Heaven. This belief rested on both Holy Scripture and tradition.
How can this be? If Jesus is our Lord and King, then surely His mother is our Queen. Mary is Queen of all "since she brought forth a Son, Who at the very moment that He was conceived, was, by reason of the hypostatic union of the human nature with the Word, even as man, King and Lord of all things." In addition, "as Christ is our Lord and King by a special title because He redeemed us, so the Blessed Virgin is our Lady and Queen because of the unique way in which she has cooperated toward our redemption by giving of her own substance, by offering Him willingly for us, and by desiring, praying for, and bringing about our salvation in a singular manner."
By first carrying her to Heaven, then crowning her in the sight of all the angels and saints, God richly rewarded his most faithful of servants. Her own prophecy is fulfilled. "Truly All people shall call me blessed, for The Lord has done great things for me."
Prayer:
God, You have given us the Mother of Your Son to be our Mother and Queen. Through her intercession, grant that we may attain the glory destined for Your adopted sons in Your Heavenly kingdom. Amen.