576. August 22, Queenship of Holy Mary

Meditations no. 507 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Our Lady is Queen of heaven and earth.

Ave, Regina caelorum; ave, Domina angelorum. … Hail, Queen of heaven; hail, Lady of the angels; hail, Gate of heaven, who brought forth the Light of the world.

Today we contemplate our Mother, who has been taken up to heaven body and soul. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit crown her as a rightful Empress of the Universe.

And the Angels pay her homage as her subjects, and the patriarchs and prophets and Apostles, and the martyrs and confessors and virgins and all the saints… , and all sinners and you and I.

From time immemorial Christians have acclaimed the Virgin Mary as Queen and Lady. This is the probable meaning of her name in Aramaic and in Syriac. The archangel Gabriel addresses Mary by her name when communicating to her the mystery of the incarnation of the Word. St Peter Chrysologus says that Mary’s Hebrew name is translated ‘Domina’ in Latin. Therefore the angel gives her the title “Lady.” The archangel points to her queenship when he says, And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end. She is Queen because she gave birth to Jesus Christ, who is King of the universe. St Peter Canisius preached that Mary is not only the Mother of God. She can also properly and truly be called Queen and Lady, since from her was born Christ, who is God and Lord, and also King.

Besides, since Mary has been given a central role in the work of redemption, she is also Queen and Lady of the human race. Together with Christ, she fights and defeats the devil, and shares in the dominion of her Son over all creation, as the liturgy reminds us: Holy Mary is Queen of heaven and earth, having stood sorrowfully by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray with the Church today: Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary, since you believed what was told you on the Lord’s behalf. Now you reign with Christ forever.

How often we have contemplated the fifth glorious mystery of the Rosary, the coronation of our Lady! Once again today we consider this scene, and overwhelmed by Mary’s radiant majesty, we tell her, You are all fair, and without blemish. You are a garden enclosed, my sister, my Bride, an enclosed garden, a sealed fountain. Veni: coronaberis. Come: you shall be crowned (Song4: 7, 12, 8).

If you and I had been able, we too would have made her Queen and Lady of all creation.

All graces come to us through our Lady’s mediation.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore.

Our Lady shares in the reign of her Son foretold in these verses. Mary is the Queen of mercy, who fills us with gifts and grace. In addition to having received the highest degree of excellence and perfection after Christ, she also shares in the influence by which her Son and Redeemer is rightly said to rule in the minds and wills of men. If the Word truly works miracles and infuses grace by means of the human nature which he assumed, and if he makes use of the sacraments and of his saints as instruments for the salvation of souls, why then should he not be able to make use of the ministry and action of his most holy Mother in distributing the fruits of the redemption?

Mary is also the mediatrix of grace. St Bernard compares her role to that of an aqueduct. Though not itself the source, it channels the water and distributes it to everyone. The angel tells her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you (Luke 1: 35). So abundantly and fully will he infuse his precious balm on you, that it will overflow everywhere. … With all the strength of our soul, with all the affection of our heart, with all the fervour of our will, let us venerate Mary, because it is God’s will, who wanted us to receive everything through her.

This, I repeat, is his will, but it is for our benefit. Can the Son go unheeded by his Father or can he reject the pleas of his Mother? No, no, a thousand times no. The angel says, You have found grace with God (Luke1: 30). Fortunately she will always find grace, and it is grace alone that we need. … Let us seek grace, and let us seek it through Mary, since she finds what she seeks and can never he disappointed.

When we feel incapable of carrying out a particular apostolic task, or when we lack strength to overcome a defect, let us go to Mary. She watches over us with a mother’s love, and is solicitous for our good in countless ways. Through her comes the divine grace that makes us victorious. We may not have the energy needed to reach the high terrain from which there flows forth a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. But the Blessed Virgin will be the divine channel, the beautiful aqueduct with wonderful arches and pillars, that bring us the grace of eternal life. She is security. She is hope, our Father tells us. She is the Mother of Fair Love. She is the beginning and the seat of wisdom. And she, the Virgin Mother and Mediatrix of all graces, is the one who will lead us by the hand to her Son, Jesus.

Recourse to Mary in all our needs.

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman with a crown of twelve stars upon her head, adorned with the sun, and the moon at her feet (Rev12: 1). Mary, Virgin without stain, has made up for the fall of Eve: and she has crushed the head of hell’s serpent with her immaculate heel.

As Queen of heaven and earth, Mary can win anything we need from God. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need, the Church exhorts us, encouraging us to have recourse to our Lady, who is Mother of mercy, throne of grace.

The Blessed Virgin always watches over us, who are small children of hers. The smaller we become, the greater will be her care and watchfulness, since she will see we are more in need. Very often we will not even have to tell her anything. As a mother, she well knows the needs of each of her children at every moment. With her constant intercession, we will never find ourselves alone. Have you never seen the mothers of this earth, with their arms outstretched, following their little ones when they venture to take their first shaky steps? You are not alone: Mary is close beside you. Like that little child who finds itself in danger or is tottering and cries out to his mother, we go to the Blessed Virgin in the knowledge that God wants her to distribute all the graces that we need: O God, you have given us the Mother of your only-begotten Son as our Mother and Queen. Grant that through her intercession we may come to share in the heavenly glory destined for your children.

Assured of her intercession, we ask her many times throughout the day for that brother or sister of ours most in need. Our Mother is very happy to see the unity of her children in Opus Dei. By her intercession, our love gains the fortitude needed to make us firm, able to support one another along this pathway of God.

Thankful for all the gifts our Lady has obtained for us as the dispenser of heavenly graces, we promise her that, with her help, we will remain faithful to our vocation as apostles, in spite of our personal weaknesses. Holy Mary, Queen of apostles, Mother of God and our Mother, you understand so well the faults of your children. Through your imploring power we ask forgiveness for everything in our life that should have been light and was darkness, that should have been strength and was weakness, that should have been fire and was lukewarmness. Since we know the poor quality of our life, we want to change. We want to triumph with you. We want to have the warm atmosphere of your family.