Monday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 22, 2022

The Feast of the Queenship of Mary

The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary is based on two principles, both defined by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam:

According to ancient tradition and the sacred liturgy the main principle on which the royal dignity of Mary rests is without doubt her Divine Motherhood. In Holy Writ, concerning the Son whom Mary will conceive, We read this sentence: "He shall be called the Son of the most High, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end," and in addition Mary is called "Mother of the Lord"; from this it is easily concluded that she is a Queen, since she bore a Son who, at the very moment of his conception, because of the hypostatic union of the human nature with the Word, was also as man King and Lord of all things. So with complete justice St. John Damascene could write: "When she became Mother of the Creator, she truly became Queen of every creature." Likewise, it can be said that the heavenly voice of the Archangel Gabriel was the first to proclaim Mary's royal office.

According to Pope Pius, the second principle is linked to the first: “But the Blessed Virgin Mary should be called Queen, not only because of her Divine Motherhood, but also because God has willed her to have an exceptional role in the work of our eternal salvation.”  One May say that, in according to the first principle, her Queenship was bestowed, and, according to the second, understood in a very strict way, it was earned.

The Church has always understood Mary to be the Queen of heaven and earth.  The antiphons Regina Caeli and Salve Regina (the former dating to the sixth century, according to tradition, and the latter to the thirteenth century) testify to this as well as innumerable statements to this effect by the Church Fathers.  One even says that the name “Mary” has its origin in the Syriac mar, which means something like “my lord”.

The Gospel reading for today, Matthew 23, 13-22, simply continues the cycle from Friday, although a feast of this kind really deserves its own readings.  All the same, a careful reading of the text of this reading offers us a verse on which we can meditate with profit regarding the Virgin Mary’s Queenship: “You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?”  That is, Christ himself is the Altar, the Priest, and the Victim of sacrifice.  Inasmuch as he is the Altar, certainly she who places herself beside it is made sacred, that is, holy, and worthy of honor.  This is confirmed by the Lord’s declaration that “one who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it”, which draws a certain level of identity between the altar and that which touches it.  The Virgin Mary, so near the Heart of Christ in her heart, and so near the Body of her Son on Golgotha, shares in his glory and majesty.  And as she stands at the King’s right hand, she is the Queen, “in gold of Ophir” (Psalm 45, 9).

Unlike earthly potentates, however, the Virgin Mary reigns as one who serves.  Jesus Christ, our Lord, declared that, “The Son of man came not to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20, 28), even to the point of giving his life as a ransom for many, and so Mary also comes, as Queen, to serve.  She serves us as an inspiring model and as intercessor on our behalf with her Son.  The oldest example of Christians seeking her help is found in the prayer Sub Tuum Refugium, dating back to the 200’s, and representing a tradition already old at the time: “We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God.  Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.”