Ezek.43:1-7; Ps 84; Matt.23:1-12
A week ago, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. Four years after Pope Pius XII solemnly proclaimed that Solemnity, he announced the memorial we celebrate today. Mary’s Queenship has roots in Sacred Scripture. In Luke 1:26-38, 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.” Since Mary is mother of Jesus, the King, she automatically becomes Queen. We also find so many references to Mary’s Queenship in the writings of early Church Fathers like St Ephraim, as well as in Hymns.
In his encyclical “To the Queen of Heaven”, Pius XII points out that Mary deserves the title of Queen “because she is Mother of God, because she is closely associated as the New Eve with Jesus’ redemptive work, because of her preeminent perfection, and because of her intercessory power.” Just as Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 9:1-6, because of this ‘ordinary’ woman’s response to God’s salvation initiative, “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shown… For there is a child born for us, a son given to us, and dominion is laid on his shoulders…”
God bless your day ahead.
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