The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Isaiah 9:1-6 + Luke 1:26-38
“May it be done to me according to your Word.”
Today’s feast of Mary’s Queenship falls one week after the feast of her Assumption. Seven days ago, we celebrated the fourth glorious mystery of the Rosary, and today we celebrate the fifth (Mary being crowned as the Queen of Heaven and earth). These two feasts of Mary are connected, and teach us about who Mary our Mother is. The Assumption and the Queenship of Mary also teach us what being a Christian is about.
Mary being assumed, body and soul, into heaven is really nothing other than her share in the Resurrection of Jesus: her body and soul sharing in the glory of her Son’s Resurrection. This is something that we all look forward to sharing at the end of time. Mary has received the fullness of everything that Jesus promises. The humble handmaiden has been made radiant—Mary is the Queen standing at Christ’s right hand, clothed in gold, as one of the Psalms says. All of Mary’s limits have been removed. All her weaknesses have been cured. We speak to Mary with the honor due to a Queen, because she is the first of the disciples to pass body and soul into the palace of the King.
Saint John writes in his first epistle that we do not know what we will look like in heaven, because we will become like Jesus in His Resurrection: almost glowing. Mary has already undergone that change. She looks on the beauty of God’s face not just through her soul—as all the saints do—but with her own eyes. This is what we mean by her Queenship: she is the Queen Mother of all the faithful, because she was perfectly faithful, and the first (of many eventually) who will be admitted body and soul into heaven.
Mary is our Queen, and we give our prayers to her powerful intercession: she will take all our prayers to God. We look to Mary as the example of the perfect disciple. We find consolation in her mother’s heart. She surpasses all of us in her faithfulness to Christ. But her Queenship is also the hope that we have a promise: we have from God the promise of our own Resurrection, when we too will be crowned with glory. In this way, we can see that her majesty and glory is something that we, too, hope one day to receive in some degree. We thank Mary for showing us how good God is, and how God always gives grace and strength to those who follow Him.
