The mother of the King is a Queen, Mary: Day 284

The mother of the King is a Queen, Mary: Day 284 April 30, 2016

year_with_mary_alphonsus_3The mother of the King is a Queen

The universal queenship of Mary, St. Alphonsus reasons, is implied by the universal kingship of her Son.

As the glorious Virgin Mary has been raised to the dignity of mother of the King of kings, it is not without reason that the Church honors her, and wishes her to be honored by all, with the glorious title of Queen. “If the Son is a King,” says an ancient writer, “the one who begot him is rightly and truly considered a queen and sovereign.”

“No sooner had Mary consented to be mother of the Eternal Word,” says St. Bernardine of Siena, “than she merited by this consent to be made Queen of the World and of all creatures.”

“Since the flesh of Mary was not different from that of Jesus,” remarks the Abbot Arnold of Chartres, “how can the royal dignity of the Son be denied to the mother? . . . Hence we must consider the glory of the Son, not only as being common to, but as one with, that of his mother.”

And if Jesus is the King of the universe, Mary is also its queen. “And as queen,” says the Abbot Rupert, “she possesses, by right, the whole kingdom of her Son.” For this reason, St. Bernardine of Siena concludes that “as many crea- tures as there are who serve God, so many there are who serve Mary: for as angels and men, and all things that are in heaven and on earth, are subject to the empire of God, so are they also under the dominion of Mary.” —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

 IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

In modern times, we usually think of a queen as the wife of a king. But in ancient Israel, the queen was more like the modern queen mother—that is, the mother of the king. Why do we speak of Mary, then, as Queen of Heaven?

CLOSING PRAYER

From the “Lourdes Hymn”: Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing; you reign now in splendor with Jesus our King! In heaven the blessed your glory proclaim; on earth we, your children, invoke your sweet name. Ave, ave, ave, Maria!

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