On this, the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a couple of passages from Pope Pius XII's 1954 encyclical, Ad Caeli Reginam, which proclaimed the Queenship of Mary. First, remarks on some of the theological reasons, drawn from Scripture and Tradition, that Mary is recognized as Queen of heaven and earth:
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. "What more joyful, what sweeter thought can we have" - as Our Predecessor of happy memory, Pius XI wrote - "than that Christ is our King not only by natural right, but also by an acquired right: that which He won by the redemption? Would that all men, now forgetful of how much we cost Our Savior, might recall to mind the words, 'You were redeemed, not with gold or silver which perishes, . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb spotless and undefiled. We belong not to ourselves now, since Christ has bought us 'at a great price'."
Now, in the accomplishing of this work of redemption, the Blessed Virgin Mary was most closely associated with Christ; and so it is fitting to sing in the sacred liturgy: "Near the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ there stood, sorrowful, the Blessed Mary, Queen of Heaven and Queen of the World." Hence, as the devout disciple of St. Anselm (Eadmer, ed.) wrote in the Middle Ages: "just as . . . God, by making all through His power, is Father and Lord of all, so the blessed Mary, by repairing all through her merits, is Mother and Queen of all; for God is the Lord of all things, because by His command He establishes each of them in its own nature, and Mary is the Queen of all things, because she restores each to its original dignity through the grace which she merited.
For "just as Christ, because He redeemed us, is our Lord and king by a special title, so the Blessed Virgin also (is our queen), on account of the unique manner in which she assisted in our redemption, by giving of her own substance, by freely offering Him for us, by her singular desire and petition for, and active interest in, our salvation." (par. 35-37)
And from the conclusion, remarks about the importance of recognizing and embracing the unique role of Mary in the saving work of her Son:
Let all, therefore, try to approach with greater trust the throne of grace and mercy of our Queen and Mother, and beg for strength in adversity, light in darkness, consolation in sorrow; above all let them strive to free themselves from the slavery of sin and offer an unceasing homage, filled with filial loyalty, to their Queenly Mother. Let her churches be thronged by the faithful, her feast-days honored; may the beads of the Rosary be in the hands of all; may Christians gather, in small numbers and large, to sing her praises in churches, in homes, in hospitals, in prisons. May Mary's name be held in highest reverence, a name sweeter than honey and more precious than jewels; may none utter blasphemous words, the sign of a defiled soul, against that name graced with such dignity and revered for its motherly goodness; let no one be so bold as to speak a syllable which lacks the respect due to her name.
All, according to their state, should strive to bring alive the wondrous virtues of our heavenly Queen and most loving Mother through constant effort of mind and manner. Thus will it come about that all Christians, in honoring and imitating their sublime Queen and Mother, will realize they are truly brothers, and with all envy and avarice thrust aside, will promote love among classes, respect the rights of the weak, cherish peace. No one should think himself a son of Mary, worthy of being received under her powerful protection, unless, like her, he is just, gentle and pure, and shows a sincere desire for true brotherhood, not harming or injuring but rather helping and comforting others.
In some countries of the world there are people who are unjustly persecuted for professing their Christian faith and who are deprived of their divine and human rights to freedom; up till now reasonable demands and repeated protests have availed nothing to remove these evils. May the powerful Queen of creation, whose radiant glance banishes storms and tempests and brings back cloudless skies, look upon these her innocent and tormented children with eyes of mercy; may the Virgin, who is able to subdue violence beneath her foot, grant to them that they may soon enjoy the rightful freedom to practice their religion openly, so that, while serving the cause of the Gospel, they may also contribute to the strength and progress of nations by their harmonious cooperation, by the practice of extraordinary virtues which are a glowing example in the midst of bitter trials.
By this Encyclical Letter We are instituting a feast so that all may recognize more clearly and venerate more devoutly the merciful and maternal sway of the Mother of God. We are convinced that this feast will help to preserve, strengthen and prolong that peace among nations which daily is almost destroyed by recurring crises. Is she not a rainbow in the clouds reaching towards God, the pledge of a covenant of peace? "Look upon the rainbow, and bless Him that made it; surely it is beautiful in its brightness. It encompasses the heaven about with the circle of its glory, the hands of the Most High have displayed it." Whoever, therefore, reverences the Queen of heaven and earth--and let no one consider himself exempt from this tribute of a grateful and loving soul--let him invoke the most effective of Queens, the Mediatrix of peace; let him respect and preserve peace, which is not wickedness unpunished nor freedom without restraint, but a well-ordered harmony under the rule of the will of God; to its safeguarding and growth the gentle urgings and commands of the Virgin Mary impel us.
Earnestly desiring that the Queen and Mother of Christendom may hear these Our prayers, and by her peace make happy a world shaken by hate, and may, after this exile show unto us all Jesus, Who will be our eternal peace and joy, to you, Venerable Brothers, and to your flocks, as a promise of God's divine help and a pledge of Our love, from Our heart We impart the Apostolic Benediction. (par. 48-52)
And here is a passage from The Way of the Disciple, by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, about the Scriptural foundations for the Queenship of Mary:
A major aspect of the mystery of the
Incarnation is that, starting from the central doctrine of
Christ's true, full, and irreversible humanization, we may then
infer a number of important truths that need not be explicitly
spelled out in Scripture, since they are really contained within the
fullness of the already revealed central Mystery of Christ. For
instance, the normality of Jesus' hidden life and childhood: by
their nearly total silence concerning this part of Jesus' earthly
life, the Gospels are in fact telling us that Jesus lived a very
ordinary human life for nearly thirty years, almost the whole of
his earthly existence.
Something similar may be said about his
relationships. Scripture nowhere calls Mary explicitly either
"Lady" or "Queen", titles which the Catholic tradition has
joyfully ascribed to her since very ancient times. But Scripture
is full of allusions to queens who are mothers of kings, and Scripture
also tells us that Mary is the Mother of Christ who is eternal
King of the ages. Therefore, if Mary is the Mother of our Lord (Dominus), then she is truly "our Lady" (Domina),
and if Christ is King, then she, too, must be Queen, for this is
required by the very nature of these biblical titles, which are
relational in nature. What are we to call the mother of a king if
not the "queen mother", and what would be the point of calling
Jesus a king at all if, although he very much has a mother, we oddly
want to limit the implications of that title by applying it only
in one direction, that is, by stressing the fact that a king has
subjects who must obey and serve him, but not as well that he has
a mother to whom he owes his human life and who stands by his
side, always supporting him and loving him in all his works and
decrees?
And Christ does not disdain so to share
his lordship and kingship, because he did not disdain to lay
aside even his divine glory in order to share our nature. if he
had, he would not have become man in the first place and entered
this necessary nexus of relationships. Christ is not a sealed eternal
capsule fallen to earth ready-made from heaven. Christ is the seed
of the Word planted by the Father in the womb of Mary, that
fertile earth that gave nourishment and growth to the seed of the
Word, that we may eventually eat of the fruit of the Tree of the
Cross.
When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons,
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son
into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So through God you
are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an
heir.... So, brethren, we are not children of the slave
[Hagar, but also Eve, the "mother of all the living"] but of the free woman
[Sara, but above all Mary, the "woman" at the head of the
text]. Twice in Luke (1:38 and 48) Mary calls herself the
maidservant, the handmaid, the slave of the Lord. To be the
Lord's slave is the essence of Mary's being a freeborn woman, in
keeping with her Son's manner of reigning as King by serving. The
Mother of the King who is a suffering servant reigns, like her
Son, by serving as the sorrowful Mother: "And Simeon ... said to Mary
his Mother: 'Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising Of
many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also)."
When and where, we may ask, will this momentous prophecy be
fulfilled? Surely at the foot of the Cross, at the crucial hour
when every disciple becomes Mary's son, by the will of her Son,
and she becomes the Mother of all believers.
We Christians are
indeed "children of the promise" made to Mary: "You will conceive
... and bear a son.... Of his kingdom there will be no end. . . .
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of
what was spoken to her from the Lord." Mary's deepest identity
as perfect believer, in the infancy narrative in Luke, should be
seen in connection with the explicit mention at the beginning of
Acts, after the Resurrection, at the other end of the work of
redemption, of her presence among those who believed. The Holy
Spirit who descends upon the whole Body of the Church at
Pentecost, with Mary present, had first descended upon her singly
at the Annunciation. Thus, Mary is the living archetype, the living
link, historically and mystically, between the mystery of the
Incarnation arid the mystery of Pentecost.
In giving her
fiat at the outset of the work of redemption, she is both
accepting God's gift of redemption for herself and prefiguring-and hence
making possible-the act of faith of the whole Church still to
come.
Now, if being God's servant is the very essence of Mary's
identity as first among believers and as Mother of the Church,
is this servant, the Mother of the King and hence herself Queen
by divine appointment, going to be left with nothing to do in the
Kingdom of Heaven? Mary, an idle heavenly Queen? Or is she not
rather going to spend her eternity of bliss interceding for her
children, having learned such fidelity toward mankind from the eternal
Father himself? Indeed, for as long as there is one soul to be
redeemed on earth, Mary will spend herself saying to Jesus what
she said to him at Cana, "They have no wine", and to us, "Do
whatever he tells you."
Read more from The Way of the Disciple.
Related Ignatius Insight Articles and Excerpts:
• The Blessed Virgin in the History of Christianity | John A. Hardon, S.J.
• The Past Her Prelude: Marian Imagery in the Old Testament | Sandra Miesel
• Mary in Byzantine Doctrine and Devotion | Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.
• Fairest Daughter of the Father: On the Solemnity of the Assumption | Rev. Charles M. Mangan
• "Hail, Full of Grace": Mary, the Mother of Believers | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• Mary in Feminist Theology: Mother of God or Domesticated Goddess? | Fr. Manfred Hauke
• Excerpts from The Rosary: Chain of Hope | Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R.
• Immaculate Mary, Matchless in Grace | John Saward
• The Medieval Mary | The Introduction to Mary in the Middle Ages | by Luigi Gambero
• Misgivings About Mary | Dr. James Hitchcock
• Born of the Virgin Mary | Paul Claudel
• Assumed Into Mother's Arms | Carl E. Olson
• The Disciple Contemplates the Mother | Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis
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