Posted on May 18, 2019 View all news
Laudetur Jesus Christus! Gelobt sei Jesus Christus!
Sia lodato Gesù Cristo! Praised be Jesus Christ!
Today we celebrate May Crowning in our parishes. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it possible. Mary, as the Mother of God, is of the most importance to us because she so freely and perfectly cooperated with the will of God. Certainly an example for each us, and someone we should model ourselves after. But she is also a Queen because of the great dignity that God has bestowed upon her. And so, we crown her during the month of May, because she has a dignity that no one else enjoys.
As we celebrate this month of Mary, be sure also to honor her in your own homes. But most all, strive to model yourself after her selflessness and her virtues. She was and remained the pure virgin because she was the Mother of God. She was both, Mother and Virgin. She was the first to bear God within herself. May the Lord find a worthy home within each of us, each time we receive Him in Holy Communion. I wish each of you a blessed week ahead. Please find this reflection by St. Peter Canisius on the Blessed Virgin and her Queenship.
“If we follow St. John Damascene, St. Athanasius and others, are we not forced to call Mary Queen, since her father David receiveth the highest praise in Scripture as a renowned king, and her son as King of kings and Lord of lords, reigning forever? She is Queen, moreover, when compared with the Saints who reign like kings in the heavenly kingdom, co-heirs with Christ, the great King, placed on the same throne with him, as the Scripture saith. And as Queen she is second to none of the elect, but in dignity is raised so high above both Angels and men that nothing can be higher or holier than she, who alone hath the same Son as God the Father, and who seeth above her only God and Christ, and below her creatures other than herself.
The great Athanasius said clearly: Mary is not only the Mother of God, but also can be properly and truly called Queen and Lady, since in fact the Christ who was born of the Virgin Mother is God and Lord and also King. It is to this Queen, therefore, that the Psalmist’s words are applied: The Queen taketh her place at thy right hand in garments of gold. Thus Mary is rightly called Queen, not only of heaven, but also of the heavens, as the Mother of the King of Angels, and as the Bride and beloved of the King of the heavens. O Mary, most august Queen and most faithful Mother, to whom no one prayeth in vain who prayeth devoutly, and to whom all mortal men are bound by the enduring memory of so many benefits, again and again reverently I beseech thee to accept and be pleased with every evidence of my devotion to thee, to value the poor gift I offer according to the zeal with which it is offered, and to recommend it to thine all-powerful Son.” – St. Peter Canisius