Mary, Queen of Heaven
August 15, 2007

Readings for the Solemnity of the Assumption

Reading 1: Rev. 11:19a, 12:1–6a, 10ab

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 45:10, 11, 12, 16

Reading 2: 1 Cor. 15:20–27

Gospel: Lk. 1: 39–56

Link to Readings

By Monsignor Charles M. Mangan

“The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.” So we sang a moment ago in the Responsorial Psalm.

The application of that declaration from King David, the divinely-inspired author of the Psalms, to today’s Holy Day of Obligation is unmistakable: Mary the Mother of God, who was assumed by the Lord body and soul into Paradise, is the Queen of Heaven and earth. Like so many spiritual writers before us, we recognize Mary as that Woman mentioned in the First Reading who was “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

At a very early age, we learned that Our Blessed Mother is our Queen because of her link with her Divine Son, Jesus Christ our King.
 
Often on the Solemnity of Christ the King, which occurs every November on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, we admit that the notion of Christ as our King can be difficult for some in our era to comprehend because of the negative connotation that kingship has acquired. Kings can seem distant, arrogant, and arbitrary. And perhaps our American heritage encourages us to be wary of kings and their dominion over their subjects.

It may be that this “problem” with royalty is transferred over to Our Lady.

How can we understand Mary’s Queenship?

Over fifty years ago, Pope Pius XII taught that “the main principle on which the royal dignity of Mary rests is without doubt her Divine Motherhood,” but not only that but also “because God has willed her to have an exceptional role in the work of our eternal salvation.” 

With Pope Pius XII, we recall here that Our Lady’s presence on Calvary near her dying Son signifies that “in the accomplishing of this work of redemption, the Blessed Virgin Mary was most closely associated with Christ.”

In fact, as Pope Pius asserted, “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.”

Now we see more clearly this remarkable truth: Jesus Christ is our King because He is the Son of God and our Redeemer, while Mary is our Queen because she is the Mother of Christ and participated in our Redemption carried out by her Son, Jesus.

Jesus is the New Adam who rose from the dead; Mary is the New Eve who obediently cooperated fully with Christ in His Death as He reconciled us to His Beloved Father through the Holy Spirit.

Mary’s Assumption body and soul into Heaven is a fitting outgrowth of her fidelity to God. The Lord rewarded her for being steadfast in love and service.

In 1950, the same Pope Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption, which states that “the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

Both the body and the soul of sinless Mary are now in Heaven.
 
We look forward to that moment when our bodies will be reunited to our souls after the Final Judgment and receive that long-anticipated prize: everlasting happiness in Paradise. That day is our goal. All we do here on earth should be in preparation for our unending life in Heaven.

What is our response to the assumed Mary, our Queen? We want to venerate her as she merits. Her proximity to Jesus in Paradise calls forth from us a genuine devotion marked by prayer, imitation, and entrustment. When we invoke Mary’s intercession, live the virtues she displayed, and consecrate ourselves to her, we esteem her sincerely and profoundly. Then, we honor her as Christ would have us do.

As Jesus is no distant, arrogant, and arbitrary King, but instead is filled with tenderness for His brothers and sisters and desires our union with Him, so Mary is no distant, arrogant, and arbitrary Queen but rather, using the phrase of Pope Pius XII, “is on fire with a mother’s love.”

Our King and Queen love us. Jesus and Mary delight when we express our confidence in Them and seek Their assistance.

True, both Jesus our King and Mary our Queen possess real power and authority. They deserve our obedience. Yet, the Son and His Mother command us for our welfare—in this life and in the next.

With Elizabeth, the relative of Mary and the mother of St. John the Baptist, we gladly greet Our Mother and Queen assumed into Heaven with the words we pray daily in the “Hail Mary”: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

Mary our Queen wishes for nothing other than our conformity to Jesus her Son. Let us not disappoint her! By our prayers, frequent and worthy reception of the Sacraments, and works of charity and penance, we become more like Christ. This is the best gift possible that we can give to Mary our Mother and Queen.

Queen assumed into Heaven, pray for us!

Monsignor Charles Mangan is a priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, SD, a member of CUF's advisory council, and a frequent contributor to Lay Witness. He currently works in Rome as a member of the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life.

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