A Reflection for the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Find today’s readings here.
Marian feast days seem to be sprinkled throughout the year, while the more Jesus-centric holidays (for lack of a better term) happen between December (Christmas) and May or June (Ascension). There is a joke here in Germany that Jesus was not considerate enough to spread his holidays throughout the year so that people could have days off year-round, but if the German government started adding in all the Marian holidays, I think people would be much happier with the extra days off.
One such holiday is today’s feast of the Queenship of Mary. Proclaimed in 1954, today’s feast celebrates a declaration of something we have known for far longer than 70 years. Early Church fathers and saints throughout time have referenced Mary’s status as queen or lady.
The archangel Gabriel, whose message to Mary, found in today’s Gospel, we know so well, was, according to Pope Pius XII in his encyclical “Ad Caeli Reginam,” the first to declare Mary’s queenship. He hails her as the mother of God, then tells her that her son’s kingdom will have no end (34).
Why do we have a feast for Mary as queen so specifically?
Pius XII points out that she is, of course, the Mother of God and therefore the queen of heaven, but she also plays a special role in humanity’s eternal salvation. She intercedes for us all the time! If Jesus is the New Adam, the source of salvation, and Mary is the New Eve, then she must also be associated with salvation (38). Mary bore the savior just as Eve helped to bring about destruction, and now we may venerate her as being above the saints and second to God alone.
“Let all Christians, therefore, glory in being subjects of the Virgin Mother of God, who, while wielding royal power, is on fire with a mother's love” (43).
Maybe we should be celebrating Marian feasts (A.K.A. holidays) with the same fervor as we do the ones surrounding Jesus. The Germans would be happy, and it might also lead to more benevolence in the world if we seek to emulate Mary’s love for all people. In a time when so many peoples on earth are at war, let us seek the intercession of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, who tends to all people with a mother’s care.
