Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which takes place seven days after the earlier great celebration of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is to show just how connected this celebration we have today is to that of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As we celebrate it last week, the Assumption of Mary commemorates the moment when Mary, the Mother of God met the end of her earthly life and journey, when she was raised up body and soul to the glory of Heaven. And we have discussed it earlier at that time, that all this happened because she, as the Immaculate Conception, conceived without any taint of sin, and remaining sinless and full of God’s grace throughout her whole life, she could not have suffered the consequences and punishment for sin, which is death.
That was why the Church, since its very earliest days have always believed in this core belief and tenet of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, no doubt also supported by the evidences and traditions from the time of the Apostles themselves, who have experienced the events surrounding the moment of Mary’s Assumption into Heaven. This is why, although the Catholic Church has only formally defined the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1950, barely over seven decades ago, but it was merely a confirmation and formalisation of what the Church and the faithful had always believed in the past two millennia of our Christian history and faith. Thus, today, which follows up from that glorious celebration of Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, we honour Mary in her Queenship, in her many titles as Queen, accorded to her through her status as the Mother of God.
Mary has been known by many titles of Queen throughout history of the Church, the most well-known of which being the Queen of Heaven or Regina Caeli, which is also the name of one of the four important Marian antiphons. She is also known as the Queen of All Saints, Regina Sanctorum, as the Queen of Apostles, Regina Apostolorum, the Queen of Peace, Regina Pacis, and many others. And some of those who did not understand the significance of Mary’s importance and role in the history of our salvation misunderstood this great honour which we have given to her, in honouring her as the greatest among all of God’s created beings, being honoured with the responsibility and privilege of being the Mother of God, bearing within her the Divine Son of God Most High, and becoming hence, the Ark of the New Covenant.
Some thought that we honour Mary as if she is a goddess or a deity, like that of in other beliefs and polytheistic faith. But this mistaken belief came about from misunderstanding of how we honour Mary in her Queenship. She is not a Queen by her own power or might, but her Queenship came about because of her being the Mother of God, Who is Our Lord and King, the King of the whole entire Universe and all of Creation. Therefore, she is Queen by virtue of her being the Queen Mother of Heaven, as the one honoured by her Son, Our Lord, Saviour and King Himself. And if Our Lord Himself has honoured His mother in such a manner, how can we then refuse to honour her in a similar way as well? It is not right for us not to do so, and if we truly love and honoure the Lord our God, then how can we not honour the one whom He Himself honours as well?
In the Scriptures, we heard an example of Bathsheba, the wife of King David of Israel who was honoured after her son, Solomon, ascended the throne as King Solomon. As the king’s own mother, Bathsheba was the Queen Mother of Israel, and was accorded a position of honour in the kingdom and a truly honoured position by the side of the King, who also asked her for advice and help on matters on the ruling of the kingdom. There were other Queen Mothers referred to in the Old Testament as well in the Book of Kings and Chronicles of Israel and Judah, highlighting how in the Scriptures itself, the position of a Queen Mother is something that has been existing since the ancient times and is a well-respected position because of the association with the King and ruler of the Kingdom.
And in history, there had been many Queen Mothers and Dowagers, Empress Dowagers and others who had been respected in the similar way in various states and countries. Not only that, but even if the aforementioned Queen Mothers, Dowagers and Empress Dowagers were not royalty themselves, as some of them were of simpler birth, they were deemed as worthy to be the Queen or Empress by virtue of their motherhood of their sons, who became Kings and Rulers in their own right. For example, Emperor Constantine the Great was the renowned Roman Emperor who ended the official persecution of Christians throughout the Empire and also extended toleration to the Christian faith, and his mother, St. Helena, was a Christian of relatively lower rank who was already divorced by his father, the previous Emperor Constantius who married another high-class woman to bolster his position as Emperor.
While St. Helena was never an Empress when she was married to the father of Emperor Constantine, she was treated well by her own son, and when he became Emperor later on succeeding his father, he would honour his mother St. Helena as an Empress, officially given the title of Augusta, a great title reserved only to the Empresses of the Roman Empire. In such a manner therefore, while St. Helena herself was never a royalty by her birth or by her marriage, she gained her majesty and title, honour and respect through her son, the Emperor, and was greatly honoured throughout the Empire for her great devotion to her son, as well as her personal piety and holiness, renowned later on for her role in the discovery of the True Cross in Jerusalem.
That is why, based on all these, we truly honour Mary as a Queen, as if the world has honoured and recognised the mothers of their kings and rulers as queens and queen mothers, then how can we not honour Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour, Our King, the King of Kings from Whom all the kings and rulers of this world gained their authority from, in the same manner as well? That is why we rejoice this day because Mary is our Queen, the one who is now seated by the side of her Son’s Throne in Heaven. More importantly, through her, we have a truly great ally and a loving mother who is our greatest intercessor, as one who has always been concerned towards us, loving us and praying for us constantly, asking her Son to show us His mercy and compassion.
Let us also follow the great examples that Mary, our Mother and Queen has shown us all in her own exemplary faith, dedication and commitment to God, and to everything that had been entrusted to her. Mary’s perfect obedience and faith in the Lord allowed the salvation of God to be accomplished through the Incarnation of the Divine Word of God in her, through the descent of the Son of God Himself in the flesh, that the Saviour might be born and revealed to us. Not only that, but Mary also remained firmly committed to her mission throughout her whole life, dedicating herself to love her Son and to follow Him. We should also therefore be inspired to follow Mary’s great examples, to commit ourselves thoroughly to the Lord from now on.
May the Lord continue to give us the strength and guidance to live our lives faithfully as Christians from now on. May He empower each and every one of us to be good role models and examples in faith at all times. And may His blessed and most loving Mother, our Mother and Queen, Mary most holy and blessed, continue to pray and intercede for us sinners, now and always. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 