Bethany Hang Out

August 22 is the memorial of the Queenship of Mary. 

She was always a queen; more a queen than any other. Heaven has a different definition of greatness than we do. (Mtt.20:26). 

Our queen was poor, both in her material life and in her way of being. We may sometimes look down on, judge or blame the poor, but to Jesus they are royalty. He calls them blessed (Luke 6:20) He identifies deeply with them to the point he says whatever we do to them, we do to him (Mtt. 24:40).

Mary walked this earth as one of the anawim, (Lk.1:48) the little ones of God, poor and marginalized, depending completely on him. Mary was humble.

Pope Francis said “she knew she was little, and she was happy to be so.” Her sense of lowliness, of littleness would have given her the bold receptivity to God that we see at the Annunciation. (Lk. 1:26-38) Mary knew she was completely in God’s hands and it made her brave. 

This is why she inherited his Kingdom. 

Our  queen mourned. She cried. Completely human,she was traumatized by her Son’s brutal death, her heart  wounded by the sword that pierced. And she was comforted, repaid many times over with incomparable joy. 

Our queen was meek. We usually think of meek as weak. However the Greek of the Gospel for meek is “praus,” which is more like power restrained, like a strong horse choosing to be gentle, calm and patient. Mary, united to God, spouse of the Holy Spirit and Mother of God’s Son, the only other person besides Jesus to be called “full of grace,” * was already a queen. However, she chose gentleness, kindness, sweetness for her crown. This is why she inherited the earth. 

Our queen hungered and thirsted for justice. She longed to see the proud scattered, the lowly lifted up, the mighty brought down, the hungry fed and the rich sent away empty. With the advent of her Son, she knew she would see this, that Jesus would make that longing a reality, and her soul rejoiced. (Luke 1:51-53)

Our queen was merciful. She received mercy from the first moment of her conception in her mother’s womb on the merit of the sacrifice of her Son who would come into the world through her. (Luke 1:28) In mercy she carried Jesus straight to Elizabeth who was pregnant in her old age and in confinement, and stayed with her through the birth of John the Baptist. She noticed the humiliation of the newlyweds at the wedding of Cana when they ran out of wine and she brought Jesus into the situation. She wasn’t pushy. She wanted them to have their own encounter with him. She merely said, “Do whatever he tells you.” She stood at the foot of the cross to be with her dying Son. She expanded her motherhood to the Apostle John when Jesus said to John, “Behold your mother,” and to Mary, “behold your Son.” (John 21:19) John represented us all. She widened her heart to become our mother too. (Rev. 12:17) 

Her heart was united to God’s merciful love and she was always ready to share it. 

Mary was a queen who was pure of heart. Her heart was uniquely free to love, free to see clearly, filled with the  Spirit of God who overshadowed her.  Her purity of heart allowed her to see God, because when we are pure of heart, all we see is God. She would have been able to see God in everyone she met, in the events of her life, in the music she heard, the words that were spoken, in the beauty of the world around her. 

We call Mary “Queen of Peace.” She is Queen of Peace because through her we received our Lord, who is our Peace. Mary would have been as nonviolent as her Son. She would never let anything turn her back from it. As people reported feeling deep inner peace in the presence of Mother Teresa, even more would they have been at peace in Mary’s presence. She was a child of God who brought us the one who would make us children of God. 

Our queen stood at the cross as mother of the condemned. The insults hurled at Jesus fell on her too. I’m sure cruel words were aimed at her personally as well. She suffered the brutal death of her Son for his sake. And great, unimaginably great was her reward in Heaven. 

We are called to be little Marys in this world, the ones who hear the word of God and keep it, his brothers, his sisters, his mother. (Lk.8:21)

She was always a queen. Now she is not only crowned with every flower of the Beatitudes, (Mtt. 5:3-12) but with shining stars, (Rev. 12: 1) sending love from heaven, lighting the path to Christ who gave her to us. 

* “the glory of an only Son, coming from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14. 

And to Mary,  “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28.