Rich
2020-08-22 06:34:47 UTC
Do you wish to RISE?
“Do you wish to RISE?
Begin by DESCENDING.
You plan a tower that will pierce the CLOUDS?
Lay first the foundation of HUMILITY”
“I will suggest a means whereby
you can praise God all day long, if you wish.
Whatever you do, do it well and you have praised God.”
--St Augustine Father & Doctor of Grace
<<>><<>><<>>
August 22nd - Mary's Queenship
The beginning of the concept that Mary is a Queen is found in the
annunciation narrative. For the angel tells her that her Son will be
King over the house of Jacob forever. So she, His Mother, would be a
Queen.
The Fathers of the Church soon picked up these implications. A text
probably coming from Origen (died c. 254: cf. Marian Studies 4, 1953,
87) gives her the title domina, the feminine form of Latin dominus,
Lord. That same title also appears in many other early writers, e.g. ,
St. Ephrem, St. Jerome, St. Peter Chrysologus (cf. Marian Studies 4.
87-91). The word "Queen" appears about the sixth century, and is
common thereafter (Marian Studies, 4, 91-94).
The titles "king" and "queen" are often used loosely, for those beings
that excel in some way. Thus we call the lion the king of beasts, the
rose the queen of flowers. Surely Our Lady deserves the title richly
for such reasons. But there is much more.
Some inadequate reasons have been suggested: She is the daughter of
David. But not every child of a king becomes a king or queen. Others
have pointed out that she was free from original sin. Then, since Adam
and Eve had a dominion over all things (Genesis 1. 26) she should have
similar dominion. But the problem is that the royalty of Adam and Eve
was largely metaphorical.
The solidly theological reasons for her title of Queen are expressed
splendidly by Pius XII, in his Radio message to Fatima, Bendito seja
(AAS 38. 266): "He, the Son of God, reflects on His heavenly Mother
the glory, the majesty and the dominion of His kingship, for, having
been associated to the King of Martyrs in the unspeakable work of
human Redemption as Mother and cooperator, she remains forever
associated to Him, with a practically unlimited power, in the
distribution of the graces which flow from the Redemption. Jesus is
King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest:
through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him, Mary is Queen by grace,
by divine relationship, by right of conquest, and by singular choice
[of the Father]. And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and
God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion."
We notice that there are two titles for the kingship of Christ: divine
nature, and "right of conquest", i.e., the Redemption. She is Queen
"through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him." The qualifications
are obvious, and need no explanation. Her Queenship is basically a
sharing in the royalty of her Son. We do not think of two powers, one
infinite, the other finite. No, she and her Son are inseparable, and
operate as a unit.
Of the four titles Pius XII gave for her Queenship, we notice that two
are closely parallel to those of Jesus:
(1) He is king by nature, as God; she is Queen by "divine
relationship" that is, by being the Mother of God. In fact her
relation to her Son is greater than that of ordinary Mothers of Kings.
For she is the Mother of Him who is King by very nature, from all
eternity, and the relationship is exclusive, for He had no human
father. Still further, the ordinary queen-mother gives birth to a
child who later will become king. The son of Mary is, as we said,
eternally king, by His very nature. (2) He is king by right of
conquest. She too is Queen by right of conquest. We already saw that
this title for Him means that He redeemed us from the captivity of
satan. She shared in the struggle and victory. Since the Pope
expressed her dependence on Him in a threefold way--something we would
have known anyway--then it is clear that he did not have in mind any
other restriction which he did not express. So, maintaining this
subordination, "by right of conquest" means the same for her as it
does for Him.
The other two titles: (3) She is Queen by grace. She is full of grace,
the highest in the category of grace besides her Son. (4) She is Queen
by singular choice of the Father. A mere human can become King or
Queen by choice of the people. How much greater a title is the choice
of the Father Himself!
Pius XII added that "nothing is excluded from her dominion." As
Mediatrix of all graces, who shared in earning all graces, she is, as
Benedict XV said, "Suppliant omnipotence": she, united with her Son,
can obtain by her intercession anything that the all-powerful God can
do by His own inherent power.
In the Old Testament, under some Davidic kings, the gebirah, the
"Great Lady", usually the Mother of the King, held great power as
advocate with the king. Cf. 1 Kings 2:20, where Solomon said to his
Mother Bathsheba, seated on a throne at his right: "Make your request,
Mother, for I will not refuse you." Here is a sort of type of Our
Lady.
Excerpted and adapted from Theology 523: Our Lady in Doctrine and
Devotion, by Father William G. Most.
Footnote:
1 This Feast is 31 May on the traditional calendar, capping the month
of May which is dedicated to Our Lady and begins with the crowning of
her icons. On the Novus Ordo calendar, the Feast falls on 22 August,
after the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August.
Comment:
As St. Paul suggests in Romans 8:28–30, God has predestined human
beings from all eternity to share the image of his Son. All the more
was Mary predestined to be the mother of Jesus. As Jesus was to be
king of all creation, Mary, in dependence on Jesus, was to be queen.
All other titles to Queenship derive from this eternal intention of
God. As Jesus exercised his kingship on earth by serving his Father
and his fellow human beings, so did Mary exercise her Queenship. As
the glorified Jesus remains with us as our king till the end of time
(Matthew 28:20), so does Mary, who was assumed into heaven and crowned
queen of heaven and earth.
Quote:
“Let the entire body of the faithful pour forth persevering prayer
to the Mother of God and Mother of men. Let them implore that she who
aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers may now, exalted as
she is in heaven above all the saints and angels, intercede with her
Son in the fellowship of all the saints. May she do so until all the
peoples of the human family, whether they are honored with the name of
Christian or whether they still do not know their Savior, are happily
gathered together in peace and harmony into the one People of God, for
the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity” (Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, 69).
Saint Quote:
"He who wants to win the world for Christ must have the courage to
come in conflict with it."
--Blessed Titus Brandsma
<><><><><>
On the study of divine truths
We therefore grossly deceive ourselves in not allotting more time to
the study of divine truths. It is not enough barely to believe them,
and let our thoughts now and then glance upon them: that knowledge
which shows us heaven, will not bring us to the possession of it, and
will deserve punishments, not rewards, if it remain slight, weak, and
superficial. By serious and frequent meditation it must be concocted,
digested, and turned into the nourishment of our affections, before it
can be powerful and operative enough to change them, and produce the
necessary fruit in our lives. For this all the saints affected
solitude and retreats from the noise and hurry of the world, as much
as their circumstances allowed them.
--St. Apollinaris
“Do you wish to RISE?
Begin by DESCENDING.
You plan a tower that will pierce the CLOUDS?
Lay first the foundation of HUMILITY”
“I will suggest a means whereby
you can praise God all day long, if you wish.
Whatever you do, do it well and you have praised God.”
--St Augustine Father & Doctor of Grace
<<>><<>><<>>
August 22nd - Mary's Queenship
The beginning of the concept that Mary is a Queen is found in the
annunciation narrative. For the angel tells her that her Son will be
King over the house of Jacob forever. So she, His Mother, would be a
Queen.
The Fathers of the Church soon picked up these implications. A text
probably coming from Origen (died c. 254: cf. Marian Studies 4, 1953,
87) gives her the title domina, the feminine form of Latin dominus,
Lord. That same title also appears in many other early writers, e.g. ,
St. Ephrem, St. Jerome, St. Peter Chrysologus (cf. Marian Studies 4.
87-91). The word "Queen" appears about the sixth century, and is
common thereafter (Marian Studies, 4, 91-94).
The titles "king" and "queen" are often used loosely, for those beings
that excel in some way. Thus we call the lion the king of beasts, the
rose the queen of flowers. Surely Our Lady deserves the title richly
for such reasons. But there is much more.
Some inadequate reasons have been suggested: She is the daughter of
David. But not every child of a king becomes a king or queen. Others
have pointed out that she was free from original sin. Then, since Adam
and Eve had a dominion over all things (Genesis 1. 26) she should have
similar dominion. But the problem is that the royalty of Adam and Eve
was largely metaphorical.
The solidly theological reasons for her title of Queen are expressed
splendidly by Pius XII, in his Radio message to Fatima, Bendito seja
(AAS 38. 266): "He, the Son of God, reflects on His heavenly Mother
the glory, the majesty and the dominion of His kingship, for, having
been associated to the King of Martyrs in the unspeakable work of
human Redemption as Mother and cooperator, she remains forever
associated to Him, with a practically unlimited power, in the
distribution of the graces which flow from the Redemption. Jesus is
King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest:
through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him, Mary is Queen by grace,
by divine relationship, by right of conquest, and by singular choice
[of the Father]. And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and
God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion."
We notice that there are two titles for the kingship of Christ: divine
nature, and "right of conquest", i.e., the Redemption. She is Queen
"through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him." The qualifications
are obvious, and need no explanation. Her Queenship is basically a
sharing in the royalty of her Son. We do not think of two powers, one
infinite, the other finite. No, she and her Son are inseparable, and
operate as a unit.
Of the four titles Pius XII gave for her Queenship, we notice that two
are closely parallel to those of Jesus:
(1) He is king by nature, as God; she is Queen by "divine
relationship" that is, by being the Mother of God. In fact her
relation to her Son is greater than that of ordinary Mothers of Kings.
For she is the Mother of Him who is King by very nature, from all
eternity, and the relationship is exclusive, for He had no human
father. Still further, the ordinary queen-mother gives birth to a
child who later will become king. The son of Mary is, as we said,
eternally king, by His very nature. (2) He is king by right of
conquest. She too is Queen by right of conquest. We already saw that
this title for Him means that He redeemed us from the captivity of
satan. She shared in the struggle and victory. Since the Pope
expressed her dependence on Him in a threefold way--something we would
have known anyway--then it is clear that he did not have in mind any
other restriction which he did not express. So, maintaining this
subordination, "by right of conquest" means the same for her as it
does for Him.
The other two titles: (3) She is Queen by grace. She is full of grace,
the highest in the category of grace besides her Son. (4) She is Queen
by singular choice of the Father. A mere human can become King or
Queen by choice of the people. How much greater a title is the choice
of the Father Himself!
Pius XII added that "nothing is excluded from her dominion." As
Mediatrix of all graces, who shared in earning all graces, she is, as
Benedict XV said, "Suppliant omnipotence": she, united with her Son,
can obtain by her intercession anything that the all-powerful God can
do by His own inherent power.
In the Old Testament, under some Davidic kings, the gebirah, the
"Great Lady", usually the Mother of the King, held great power as
advocate with the king. Cf. 1 Kings 2:20, where Solomon said to his
Mother Bathsheba, seated on a throne at his right: "Make your request,
Mother, for I will not refuse you." Here is a sort of type of Our
Lady.
Excerpted and adapted from Theology 523: Our Lady in Doctrine and
Devotion, by Father William G. Most.
Footnote:
1 This Feast is 31 May on the traditional calendar, capping the month
of May which is dedicated to Our Lady and begins with the crowning of
her icons. On the Novus Ordo calendar, the Feast falls on 22 August,
after the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August.
Comment:
As St. Paul suggests in Romans 8:28–30, God has predestined human
beings from all eternity to share the image of his Son. All the more
was Mary predestined to be the mother of Jesus. As Jesus was to be
king of all creation, Mary, in dependence on Jesus, was to be queen.
All other titles to Queenship derive from this eternal intention of
God. As Jesus exercised his kingship on earth by serving his Father
and his fellow human beings, so did Mary exercise her Queenship. As
the glorified Jesus remains with us as our king till the end of time
(Matthew 28:20), so does Mary, who was assumed into heaven and crowned
queen of heaven and earth.
Quote:
“Let the entire body of the faithful pour forth persevering prayer
to the Mother of God and Mother of men. Let them implore that she who
aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers may now, exalted as
she is in heaven above all the saints and angels, intercede with her
Son in the fellowship of all the saints. May she do so until all the
peoples of the human family, whether they are honored with the name of
Christian or whether they still do not know their Savior, are happily
gathered together in peace and harmony into the one People of God, for
the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity” (Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, 69).
Saint Quote:
"He who wants to win the world for Christ must have the courage to
come in conflict with it."
--Blessed Titus Brandsma
<><><><><>
On the study of divine truths
We therefore grossly deceive ourselves in not allotting more time to
the study of divine truths. It is not enough barely to believe them,
and let our thoughts now and then glance upon them: that knowledge
which shows us heaven, will not bring us to the possession of it, and
will deserve punishments, not rewards, if it remain slight, weak, and
superficial. By serious and frequent meditation it must be concocted,
digested, and turned into the nourishment of our affections, before it
can be powerful and operative enough to change them, and produce the
necessary fruit in our lives. For this all the saints affected
solitude and retreats from the noise and hurry of the world, as much
as their circumstances allowed them.
--St. Apollinaris