On Aug. 15, we as the Church celebrated the great solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As we know, it was a Holy Day of Obligation, one in which countless parishes around the Diocese of Brooklyn celebrated multiple Holy Masses, and it is our hope that they were well attended.
Last week, exactly one week after the liturgical celebration of Our Lady’s Assumption, we celebrated the Queenship of Mary. What does this mean? It means that we as the Church take the opportunity to reflect on one of the great joyful mysteries. Our Blessed Mother, taken into Heaven by the Lord, her Son, who himself ascended into Heaven, is now enthroned above, reigning gloriously as our advocate, our queen, and our true Mother.
Our Queen, our Lady, our Mother, even when reigning gloriously, is demure, receptive, humble, not gazing upwards to the beauty descending, but allowing herself to become incorporated into the Eternal Mystery of the All-Beautiful One, and, in doing so, allowing herself to become even more strikingly beautiful.
It is precisely in being demure, precisely in being humble, it is precisely in being obedient that allows Mary to be Queen. The natural nobility she bears, coming from her immaculate conception and birth, forged in the crucible of her suffering and sorrows, demonstrates her as Queen and Mother.
In her Queenship of Mary, may our ignoble nature find its nobility’s source and summit in prayer, deep solid prayer that incorporates the liturgical and devotional, but encourages growth in the desire for quiet reflection. More than ever, we are convinced that the world will be saved not through frenetic activity, but through the sacrifice of prayer, devotional and contemplative, and especially through the Eucharist.
Mary, like all of us, bears the cross over her heart. She knows in her heart of hearts and in her soul of souls that all this fierce struggle, this all-too human tragedy between good and evil, that her beloved Son is experiencing on this earthly plane, is all for the salvation of the world. Every cut inflicted, every bruise endured, every insult and calumny heard, every indignity of every single bit of spittle he suffers, none of it, none of it is in vain. She knows in her heart of hearts and in her soul of souls that what her beloved Son, the only Son of a widowed mother, endures on this earthly plane, the shame on this natural level, leads to a supernatural level, wherein Satan is roundly defeated, and the prince of lies is made subject to the One who is All Truth.
Our Mother and Queen knows this truth not only through the direct experience of being with her Son, Our Lord, but also through contemplation. Imagine Mary doing the first form of adoration, holding her child, this remarkable little project completed by the Lord and her, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Mary, our Mother, has one thing that we must possess more than ever, and that is HOPE! And that is precisely what we need today. Mary, Our Lady knows, that the Lord has pity on us. She knows the love that pours forth from his Sacred Heart, beating in a pure rhythm of love for us. She has the confident assurance that he is the victor, ultimately, over every trial, every adversity. That’s what makes her the mercy of God in the midst of the misery of mankind.