Every year on August 22nd, the Catholic Church celebrates the Queenship of Mary, one week after we celebrate her Assumption, body and soul, into heaven. Why would we honor the Blessed Virgin Mary as our queen?
In ancient Israel, the kings often had multiple wives, so who was the queen in the kingdom? It wasn’t one of the king’s wives: it was his mother. We see this in the story of King Solomon, and in several other kings of Israel and Judah.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is our King. He is king both by reason of His Divinity, and that He won the victory over sin and death by His death and resurrection. We believe that He truly reigns over the entire universe, and that His kingdom, which is present in this world in a hidden way through the activity of His Church and those who are His members by baptism, is also present in the fullest sense in heaven, and will come to fulfillment even here on earth at the end of time, when He “comes to judge the living and the dead.”
Just as King Solomon had his mother by his side as queen of Israel, so Our Lord Jesus has His mother by His side in His heavenly kingdom. And because she was preserved sinless by His grace, she is already in heaven in his body and well as in soul.
When we are struggling with this world of sin, and with awareness of our weaknesses, let us turn to our Holy Mother Mary, reigning with His Divine Son as Queen of Heaven and Earth, and ask her to intercede for us with her Son, and through His Merciful Love, we also will win the palm of victory, and come to share in His Eternal Kingdom.
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