From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   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   
      
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   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   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)