Devotion for today: A meditation for the Feast of the Queenship of Mary

Today we celebrate Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth. I have gathered some material from various sources to give us a contemplative approach to honoring Mary today. May she always lead us to her Son!

Let us reflect on the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary: The Coronation of Mary

Reflection: Catechism of the Catholic Church 966 – “Finally, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.”

Our Father: Revelation 12:1: A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

 Reflection: Mary is the Queen of Heaven and earth. She will crush the head of the serpent with her heel: her humble children who obediently follow God’s will cause Jesus, her Son, to reign in every heart.1

Hail Mary: Song of Songs: 6:10: Who is this that comes forth like the dawn, as beautiful as the moon, as resplendent as the sun, as awe-inspiring as bannered troops?

 Reflection: What a marvelous woman, to be the mother of her own Creator! What an amazing distinction for a woman to have a Son in common with God. The Father loves his Son; the Mother rejoices in her Son. The Father tells his Son: From the womb, before the morning star, I begot you; the Mother says to her same Son: From the womb, I a virgin brought you into the world.2

Hail Mary: Psalm 45:12: So shall the king desire your beauty: for he is your lord, and you must worship him. 

Reflection: She is amazed at her own glory, nor can she herself understand her elevation, for by the very fact of being made Mother of the Creator, she became with the best…mistress and queen of all creation.3

Hail Mary: Titus 2:11-12: For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless way and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age.

Reflection: Mary is the Queen of Heaven and Earth by grace, as Jesus is the King of them by nature and by conquest. Now, as the kingdom of Jesus Christ consists principally in the heart or the interior of man – according to the words, “The Kingdom of God is within you” – in like manner the kingdom of our Blessed Lady is principally in the interior of man; that is to say, his soul. And it is principally in souls that she is more glorified with her Son than in all visible creatures, and so we can call her, as the saints do, the Queen of all Hearts.4

Hail Mary: John 6:40: Indeed, this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks upon the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life. Him I will raise up on the last day.

Reflection:  Mary is raised to the height of glory because she allowed God to bring her to the depths of humility. This Fifth Glorious mystery assures us of the final victory of Jesus and Mary and the Church. Because the Church is an image of Jesus and Mary, what happens to Jesus and Mary will happen to the whole Church.5

Hail Mary: Song of Songs: 6:9: One alone is my dove, my perfect one, her mother’s chosen, the dearest of her parents. The daughters saw her and declared her fortunate.

                Reflection: While Mary contemplated all she had come to know through reading, listening and observing, she grew in faith, increased in merits, and was more illuminated by wisdom and more consumed by the fire of charity. The heavenly mysteries were opened to her, and she was filled with joy; she became fruitful by the Spirit, was being directed toward God and watched over protectively while on earth.6

Hail Mary: Psalm 45:3: Grace is poured out upon your lips; thus God has blessed you forever.

                Reflection: I invoke your royal name of Mary, that is, sovereign Lady, and beg of you with all my heart to admit me into the privileged circle of your family as one of your servants, to do your will as a humble slave and a loving child.7

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

                Reflection: It was fitting that the Virgin should be given such gifts and be full of grace, since she has bestowed glory on heaven and has brought God and peace to the earth, faith to the pagans, an end to vice, order to life and discipline to morals.8

Hail Mary: Luke 1:46-47: And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”

                Reflection: If we would go up to God, and be united with Him, we must use the same means He used to come down to us to be made Man and to impart his graces to us. This means is a true devotion to our Blessed Lady.9

Hail Mary: John 6:40: Indeed this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks upon the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life. Him I will raise up on the last day.”

                Reflection: This is the glory of humility and final victory! These two victories of Jesus and Mary must go hand in hand because they are one and the same.10

Hail Mary: 1 Kings 2:20: "Make your request, Mother, for I will not refuse you."

                Reflection: Our Lord comes back to us again through Mary as Queen of Heaven, passing His Life and His blessing through her hands as the Mediatrix of all graces. He came through Her in Bethlehem; through her, we go back to Him – and through her He comes back again to us.11

Regina Angelorum by G.K. Chesterton(Collected Poems, 1935)

Our Lady went into a strange country

                And they crowned her for a queen

For she needed never to be stayed or questioned

                But only to be seen;

And they were broken down under unbearable beauty

                As we have been.

Our Lady wears a crown in a strange country

                The crown He gave,

But she has not forgotten to call her old companions

                To call and crave;

And to hear her calling a man might arise and thunder

                On the doors of the grave.

References: 1, 5, 10: Come to Me in the Blessed Sacrament; Fr. Vincent Lucia Martin, Apostolate for Perpetual Adoration, Mt. Clemens, MI

2, 3, 6, 7, 8: Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1988

4,9: Preparation for Total Consecration, St. Louis Marie de Montfort, Montfort Publications, Bay Shore, NY

11: The World’s First Love, Fulton J. Sheen, Ignatius Press, 2011
Also used for Bible references: A Scriptural Rosary, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC