20140822 SHARING IN THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY
Reading 1, Ezekiel 37:1-14
1 The hand of Yahweh was on
me; he carried me away by the spirit of Yahweh and set
me down in the middle of the valley, a valley full of bones.
2 He made me walk up and down and all around among them.
There were vast quantities of these bones on the floor of the valley; and they
were completely dry.
4 He said, 'Prophesy over these bones. Say, "Dry
bones, hear the word of Yahweh.
5 The Lord Yahweh says this
to these bones: I am now going to make breath enter you, and you will live.
6 I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on
you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and
you will know that I
am Yahweh." '
7 I prophesied as I
had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a clattering
sound; it was the bones coming together.
8 And as I looked, they were covered with sinews; flesh
was growing on them and skin was covering them, yet there was no breath in
them.
9 He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of
man. Say to the breath, "The Lord Yahweh says
this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead, so that they
come to life!" '
10 I prophesied as he
had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life and stood
up on their feet, a great, an immense army.
11 Then he said, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole
House of Israel. They keep saying, "Our bones are dry, our hope has gone;
we are done for."
12 So, prophesy. Say to them, "The Lord Yahweh says
this: I am now going to open your graves; I shall raise you from your graves,
my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel.
13 And you will know that I
am Yahweh, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people,
14 and put my spirit in you,
and you revive, and I resettle you on your own soil. Then you will know that
I, Yahweh, have spoken and done this -- declares the Lord
Yahweh." '
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 107:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
3 bringing them back from foreign lands, from east and
west, north and south.
4 They were wandering in the desert, in the wastelands,
could find no way to an inhabited city;
7 he set them on the road, straight to an inhabited city.
Gospel, Matthew 22:34-40
35 and, to put him to the test, one of them put a further
question,
36 'Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?'
37 Jesus said to him, 'You must love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38 This is the greatest and the first commandment.
39 The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour
as yourself.
40 On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the
Prophets too.'
SHARING
IN THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY
Following the proclamation
of the dogma of the Assumption in 1950, the feast of the Queenship of Mary was instituted
in 1955 by Pope Pius XII and was then celebrated on 31st May. The
reformed liturgy has transferred the celebration of this feast to a week after
the feast of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. This means
that the Church intends us to link the Assumption with the Queenship of Mary to
her glorification. In Lumen Gentium 59, the Constitution says, “The
Immaculate Virgin … was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory when her
earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, that
she might be more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of Lords (cf. Rev 19:16)
and conqueror of sin and death.”
Hence, it is clear that the
feast of the Queenship of Mary is the corollary to the Assumption.
This explains why it is celebrated as the Octave to the Assumption. The
Assumption of Mary speaks of Mary’s entire being being taken up into heaven,
but it is the feast of the Queenship of Mary that elaborates what this truly
means. The glorification of Mary is not just the glorification of the
body and soul of Mary but it entails her participation in the life of Christ.
In the light of revelation, the Church came to realize that it would be only
appropriate that Mary be proclaimed as having been assumed into heaven and
given the queenship, since the whole life of Mary has been nothing short of a
total participation of the saving work of Christ from the incarnation to the
resurrection.
What kind of life would
that be? To
answer this question, we must return to the Feast of Easter and
Ascension. At the resurrection, Jesus was given new life when He was
raised from the dead. The resurrection was the glorification of the body
of Jesus. Needless to say, the resurrection was followed by the
ascension. What is the distinction between the resurrection and
ascension, since both are actually a twofold event of glorification? In
the Ascension, Christ was established Lord and King of the Universe. In
this way, His mission is complete because He is made Lord and King.
So if we were to understand
the significance of the Queenship of Mary, then we must correlate it with
the feast of the Ascension. In truth, except for the word “being
taken up”, the Assumption of Mary is more akin to the Feast of the Resurrection
of Jesus than Ascension. This is because the outcome of the Assumption is
Mary’s sharing in the reign of Christ’s kingship over sin and death.
That this is the intention
is brought out in today’s scripture readings. Both scripture readings
underscore that Christ would be the future messianic King of David.
Indeed, the whole mission of Jesus was to restore the reign of God that was
destroyed by sin. The proclamation of Jesus was basically that of the
Kingdom of God. In fact, Jesus is the embodiment of the kingdom.
How did Jesus proclaim
the kingdom? Firstly,
Jesus showed His kingship by giving Himself freely for the service of the
kingdom. He surrendered Himself entirely to the mission even until
death. Before Pilate, He showed Himself to be one who determined His life and
would not easily succumb to political or religious pressures. To be free
for the service of the kingdom implies that Jesus must be king, since He was in
charge of Himself. Secondly, Jesus proclaimed the reign of God by
demonstrating in Himself the presence of God in Him. Through His works of
compassion and through His authoritative teaching, Jesus manifested Himself to be
the Word and Compassion of the Father. Thirdly, the kingship of Jesus
is vindicated by His resurrection, since with the resurrection, sin and
death are defeated.
If we find the Queenship of
Mary sounding archaic, then we must understand Mary’s Queenship in today’s
context and that of Christ’s kingship of which Mary shares. The Queenship
of Mary is to be understood in terms of grace, discipleship and apostleship.
If Mary is queen, it is because she allowed the grace of God to reign in her
life. She was able to resist temptation and sin. For this reason,
she is called full of grace. Secondly, she was a perfect disciple of the Lord
and of the kingdom, always doing the will of the Lord as the gospel tells
us. To do the will of God is true freedom, since freedom is the power to
do good and to determine one’s life. She was truly free. In her
life of compassion and love, she showed herself to be truly a disciple of the
kingdom. Thirdly, if Mary is queen it is because she shared in the salvific
work of Christ. She cooperated fully with the Lord in the salvation of
humankind, from the incarnation to the passion and resurrection. She was
truly an apostle of the kingdom. Finally, Mary is queen because she now
lives on to intercede for us. She is with us in our pilgrimage.
We, who share in the
kingship of Christ like Mary, are called to be kings and queens so that we
can bring about the realization of the Kingdom. We are empowered to
restore the temporal order to the dignity of the plan of God. This is clearly
our calling today, especially when there is a crisis in morality in the
world. As a result of secularization and relativism, there is a
desensitization to sin. Only when the world lives according to the gospel
values of the kingdom, can we claim that Christ’s kingship is established on
earth as in heaven.
But if we are to help
others to exercise their kingship and queenship, then we must first exercise
dominion over ourselves. We must show ourselves to be people who can exercise
self-control and self-discipline in our lifestyle and have the power to
overcome sin and temptations in life. If we have no control over
ourselves, how can we control others? If we cannot manage our own life,
how can we manage the lives of people under our care? Hence, it is
important today that we pray to Mary and imitate her in her Queenship by being
more open to the grace of God at work in us, cooperating with His grace to do
His will and to live the life of the kingdom by a life of good works, charity,
honesty and integrity. Like Mary, who was without sin through the grace
of God, we who have received our sonship through baptism must also cooperate
with the grace of God in our lives so that by preserving ourselves from sin, we
too can share in her triumph over the Evil One. With the help of Mary, we
must try to overcome sin in our lives so that the reign of God may be
manifested in us. In this way, we will one day share the Kingship of Christ and
the Queenship of Mary.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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