Today is the Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Feast was established by Pope Pius XII in 1954 and concludes the octave of the Feast of the Assumption. Pope Pius XII stated that,
“Jesus Christ alone, God and Man, is King in the full, proper, and absolute sense of the term. Mary also, in a restricted and only analogous way, shares in royal dignity as the Mother of Christ who is God, as His associate in the work of Redemption, in His conflict with the enemy, and in His complete victory. From this association with Christ the King, she obtains a height of splendor unequaled in all creation” (Ad Caeli Reginam, no. 25).
Wow! What a Queen Mother we have! When we place ourselves in her caring hands, she continually draws us ever more closely to Jesus, Our King. I hope that you will entrust yourself, your family, and all of your needs to the loving intercession of Mary, Our Queen. Please enjoy this beautiful prayer of Pope Pius XII:
Out of the depths of this valley of tears, through which suffering humanity painfully struggles, up from the billows of this sea, endlessly buffeted by the waves of suffering, we raise our eyes to thee, most beloved Mother Mary, to be comforted by the contemplation of thy glory and to hail thee as Queen of Heaven and earth, Queen and Mother of mankind.
With legitimate filial pride, we wish to exalt thy queenship and to recognize it as due to the sovereign excellence of thy entire being, O dearest one truly Mother of Him Who is King by right, by inheritance and by conquest.
Reign, O Mother and Queen, by showing us the path of holiness, and by guiding and assisting us that we may never stray from it.
In the heights of Heaven, thou doth exercise thy primacy over the choirs of Angels, who acclaim thee as their sovereign, and over the legions of Saints who delight in beholding thy radiant beauty.
So, too, reign over the entire human race above all by opening the path of faith to those who do not yet know your Divine Son.
Reign over the Church which acknowledges and extols thy gentle dominion and has recourse to thee as a safe refuge amid the calamities of our day.
Reign especially over that part of the Church which is persecuted and oppressed; give it strength to bear adversity, constancy never to yield under unjust compulsion, light to avoid falling into the snares of the enemy, firmness to resist overt attack, and at every moment unwavering faithfulness to thy kingdom.
Reign over the minds of men, that they may seek only what is true; over their wills, that they may follow solely what is good; over their hearts, that they may love nothing but what thou thyself loveth.
Reign over individuals and over families, as well as over societies and nations; over the assemblies of the powerful, the counsels of the wise, as over the simple aspirations of the humble.
Reign in the streets and the squares, in the cities and the villages, in the valleys and the mountains, in the air, on land and on the sea; and hear the pious prayer of all those who recognize that thine is a reign of mercy, in which every petition is heard, every sorrow comforted, every misfortune relieved, every infirmity healed, and in which, at a gesture from thy gentle hands, from death itself there arises smiling life.
Obtain for us that all who now, in every corner of the world, acclaim and hail thee Queen and Mistress, may one day in Heaven enjoy the fullness of thy kingdom in the vision of thy Divine Son, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.
