It is the tenth day of November. We will now commence a little reading on the Blessed Virgin Mary from St. Alphonsus Liguori (as I noted yesterday). Again, these readings/excerpts will be brief as we lead up to December the eighth, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception; however, despite their brevity, they are meaty, and quite informative. ~Note, for those with more time: a reader of The Marian Room suggested that our readers be directed to the superb Marian book written by St. Louis de Montfort: The Secret of Mary. This book may be accessed (for free) to read online, here, or an audio version is available, here. As St. Louis de Montfort suggests in his introduction to this work, a person might wish to pray on his knees, asking the Holy Ghost for enlightenment, prior to approaching this book. The Marian Room did a post on The Secret of Mary, here.
But, back to St. Alphonsus. St. Alphonsus states in The Blessed Virgin Mary:
As the Glorious Virgin Mary has been raised to the dignity of Mother of the King of kings, it is not without reason that the Church honors her, and wishes her to be honored by all, with the glorious title of Queen.
“If the Son is a king,” say St. Athanasius, “the Mother who begot Him is rightly and truly considered a Queen and Sovereign.” “No sooner had Mary,” says St. Bernardine of Siena, “consented to be Mother of the Eternal Word, than she merited by this consent to be made Queen of the world and of all creatures.” “Since the flesh of Mary” remarks Abbot Arnold of Chartres, “was not different from that of Jesus, how can the royal dignity of the Son be denied to the Mother? ” “Hence we must consider the glory of the Son, not only as being common to His Mother, but as one with her.”
And if Jesus is the King of the universe, Mary is also its Queen. “And as Queen,” says the Abbot Rupert, “she possesses, by right, the whole kingdom of her Son.” Hence St. Bernardine of Siena concludes that “as many creatures as there are who serve God, so many they are who serve Mary: for as angels and men, and all things that are in heaven and on earth, are subject to the empire of God, so are they also under the dominion of Mary!” The Abbot Guerricus, addressing himself to the divine Mother on this subject, says: “Continue, Mary, continue to dispose with confidence of the riches of thy Son; act as Queen, Mother, and Spouse of the King; for to thee belongs dominion and power over all creatures!”
Mary, then is a queen: but, for our common consolation, be it know that she is a Queen so sweet, clement, and so ready to help us in our miseries, that the holy Church wills that we should salute her in this prayer (referring to the ‘Hail Holy Queen’, added by SF) under the title of Queen of mercy. (end of excerpt)
Hail Mary!
May you have a good day.
~SCF
