Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary - 22 August
22nd August 2024
“Mary has the authority over the angels and the blessed in heaven. As a reward for her great humility, God gave her the power and mission of assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by the apostate angels who fell away through pride. Such is the will of the almighty God who exalts the humble, that the powers of heaven, earth and hell, willingly or unwillingly, must obey the commands of the humble Virgin Mary. For God has made her queen of heaven and earth, leader of his armies, keeper of his treasure, dispenser of his graces, mediatrix on behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies and faithful associate in his great works and triumphs.” - St Louis Marie de Montford
Sacred Heart Catholic Church Inverell will be open from 11am to 12 Noon for those who wish to honour the Queenship of Our Blessed Mother in private prayer. Due to our Diocese's Clergy Retreat this week there will be no Holy Mass today.
Blessed Pope Pius IX said of Mary: “Turning her maternal Heart toward us and dealing with the affair of our salvation, she is concerned with the whole human race. Constituted by the Lord 'Queen of Heaven and earth', and exalted above all choirs of Angels and the ranks of Saints in Heaven, standing at the right hand of Her only-begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, she petitions most powerfully with Her maternal prayers, and she obtains what she seeks.”
In his 1954 encyclical, Ad Caeli Reginam, Pope Pius XII established the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Universal Church.
In so doing, the Holy Father was officially giving sanction to a devotion that had existed from the earliest centuries of the Church to the sovereign Mother and Queen of heaven and earth and Mediatrix of all graces.
Because of her eminence, the Blessed Virgin Mary is entitled to the highest honour that can be bestowed upon any creature, for she is the glorious Queen of the universe.
"We commend that on the festival there be renewed the consecration of the human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Upon this there is founded a great hope that there may arise an era of happiness that will rejoice in the triumph of religion and in Christian peace,” the Holy Father writes.
“Therefore, let all approach with greater confidence more than before, to the throne of mercy and grace of our Queen and Mother to beg help in difficulty, light in darkness and solace in trouble and sorrow…
“…Whoever, therefore, honours the lady ruler of the Angels and of men - and let no one think themselves exempt from the payment of that tribute of a grateful and loving soul - let them call upon her as most truly Queen and as the Queen who brings the blessings of peace, that She may show us all, after this exile, Jesus, who will be our enduring peace and joy.”
Prayer in Honour of the Queenship of Mary
O Mary Immaculate Queen, look down upon this distressed and suffering world. You know our misery and our weakness. O thou who art our Mother, saving us in the hour of peril, have compassion on us in these days of great and heavy trial. Jesus has confided to you the treasure of His grace, and through you He wills to grant us pardon and mercy. In these hours of anguish, therefore, your children come to you as their hope. We recognise your Queenship and ardently desire your triumph. We need a Mother and a Mother's Heart. You are for us the luminous dawn which dissipates our darkness and points out the way to life. In your clemency obtain for us the courage and the confidence of which we have such need. Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, You Who did crown with glory in Heaven the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Saviour, grant that all her children on earth may acknowledge her as their Sovereign Queen, that all hearts, homes, and nations may recognise her rights as Mother and as Queen. Mary Immaculate Queen, triumph and reign! Amen. 🙏💐💖