Mary,
our Mother, has many titles. One of them is Mother of the Church. In
this beautiful reference we see that maternity and protection come from
Our Lady as she ministers to the Body of Christ serving on earth.
In this time, the Church is challenged to move into a dynamic period of
renewal. Renewal will require each Catholic to attach himself to the
ever present power of the Holy Spirit and allow God to draw from him
graces of love and evangelisation. Only an active and co-responsible
laity can ensure swift advance in this regard. This change is necessary
if the Church is to respond positively and decisively to the confusion
experienced by God’s children in the face of both subtle and direct
challenges to our Way. While, as Catholics, we seek to obtain and to
retain the freedom to practice our faith, we must also consider that we
believe Christianity has the obligation in the world to represent God’s
highest hopes for the dignity of humanity.
This is a serious obligation.
For
this reason and this purpose, it would seem that the Lord would be
pleased if His most holy mother became known as Our Lady, Queen of the
Church. Venerated in this way, she will intercede with specific graces
for the protection and growth of the Church on earth. The Church will
benefit through Mary’s dignity as Queen of the Church, but also through
her influence and authority as Queen of the Church. Honouring the
feminine authority of Mary as Queen will provide for all Catholics a
spotless call, drawing them further into service in the Church, not as
passive participants but as meaningful and active contributors who, like
Mary, can help protect the course of all of humanity by humble service
to the King’s wishes through fidelity to the Magisterium.
Our
Lady, Queen of Apostles, Queen of Saints, Queen of Angels, Queen of
Peace and Queen of Heaven and Earth is already, by virtue of being the
mother of the King, a Queen. Created by the Father to remain immaculate,
she chose never to be separated from the will of the Trinity and it is
for this reason that she should be venerated as Queen of the Church.
Who, like Mary, can draw God’s children back into purity as a reciprocal
gift of love to the Father? Who, like Mary, can properly model the
necessary strength and humility of women as they live out their
commitments to Jesus Christ our King?
Mary, mother of the King, can be an approachable first stop for those
seeking reconciliation with the Sacramental life of the Church and her
intercession as Queen of the Church during this period will restore many
to the Sacraments.
There
are those who express a feminine wound in the Church. Certainly, the
times prompt equality and dignity between men and women. In heaven there
is most assuredly this equality and dignity which we desire on earth
but imperfectly strive to achieve. By offering the truth about Mary’s
role in the Church, that is, acknowledging her Queenship therein, we
will help to heal people from a wound and direct them to a model. We
will more brightly illuminate an existing path. By venerating Mary as
Queen of the Church, we will allow God to teach us more about the
complementarity of the genders.
It
is hoped that the woman entering service to the Church will view
herself, like Mary, as essential to the life and growth of the Church.
The woman entering service to the Church will recognise the beauty of
complementarity as essential to the spread of the Gospel Message.
It
is hoped that the man entering service to the Church will view himself
as a bold proclaimer of Jesus Christ in the world as well as in the
Church, and as someone who acts with Jesus to protect and defend Mary,
the Queen of the Church. The man entering service to the Church will
recognise and defend the essential role of women, not only in the Church
but also in the world and, so preciously, in the family.
Clearly,
God reveals Himself and His plan for the Church into the Church over
time. The preparation of the Bride of Christ advances and into each time
God sends the remedies and protection for all challenges to the proper
development of the Church. We, as Catholics, must be alert to the Spirit
who seeks to both defend and advance in that we simultaneously protect
what is truth and advance further into that truth. In other words,
further development in the present of that which we have received in the
past is no threat, and indeed, only verifies the true nature of our
beliefs.
Therefore,
with confidence in God’s presence in this historical period of time, we
respond to what we believe is His desire that Our Lady, Queen of
Apostles, Queen of Saints, Queen of Angels, Queen of Peace and Queen of
Heaven and Earth also be venerated as Our Lady, Queen of the Church.
With love,
Anne, a lay apostle
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