A Reflection for the Twenty-first Sunday in Unusual Time
I never quite know what to do with royalty terms on the subject of Catholicism. To a big extent my images of those things come from fantasy series like “Game of Thrones” or “The Lord of the Rings,” and truth be told the kings and queens you meet there are almost never figures you find yourself wanting to emulate.
But it surely’s also true that within the case of Mary, whose queenship the church celebrates today, that concept seems inconsistent together with her identity. Nothing concerning the stories from Scripture suggests she grew up fancy in any way; personally I at all times imagine her as a working-class kid from a loving home. She clearly had a lot faith and courage—but so does every mother. And I worry that after we start applying royalty language to her or Joseph, we begin to lose the sense that she was one among us. Mary almost starts to sound more divine than human.
In situations like this, I wish to try to dig into the history somewhat bit. And one thing I discovered in looking into this concept of Mary as queen is that way back on the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D., one among the massive topics was how one can describe Mary’s role within the story of salvation. Some felt that she was really not that essential. However the Council insisted she was to be understood because the bearer of God.
I worry that after we start applying royalty language to her or Joseph, we begin to lose the sense that she was one among us. Mary almost starts to sound more divine than human.
As is usually the case in a number of these early church debates, the actual query at hand was Jesus’ humanity. Minimizing Mary’s role was a way of minimizing Jesus’ humanity. And paradoxically asserting that Mary was the bearer of God and shortly thereafter queen (though some referred to her as that even earlier) was partly a way of pushing back against that.
The opposite thing that has helped me appreciate this term more is to contemplate it in a more modern way. As of late when a younger-than-me-aged person shows as much as an event serving looks (A.K.A. looking really stylish), or when someone offers a fantastic performance, you’ll sometimes hear their friends say something like “Yes, queen!” or “My king!” You see this especially if the person was daring ultimately, in the event that they took some risks. What makes them worthy of the title queen or king is precisely the proven fact that that they had the heart to literally put themselves on the market.
Possibly that’s one other way of fascinated by Mary’s queenship. She was courageous enough to be true to who she was, even when that may mean she was going to be judged by family, friends, her fiancé. Even her son could get an earful, once he got older: “That wine will not be going to make itself, Jesus.” She trusted the spirit speaking inside her, irrespective of what. Hail, Queen!
