Sunday, August 21, 2005
FEAST, QUEENSHIP OF MARY
AUGUST 22, 2005
FEAST, QUEENSHIP OF MARY
MONDAY 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR I
1 THESSALONIANS 1:1-5, 8B-10
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace. We give
thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and
endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father,
knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen. For
our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in
the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. You know what sort of people
we were among you for your sake. In every place your faith in God has
gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they
themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among
you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true
God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
MATTHEW 23:13-22
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.
You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying
to enter. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You
traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you
make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. "Woe to you,
blind guides, who say, `If one swears by the temple, it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.' Blind
fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made the gold
sacred? And you say, `If one swears
by the altar, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gift on the
altar, one is obligated.' You blind ones, which is greater, the gift,
or the altar that makes the gift sacred? One who swears by the altar
swears by it and all that is upon it; one who swears by the temple
swears by it and by him who dwells in it; one who swears by heaven
swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it."
REFLECTION
Mary was a princess of the royal family of King David. She was the
mother of Christ, the immortal King of Kings. Her heart embraced all
her loyal subjects. Her life was one of dignity and purity. Her
queenliness was not revealed in the behavior of the multitudes among
whom she moved for she was not recognized in her own day.
Mary did not reign from a many pinnacled castle or palace. Rather, she
dwelt in a little hut built against the hillside in the obscure town of
Nazareth. Unlike other queens, no retainers made Mary's journeys
comfortable. No one prepared the inn at Bethlehem for her coming. She
rode into Bethlehem on a donkey, not in a golden chariot. She took a
poor man's luck with no reservations and retired to a stable to deliver
her baby because there was no room for her at the inn.
A modern writer has described Mary as a "Queen of pots and pans, of
hasty flights into the desert and pilgrimages made with poor people."
This royal woman of the kingly line of David performed the simple tasks
which are the lot of every poor woman. She warmed food for her child
Jesus. She had no nanny to do the job. She cooked meals for her
carpenter-husband Joseph, walked to the market and searched for
bargains. She patched the clothes, which her child continually outgrew.
She knew the feeling of depression, which comes
from fatigue and drudgery. She must have felt the monotony of life that
was broken only by the rare visits to Jerusalem for the celebration of
the feasts.
In Mary we see a Queen Mother who saw her Son, the King of Kings, mount
his throne, a cross of wood, and wearing, not a diamond studded gold
crown but a crown of thorns. Did Mary wear a queenly crown? Yes, she
did but it was not a diamond-studded crown. It was Jesus' crown of
thorns, which encircled her heart. Did Mary mount a queenly throne?
Yes, she did but it was her Son's cross to which her heart was nailed.
In spite of all this, no queen in all the world's long history can
match her castles, the thousands of churches around the world that bear
her lovely name. No queen can claim the crowns, which adorn her image
in a thousand different shrines. No queen can equal the jewels, which
are the rosaries she loves. No queen can count her multitudes of loyal
subjects, the millions of devotees who honor her not only with their
lips but also with their very lives. Earthly queens are known so long
as they are alive but are soon forgotten after their death. It was the
opposite with Mary. She was unknown while she lived but today the poet
can rightly ask: Who is there in all the whole wide world who does not
know her name? Truly, as she herself prophesied, speaking in words
whose beauty recalled her royal ancestor David: "All nations shall
call me blessed."
Mary was queen, she is a queen and will ever remain a queen as long as
Jesus her Son reigns, he who is King of Kings, now and forever. Mary is
queen of heaven and earth in a truer sense than ever a king reigned.
Her power, her dignity, her favor from God, is the highest ever
bestowed on any human being. And she loves us with a mother's love that
is so intense and so true that never was it known than anyone who fled
to her protection, implored her help or sought her intercession was
left unaided. As we honor Mary in the spirit of the citizens of heaven
and the Christians of all centuries, let us acknowledge her as our
queen by saying: "O Mary, Queen of heaven and earth, our Mother and our
Queen, to you we swear our allegiance. Keep us always under the mantle
of your love."
PRAYER
"Lord, your word is life for me. May I never shut the kingdom of heaven
through indifference or resistance to your word. Help me to diligently
listen to your voice and to conform my life more fully to your word."
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
- for the speedy recovery and safekeeping of Martin Allen Kunz.
- for the personal intentions of Fr. J. Cesar Marin, S.J.
- for the personal intentions of Jane Figuerres-Guillermo.
- for the personal intentions of Julie D.
- for the safe travel of Lydia and JP
- for the personal intentions of the Pe Family
- for the personal intentions of Mary Catherine Co Librando.
- Feastday: Mary the Queen Parish
- for the safe travel of Veny Yap.
- for the speedy recovery of Ann Maloney.
- for the personal intentions of Julie.
- for the personal intentions of E. Woods.
- for the speedy recovery of Alice Tan.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Elizabeth Ruth Tan
- Birthday: Danny Te Lim
- for world peace and reconciliation.
- for the reconciliation of Joel and Lani
- for the grant of the personal intention of Demette Guevarra
- for a stable job and special intentions of Richie & Joain Magallanes
- for personal intentions of Fr. Frederick
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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