Why do we crown Mary?

Pope Francis and image of Mary with Christ Child, Rome

Icon of Mary and Christ Child - St. Gregory Orthodox Church, Greece

Our Lady of Clemency - St. Clement's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia

One thing that is found in all Churches with Apostolic Succession, i.e. Roman, Orthodox, and Episcopal, is devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. Especially in the month of May, there seems to be an heightened sense of honoring of the Mother of God, mainly because Pentecost usually takes place sometime in May. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room to pray for the Holy Spirit: "All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the Mother of Jesus (Acts 1:14)."  The Church, in praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit, once again gathers with Mary.  

Sometimes in May one will find a service of Crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  But why? Isn't this taking away from honor due to Jesus?  .....NOPE! lol.

To understand our honoring of Mary, you have to understand the Old Testament and the Kingship of David.  David was the great King of Israel and so was his son Solomon.  However, the Queen in Israel was never the wife of the King; it was his Mother.  1 Kings 2:19 states, "So Bathsheba (Mother of Solomon) went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the King rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the King's Mother, and she sat on his right. Then she said, "I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me." And the King said to her, "Make your request, my Mother, for I will not refuse you." The Hebrew word "gebirah" is used over 15 times in the Old Testament and can be translated as "Queen Mother" or "Great Lady." The Queen Mother in the Davidic Kingdom had the role of counselor and intercessor. The King may have many wives, but he only had one Mother.

Now we get to the New Testament.  At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel says to Mary that the Lord God will give to Jesus "the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1 32-33)." Christ is the true King and Son of David who will rule forever. Just as in the Old Testament Kingdoms, the King would have a Queen, His Mother.  We see Mary exercising her intercessory role at the Wedding Feast of Cana when she sought the Lord for more wine (John 3:1-13).  

But what about her being crown?  She may be Queen, dear priest, but what about that part? We find the answer in the Book of Revelation:  "And a great portent appeared in the heaven, a woman clothed with the Sun, with the moon under her feet, and ON HER HEAD A CROWN OF 12 STARS (Rev. 12:1)." She gave birth to a son "who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron (Rev. 12:5)."  Clearly, the child is Jesus and the "woman" is Mary.

If it is the will of the Lord Jesus to give his Mom a crown of 12 stars, it is good enough for us too! We rightfully call her Queen and Mother because those are the titles given to her by King Jesus, the Son of David, who rules forever and ever in the new Kingdom.  In honoring Mary, we honor the King who chose to give her these roles.  When we crown Mary, we exult Jesus.  When we honor Mary, we glorify Christ.  When we honor the Queen, we exult the King! We don't take away from Him, but honor Him.  

Be Biblical Christians and honor Mary! For in doing so, we exult the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Son of David, Jesus the Christ!

Feast of St. Francis Xavier

St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier

One of the great things of the Advent Season is the number of saint's feasts that are celebrated during this time. They prepare us, in some way, shape or form, for the coming of Our Savior. Francis Xavier is one of them.

I must admit, I have always had a great fondness for this man.  I owe the Jesuits alot. Every single one of my spiritual directors was a Jesuit, along with some of my greatest professors. Each of them had a deep love for Christ, yet maintained a common sense approach to life with great balance. That really was the way of Ignatius, their founder.

Ignatius and Francis were best friends. They met as roommates at the University of Paris.  Francis at that time was very proud and arrogant.  Ignatius taught him alot and molded him into the man he became. Ignatius would say that Francis was "the toughest dough I kneaded." In August of 1534, 6 friends formed the Jesuit order to spread the Gospel.  Both Ignatius and Francis were ordained priests in 1537 and both were together in Rome when the Pope established the order.  Very soon, the Pope asked Ignatius to send Jesuit missionaries to India.  They needed a leader; Francis volunteered for the post.

My favorite thing about Francis is his friendship with Ignatius.  As they departed in Rome, Ignatius knew that they would only see each other again in heaven. They both shed lot of tears on their departure from each other. They corresponded through letters which sometimes took years to reach each other.  Francis helped evangelize India, Japan and had his eye set on China.  He baptized hundreds of thousands of people. One of the last letters Francis received from Ignatius, he wrote back:

Among many other holy words and consolations of your letter, I read the concluding ones, “Entirely yours, without power or possibility of ever forgetting you, Ignatio.” I read them with tears, and with tears now write them, remembering the past and the great love which you always bore towards me and still bear… .You tell me how greatly you desire to see me before this life closes. God knows the profound impression that those words of great love made on my soul and the many tears they cost me every time I thought of them… .
[May] God our Lord grant me to experience in this life his most holy will and, having experienced it, the grace to perfectly fulfill it.

He died shortly after, alone in a cell in China. They found around his neck a cord with the names of the friends he held close all those years.

At Christmas, Love becomes incarnate.  Christ came so that we would no longer be separated from Him or each other.  He died so that Love would no longer know death.  He rose so that Love would last forever.  This Season is not about presents and cookies. Its about Love.  

Think of those in your life that have left that mark of Love.  Who do you wear around your neck? Thank God for them today and reach out to them in some way. That is the greatest gift you could give at Christmas.  That is the best way to prepare the way of the Lord.

Maranatha!

Maranatha

Well, back by popular demand, its time to blog again. The Season of "Waiting for the King" has risen upon us. Throughout Advent and Christmastide, I will be blogging here and there with little liturgical tid-bits to help prepare our hearts for the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord's Coming! For today, on this First Sunday of Advent, I leave you with a meditation from St. Cyril of Jerusalem fitting for Advent:

"We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom.

In general, whatever relates to our Lord Jesus Christ has two aspects. There is a birth from God before the ages, and a birth from a virgin at the fullness of time. There is a hidden coming, like that of rain on fleece, and a coming before all eyes, still in the future.

At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels.

We look then beyond the first coming and await the second. At the first coming we said: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. At the second we shall say it again; we shall go out with the angels to meet the Lord and cry out in adoration: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  The Savior will not come to be judged again, but to judge those by whom he was judged. At his own judgement he was silent; then he will address those who committed the outrages against him when they crucified him and will remind them: You did these things, and I was silent.

His first coming was to fulfil his plan of love, to teach men by gentle persuasion. This time, whether men like it or not, they will be subjects of his kingdom by necessity.

The prophet Malachi speaks of the two comings. And the Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple: that is one coming.  Again he says of another coming: Look, the Lord almighty will come, and who will endure the day of his entry, or who will stand in his sight? Because he comes like a refiner’s fire, a fuller’s herb, and he will sit refining and cleansing.

These two comings are also referred to by Paul in writing to Titus: The grace of God the Saviour has appeared to all men, instructing us to put aside impiety and worldly desires and live temperately, uprightly, and religiously in this present age, waiting for the joyful hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Notice how he speaks of a first coming for which he gives thanks, and a second, the one we still await.

That is why the faith we profess has been handed on to you in these words: He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.


Our Lord Jesus Christ will therefore come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new."

Prepare your hearts. He is Coming.

He is Risen! Alleluia!

Let Christians immolate
praises to the passover victim.

The lamb has redeemed the sheep:
Innocent Christ has reconciled
the sinners to the Father.

Death and life contended
in a miraculous battle:
the Prince of life, who died,
reigns alive.

Tell us, Mary, what did
you see on the road?

"I saw the tomb of the living Christ
and the glory of his rising,

The angelic witnesses, the
clothes and the shroud."

"Christ my hope is arisen;
into Galilee, he will go before his own."

[Happy they who bear the witness
Mary's word believing
above the tales of Jewry deceiving.]

We know Christ is truly risen from the dead!
To us, victorious King, have mercy!
Amen. Alleluia.

- Sequence for Easter Sunday, 11th century

We are almost there.  40 days of preparation. Now we wait.  Get ready, Church! Glory is about to flood you! Let our buildings get ready to shake for joy!

Harrowing of Hell - What Jesus was doing on Holy Saturday

“For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does." 1 Peter 4:6

"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.

Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.

The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.

‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.

‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.

‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine in breathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.

'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.

`I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.

‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.

"The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages." - Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

The King is Asleep

"Come, let us see our Life lying in the tomb, that He may give life to those that in their tombs lie dead. Come, let us look today on the Son of Judah as He sleeps, and with the prophet let us cry aloud to Him: Thou hast lain down, Thou hast slept as a lion; who shall awaken Thee, O King? But of Thine own free will do Thou rise up, who willingly dost give Thyself for us. O Lord, glory to Thee.

Today a tomb holds Him who holds the creation in the hollow of His hand; a stone covers Him who covered the heavens with glory. Life sleeps and hell trembles, and Adam is set free from his bonds. Glory to Thy dispensation, whereby Thou hast accomplished all things, granting us an eternal Sabbath, Thy most holy Resurrection from the dead." -Orthodox Hymn for Holy Saturday