Ave, Domina (Bede)

Series: Trinitytide

August 22, 2018
Fr. Vaughn Treco

180822 - Homily - Ave, Domina (Bede)

Episode Notes

Homily - Ave, Domina (Bede)

DEAR FRIENDS:

Today, holy Mother Church invites her sons... and with us the whole of Mankind to pay special tribute to the Blessed Virgin Mary!

In doing so, the Church bears faithful witness to the inerrant proclamation of the Sacred Scripture in which the holy Archangel Gabriel declares that the Blessed Virgin would become the Mother of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, the King of the Universe.

In this, Holy Mother Church calls her sons to honor the Blessed Virgin as our Queen because — by virtue of the Kingship of her Divine Son — she has been exalted as his Queen Mother and ours!

The beginning of the concept that she is a Queen is found in the annunciation narrative. For the angel tells her that her Son will be King over the house of Jacob forever. So she, His Mother, would be a Queen.

On this the Octave of her Assumption into Heaven, the sons of God are called to reverence her above all the Saints, for upon her entry into her Son’s Heavenly Kingdom, God the Father and God the Son crowned her as Queen of Heaven and Earth!

Pope Pius XII affirmed the solidly theological reasons for hailing the Blessed Virgin as Queen: 

"He, the Son of God, reflects on His heavenly Mother the glory, the majesty and the dominion of His kingship, for, having been associated to the King of Martyrs in the unspeakable work of human Redemption as Mother and cooperator, she remains forever associated to Him, with a practically unlimited power, in the distribution of the graces which flow from the Redemption. 

Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest: through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him, Mary is Queen by grace, by divine relationship, by right of conquest, and by singular choice of the Father.

And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion."

(Radio message to Fatima, Bendito seja [AAS 38. 266])

FROM THE EARLIEST DAYS of the Church, the Fathers of the Church — Origin, Saints Ephrem, and Jerome, and Peter Chrysologus.  — recognized the implications of the words of the holy Archangel, and cried aloud in the Church of Christ:

  • Ave, Domina!

DEAREST FRIENDS:

As Christ is King both by nature as God, and by conquest as the Redeemer of Mankind...

She is to be honored as Queen because she shares in the royalty of her Son. 

  • The Blessed Virgin is Queen by "divine relationship" that is, by being the Mother of God;
    • She is the Mother of Him who is King by very nature, from all eternity, and the relationship is exclusive, for He had no human father.
  • She is Queen by right of conquest. Her Divine Son redeemed us from the captivity of Satan, and the Ever-Virgin Mary shared in the struggle and victory of her Son!
  • She is Queen by grace. She is full of grace, the highest in the category of grace besides her Son.
  • She is Queen by singular choice of the Father. A mere human can become King or Queen by choice of the People. How much greater a title is the choice of the Father Himself!

As Pope John Paul II declared:

“Christ was raised in glory to the right hand of the Father, while Mary herself would be raised to that same glory in the Assumption, enjoying beforehand, by a unique privilege, the destiny reserved for all the just at the resurrection of the dead. Crowned in glory ... Mary shines forth as Queen of the Angels and Saints...”

(Rosarium Virginis Mariae)

DEAR BRETHREN:

As Queen “nothing is excluded from her dominion." 

  • We think not of two powers, one infinite, the other finite for she and her Son are inseparable: They operate as a unit.
  • And since she shared in his conquest, she shares in the spoils of the Redemption which he secured:
    • She is, thus, the Mediatrix of all graces:

As Solomon said to his Mother Bathsheba, seated on a throne at his right: 

"Make your request, Mother, for I will not refuse you." (1 Kings 2:20)...

So, too, does our King, our Lord Jesus Christ bid us!

    • Thus, Mary is rightly hailed as "Suppliant omnipotence": as is able to obtain by her intercession anything that the all-powerful God can do by His own inherent power. (Benedict XV) 

DEAREST BRETHREN IN CHRIST:

Let us, therefore, lift up our minds, souls and bodies, and all that we are to her!

Let us rejoice in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, as we reach through the Blessed Virgin to the One who is beyond our reach on account of His Majesty.

ON THIS HER FESTIVAL DAY... Let us confess with Saint John Damascene:

We approach thee today, O Queen; ...O Queen, O Virgin Mother of God, staying our souls with our trust in thee, as with a strong anchor.

ON THIS THE MEMORIAL of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us make our supplication:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, and sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee I come; before thee I stand sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but, in thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen. 

Queen of Angels, Pray for us!

Queen of Patriarchs, Pray for us!

Queen of Prophets, Pray for us!

Queen of Apostles, Pray for us!

Queen of Martyrs, Pray for us!

Queen of Confessors, Pray for us!

Queen of Virgins, Pray for us!

Queen of all Saints, Pray for us!

Queen conceived without original sin, Pray for us!

Queen of the most holy Rosary, Pray for us!

Queen of peace, Pray for us!

  • HAIL, HOLY QUEEN!
  • Ave, Domina!

In the Name of the Father,And of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.


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