Queen of Heaven

May is the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which we are reminded to venerate her especially as Queen of Heaven.
     When we think of what it means to be a queen, our first thought is that she is the wife of a king. If that’s the case, it seems strange to venerate Mary as queen. However, in many ancient cultures, especially ones where the king might have several wives, the role of queen was reserved for the mother of the king. This was the case in ancient Israel, and we see an example of that in Bathsheba, the mother of King Solomon, who received honor from her son and was seated next to him on a throne (1Kings 2:19) and interceded for her subjects.
     Mary is Queen because she is the mother of  Christ our King. While the other kings and queen-mothers of Israel were flawed (see Jeremiah 13:18), they point forward nevertheless to the true and flawless King and Queen-mother. When Mary appeared to Adele Brice in Champion, Wisconsin, in 1859 — the only approved Marian apparition in the USA so far — she told her, “I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same.”
     We see a beautiful expression of devotion to Mary as Queen in the May Crowning tradition, in which a crown of  flowers is placed on a statue of her. In this parish, a few of our new communicants lead us  in  the May Crowning devotion at  their  First Holy Communion Mass this  weekend, and the students of each grade level in our school will crown statues of Mary around campus this coming Friday after their School Mass. Families, especially those with young children, might consider doing  something  like this in the home as well.
     May Mary, Queen of Heaven, intercede for us and make us better disciples of her Son!