Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Abbot Raymond’s Chapter Talk

evening of the Feast of the Queenship of Mary 22nd Aug 2007

As Cistercians we end the day by Singing the "Salve Regina" which opens with the words: "Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy".

The titles "Queen" and "Mother" are closely associated together. They are, in Mary's case, mutually complementary and inseparably bound together. Yet each term has its own particular meaning. Each term reveals its own particular aspect of the mystery of Mary's place and role in the life of the Church; in the life of each one of her children.

If we consider the term "Mother" first; the title Jesus explicitly gave to her while hanging on the Cross, then we realise the maternal love Mary has for each and every one of us. A love that is, like any Mother's, constantly solicitous for our needs. But what can Mary's Queenship add to that, we might ask? It seems almost to distance her from us, whereas her Motherood brings her closer to us.

We can understand what her Queenship adds to her Motherhood if we consider any earthly Mother who is devoted to her children and would do anything she could to nourish them in their hunger, help them in their needs, and save them from all harm. But, being only a poor destitute widow she can do absolutely nothing for them but love them. On the other hand, if she is a Queen Mother then she has all the power and wealth and authority at her disposal to do anything that needs to be done for them. So it is with Mary. She has not only a great love for us, she also has the power and authority to help us in all our needs.

But why speak of Mary's Queenship and power when surely Mary's Maternal love for us would suffice to make her intercede for us and move God to grant us all we need? What is the extra advantage of having the power to help us as well as having the love to intercede for us? Surely there is no need for that! Surely God, after all, is a jealous God! Surely, if he is always willing to grant her petitions on our behalf, then there is no need for speaking of her "power" to help us? Intercession is one thing, but power is another. Does God really share his power with her?

Yes, God is indeed a jealous God. But there are two kinds of jealousy. There is the kind of jealousy that will not share his power with anyone. That is the jealously of the gardener who keeps the secret of his giant vegetables, or the tradesman who keeps secret of his handiwork so that no one else can do as well. But the jealousy of God is altogether different. He shares his power lavishly with his creatures and only asks that we acknowledge him as the source of all that we are and have. He empowers us, not to create out of nothing, but to take the basic stuff of this world and, as it were, "Create" all sorts of wonderful things with it; from the most privitive of human tools to the space ships and computers of our own age. He even shares, through the gift of human parenthood, in the creation of new souls to love and serve him for ever.

So, if God so shares his power with us while we are on earth, and still offending him, how much more will he share his power with us in heaven. And if we have any reservations about this sharing of power let us recall with awe and fear how Jesus once said to his Apostles "Satan has demanded power to sift you as wheat".

What then will be the degree and efficacy of the power he shares with her whom he has appointed Queen of Heaven and Earth.

Laying Foundation Stone 53rd Anniversary.
The Liturgical Calendar has moved the furniture around a bit since 1954. On the 24th August 1954 it was the Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary.

On that day the Laying of the Foundation Stone of the new Abbey was laid by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Gordon J Gray. The full Pontifical Cermonial was carried out under a scant covering of tarpaulin, the only shelter in the pouring rain. The scene was watched by 15,000 pilgrims, (it was also the Marian Year Celebration).

The picture is of Br. Ninian in a characteristic stance at the stone(face) laying the foundations. In other ceremonial pictures he is seen as a more uncharasteristic Acolyte as mitre-bearer to the Archbishop. Busy on the same wall are Br. Paul and Br. Peter. (See Memorials nunraw.org.uk).

The black and white snap of Br Ninian is one in a collection of photos recently given to us by Fr. Bernard Finan SDS. Fr. Finan was a student who came with the Merton Miners (Co Durham) who came each year, like so many other volunteers, to the Workers Camp helping to build the Abbey.

At the Mass this morning Abbot Raymond spoke of the so clear, so brief, and so all embracing invocvation of Mary, "Hail holy Queen , Mother of Mercy , our sweetness and our hope . . .", as we sing every evening , Salve Regina, at Compline, 'the monks's Night Prayer'.