If I were to ask you who is the most powerful woman in the world today, you might be tempted to think about women who are political leaders, Fortune 500 executives, pop stars, etc. But the last words spoken by Father Peyton before he went home to God, “Mary, my Queen, my Mother,” provide us with the correct answer; it is Mary, Our Blessed Mother.
I thought of Father Peyton’s words as I reflected on, and spoke to people about, today’s celebration of the Queenship of Mary. I wondered, what did this memorial evoke, and do people relate to our Blessed Mother differently because of it? Like Father Peyton’s short prayer, “Mary, my Queen, my Mother,” people’s responses and my own reflection incorporated Mary’s motherhood and regal position in heaven and on earth.
Most of us can relate to Mary’s human qualities, a young woman who becomes a wife and then a mother. As one person said, “it was after I became a wife and mother that I connected on a deeper level with Mary; and I turned to her more frequently for her intercession.”
This person went on to say that it is this relatability, combined with her Queenship, that makes Mary even more special. The analogy used was to imagine you are part of a book club or any social group where there is one member that, when she speaks, everyone listens and respects her wisdom; there is just something special about her, and she cares about you.
That analogy speaks to Mary’s being one of us, combined with her miraculously being the mother of Jesus, our Savior, and with her virtuous and holy life. This is what another person expressed when saying that if Jesus is the King of Heaven and earth, then it follows that the Blessed Mother would be the Queen of Heaven and earth.
For my part, I have always noticed that if a son or daughter loves their mother, they will listen to her requests and do their best to fulfill them. This is even more true when it is asked by a mother who loves God, their family, and neighbors. (And clearly, no woman or man loved Jesus, her family, and all whom she met more perfectly than Mary.)
What Father Peyton came to believe, and countless people before and after him, too, is that Our Blessed Mother loves all of us. Jesus gave us to her and her to us from the Cross. We have, in addition to our earthly mothers, some who have gone home to God, a powerful heavenly mother; one who is in the presence of her Son, Jesus, and wants, like our earthly mothers, for us to live lives of purpose, goodness, and holiness that lead to Heaven.
Going back to the purpose of this memorial, Pope Pius XII instituted the memorial in 1954 “so that all may clearly recognize and more zealously venerate the kind and maternal rule of the Mother of God.”
One last thought: one day, when each of us meets Jesus at the gates of Heaven, wouldn’t it be great to have an advocate, someone to say, let her or him in, I know them, and they belong with us?
Mary, Queen of Heaven and earth, pray for us!
Reverend David S. Marcham is the Vice Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Patrick Peyton, and Director of the Father Peyton Guild, whose members pray for Father Peyton’s beatification and spread his message of the importance of Family Prayer. Prior to becoming a seminarian, Father David was a physical therapist and clinical instructor, serving hospital inpatients and outpatients throughout the greater Boston area for eleven years. In 1998 he heard the call to priesthood and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005. Father David grew up in Quincy, MA, and has fond memories of playing soccer, tennis and running track. You’re never without a friend when Father David is around, as he welcomes everyone into his circle with a smile on his face!
