2025-08-22 - QUEENSHIP OF THE BLESSED Virgin Mary Author: Fr. CamillusNwaigwe
22nd of August 2025
Friday in the 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
(Queenship of Mary)
Ruth 1:1,3-6,14b-16,22
Mt 22:34-40
Prayer is powerful beyond limits when we turn to the Immaculata who is queen even of God's heart (St. Maximilian Kolbe).
Today, the Church celebrates the memorial of the Queenship of Mary. This feast is celebrated seven days after the Solemnity of Assumption. It was instituted as a memorial on October 11, 1954, four years after the proclamation of the Assumption by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical letter _Ad Caeli Reginam_ (The Queen of Heaven).
The concept of this feast is traced to the narrative of annunciation. Recall that the angel told Mary that her son will be King and will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Recall that the Queen in ancient Israel unlike today is not restricted to the wife of the King but would include the mother, who is called _The Queen Mother_(1 Kings 2:19-20). For her participation in the life of Jesus, Origen will later give her the title _domina_, the Latin feminine of _Dominus_, Lord.
Jesus quoting Deuteronomy and Leviticus in the *Gospel of today*, summarized the whole commandments. He gave, not just the greatest but the heart of all the commandments namely; Love. He said, "You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind...You shall love your neighbour as yourself."
Beloved, the readings of today portray to a very large extent the two dimensions of love; Love of God and love of neighbour. During the season of Lent, we are reminded through the wood of the cross the two dimensions of love; vertical and horizontal. While the vertical points to our relationship with God, the horizontal directs us to our fellowmen. For the cross which is an expression of love to stand, the two must be joined together. In loving God with all our being, we are caught up in the love of one another.
Have you ever wondered what our world would have been if all we do were motivated by love? What our political system would have turned out if we love? Unfortunately today, some people people don't even love themselves. Ruth in the *First Reading* reminds us that true love is selfless. It rises above self interest.
Finally, loving our neighbours does not mean supporting every choices they have made for sometimes, their choices can clash with God's will.
*May Mary teach us to love.*
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