SCRIPTURE CORNER
Saturday Devotion to Our Lady

Queen of Angels, pray for us

In the Litany of Loreto we venerate the glory of Mary in heaven. We think of Her as the Queen. And right so. She is of royal blood, and the Mother of the greatest King, Christ Our Lord. God bestowed on her the greatest virtues that no other inhabitant of heaven ever possessed. We sing joyfully to Christ:"The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety" (Ps 44, 10). Let us start to meditate on specific titles of our Immaculate Queen, listed in the Litany. She is called Queen of Angels, because as the Mother of God she was so deeply transformed through by divinity of her child that even the most pure angelic spirits cannot compare with her. And Fr Suarez says: "Mary in the moment of her immaculate conception obtained from God more graces and favours than all angelic choirs, because God loved her more than them." And how much more beloved is the Mother of God? And who they are? "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?"( Heb 1,14). And who is Mary? St John Chrysostom gives us the answer: "She is the Mother of the One who is begotten of the Father before all ages, whom people and angels acknowledge as their Lord". The angels stand before the throne of God with trembling and fear covering their faces, but Mary comes freely and makes the offering of humankind to Him whom she brought forth as a mother"My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies" (Canticle of Canticles 2,16). Let us join the angelic hierarchies and with them venerate Our Lady! In particular because of the virtues bestowed on her which made her most perfect and pure among the inhabitants of heaven: " Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side." (Isa 60,4). Practicing humbly the most noble of virtue, purity and chastity, we may become like angels.