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Mary, queen of heaven, watches over her children, pope says at audience
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Honoring Mary as queen, Catholics see her exercising the same kind of regality that Jesus did: one of humility, service and love, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Marking the feast of the Queenship of Mary Aug. 22 at his weekly general audience, the pope said just as Jesus’ kingship had nothing to do with earthly power — in fact, Christians recognize him as king when he’s on the cross — so Mary’s queenship is exercised through obedience to God and helping those who turn to her.
Holding his audience in the courtyard of the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, the pope told the crowd that the feast of Mary’s queenship was added to the liturgical calendar only in 1954, but it was the result of centuries of devotion to Mary as queen of heaven and of the universe.
Mary’s queenship is a “consequence of her being united with her son, her being in heaven, in communion with God,” the pope said.
From heaven, she participates in God’s love for the world, the pope said. She “watches over us, her children; children who turn to her in prayer to thank her or to ask for her maternal protection and her heavenly assistance, perhaps after losing the way, oppressed by suffering or anguish,” the pope said.
“Devotion to Mary is an important element of the spiritual life,” the pope said. “Gazing upon her, let us imitate her faith, her full openness to God’s plan of love, her generous welcoming of Jesus. Let us learn to live from Mary.” [more]
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49 Comments
Jim – It’s 10,266 crimes. Your argument is absurd and an embarrassment to all Catholics.
Right, Jill, math is absurb. You are illogical; you may have a faith, but you don’t have any logic. And, Jill, God is logical; when you’re not, you’re not of God. The question about number of crimes vs. number of victims is important in estimating the prevalence of perpetrator priests. Don’t you want to know reality and facts, Jill, or are you too caught up in your emotions that you prefer your distorted version of reality? Apparently, the latter. Argue reality and facts with me, Jill, not distorted versions of reality. You have no credibility when you do that.
And, Jill, I might add: your illogic is an embarrassment to all Catholics, including me.
Hi Jim.
Are you the one that said:
“There are no poor in America.”
I am still around but Tony is too ….. Catholic! He is much more eloquent and patient than me.
By the way are you the same Jim that said:
“We don’t want to hurt the rich to help poor.”
Good to hear from you, DENNIS. Now, down to business: I never said your last quote, DENNIS — quit making things up, like they do in the distorted, despicable, biased liberal media.
What I DID say that you are remembering incorrectly, Dennis, is that Obama’s plan will hurt the rich, but it also will hurt the poor. You can’t hurt the rich without hurting the poor. It is not a zero-sum game.
BTW.
I am very proud to say I made a donation to “Nuns on the Bus” today.
Didn’t get a t-shirt – bummer.
Not only a waste of money, but your donation literally is funding those working with Satan. Nice to know your dollars strengthened Hell, isn’t it, Dennis?
Jim. So soon. Words escape me.
I like the Nuns.
Well, you don’t want to follow them to Hell, do you? I like women who want to please me also, but not at the cost of my salvation.
Hey Jim.
Actually I do like you. In fact I am compiling a book of your quotes. I am thinking of titling it:
“Jim’s Quotes”
Now back to reality I saved this quote from you:
“If we want to help the poor, we also must help the rich. Everything feeds off everything else. So, if you hurt the rich with a massive federal government that constantly needs to be fed more dollars every year, you hurt the rich, which in turn hurts the poor.”
Is that accurate?
Yes, indeed, I did say that; and, that perfectly agrees with my 8:27 P.M. post.
Hey Jim.
Moving to the top.
I was raised to believe in my soul and the teachings of the Bible.
Institutions are fallible, as in Crusades, Spanish Inquisition and now dare I say sex.
Correct me if I am wrong but I thought the Bible’s primary message is “Catholic Social Teaching”.
But we might have different definitions of that phrase.
What is your’s?
Dennis — the Bible’s main message is NOT Catholic social teaching — the Bible’s main message is that there is nothing we can do to get to Heaven; we need to rely on the Mercy of God through the death of His Son on the cross. Works do serve a role, but in and of themselves they cannot get us saved. I am very familiar with Matthew chapter 25, beginning with verse 31 (I believe) to the end of the chapter. Works allow us to not despair of God’s infinite Mercy, and therefore to rely on and trust in His Mercy and accept His Mercy for our salvation.
Jim wait a second what about Last
Rites? I am counting on that one.
I was taught:
- Actions speak louder than words.
- What goes around comes around.
And then you can get into the nuances like:
God helps those who help themselves.
How do you feel about that last one?
Well, that last phrase (“God helps those who help themselves”) usually is being applied to a practical, real-world situation, not salvation. However, applied to salvation, the reality is that we must accept God’s offer of Mercy — He will not force Himself and His Mercy on us. And, after we accept Jesus as our Lord, we then, with the help of His grace, try to walk ever more closely in His footsteps — and that also requires our effort. So, our salvation is a cooperative effort between us and God. To use a metaphor, it would be as if we are in quicksand, and God is on the shore. He throws us a rope — without it, we are not going to be saved. However, we must recognize that we need the rope (His offer of Mercy) to be willing to grab onto it. We must then grab it (analogous to our consent to be sanctified, or to pursue a moral life — Matthew 5:48) to be saved. So, in summary, our salvation is a partnership between us and God. We cannot save ourselves; yet, we must cooperate with God if we are to be saved.
Mr. Jim.
“The phrase is often mistaken for a Bible quote, but it appears nowhere in the Bible. Some Christians have criticized the expression as being contrary to the Bible’s message of God’s grace.” It is a political slogan.
What about this one:
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
Give it a shot.
Dennis — I was aware that that quote does not appear in the Bible, but that is not what you asked — you asked me what I thought about the quote. That next quote may be from Karl Marx. (“From each according to his ability…”). If that is a Bible verse (it probably isn’t), it likely would be in Acts, where for awhile they lived a communal life.
Nailed it!!!
Have to give credit where credit is due.
Probably just got lucky.
Okay, thanks Dennis. Are you buying the next round? I’ll have a Yuengling.
To clarify my last post: the sentence “God helps those who help themselves” — that sentence I was aware was not in the Bible, but that wasn’t your question to me. Your question to me was what I thought about that statement. The sentence “From each according to his ability…” I do not believe is in the Bible, but very well may be in Karl Marx’s garbage.
And, Dennis, with regard to “actions speak louder than words” — well, that certainly is true. If I say I love God (words), but there is no evidence in my behavior that I actually do love Him, then we are talking the talk but not walking the walk. No doubt we must manifest our love for God in our love for our neighbor. Matthew 5:48 is very interesting — the correct translation of that verse (this according to a Catholic Bible) is that we must be in the process of being perfected, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. That is, we don’t have to be perfect on our deathbed to be saved (virtually no one is perfect by the time of their death), but we do need to be on the road of sanctification — we must be making some effort to live a life in accordance with God’s Will.
Jim. To the top.
Where the heck are you (physically and mentally)? No poverty and Yuengling. I have a cold Yuengling in my hand right now – absolutely true. Please tell me you don’t drink alcohol.
My father (Irish Catholic) was a whiskey salesman and I strongly believe in the saying:
“Never trust a man that doesn’t drink.”
Accurate over 90% of the time.
Dennis — that is startling — that you have a Yuengling in your hand as we speak — just be sure you don’t spill it on your keyboard, or else you will be silent for awhile. The reason I was asking if you are buying the next round is because I DON’T have a Yuengling, or any other beer in my hand. I drink perhaps six beers per year now — as you might guess, when I was in college, I drank six beers (or more) in one night, at least on occasion. With regard to my location: well, I’m not giving any clues about that. I need to maintain my anonymity. Maybe I’m your next door neighbor.
Jim.
Would you be surprised to find that the clergy enjoy a good whiskey (I purposely spelled that whiskey and not whisky – why)
My father and I took quite a few cases of Maker’s Mark to the rectory.
Interesting. I must say, many priests are overweight — and I think it’s because they overeat and overdrink — but maybe it’s stress related, I don’t know. So, it doesn’t surprise me that they drink — but it would surprise me if they drank to excess (recognizing, of course, that some clergy are alcoholics).
No they don’t drink to excess (usually) and neither do I and my father only drank a lot of beer.
But the priests do eat very well and on gold trimmed plates.
But a good priest deserves that and much more.
And, Dennis, I looked up “whiskey” and “whisky” — I never knew that the latter was the plural of the former. I thought “whiskey” was used for both singular and plural. So, I learned something.
You are correct sort of as in close enough.
Whiskey is Irish whisky is Scottish – for some.
I am Irish Catholic and enough said.
The John Jay Law School report for the USCCB says at least 10,266 sex abuse victims since 1950, just in the United States.
ML — are those distinct victims, or 10,266 total instances. That, obviously, is a very important distinction. Even if those ARE distinct individuals (which they may not be), that translates into just under 166 instances / year. If you assume each priest offended five individuals, that means about 33 priests per year. Out of 36,000 priests, that means less than one in one thousand — and THAT assumes the figure you’ve given is for separate individuals, not separate instances.
Now, of those 10,266, some offenses certainly were more egregious than others. So, perhaps many of them would not have warranted incarcertaion. Even if you assume these were separate individuals (rather than separate instances), and if you assume one out of two perpetrators was prosecuted, that would mean less than one in two thousand priests would be incarcerated for this crime — a much lower number than in the general population. I do acknowledge, though, that an offense by a priest is much worse than an offense by a non-priest; and I also acknowledge that even one offense is one too many. However, we need to be careful not to overstate the prevalence of the problem, as people who bash the Catholic Church are wont to do.
Just like the bishops, get everybody off topic and they’ll forget the real issue – the thousands of clergy abused children.
Not thousands, Martin — no factual basis for your comment, just your imagination / uncheck presuppositions.
And, Martin, given that I showed that you do not accurately reflect reality, why would anyone believe anything else you write?
Jim – I believe I used her word “evil,” too. I purposely chose not to ignore it. At the hands of the Church? The church has a priest going to prison in Philadelphia for enabling the sexual abusers to continue their abhorrent behavior. Cardinal Law is hiding out in Rome, a bishop is going on trial in Kansas City. Do you have any idea how many ordained men are behind bars for child rape? Did you miss the archbishop of Dublin on 60 Minutes last week? Did you miss my referring only to “ordained men” as opposed to the Church that is all the baptized faithful? I have a total devotion to Jesus Christ, Jim. My salvation is not dependent on belief in Marian apparitions, or the idea of her bodily assumption into heaven, and I accused her of nothing, Jim.
Martin — let’s examine your 4:11 P.M. Sentence #1: “I believe I used the word ‘evil’ too.” Yes, you did, but when you were using that word in your 12:17 A.M. post, you were not acknowledging Elizabeth’s use of the word; in fact, in your 12:17 post, you said, “referring to the evil raping of children as just ‘poor judgment’” … In other words, you used the word “evil” only to make the point that Elizabeth had neglected to use that word — which you can clearly see from her post that she did not neglect to use it, but did in fact specifically list it as one of the causes of the sex scandals. Later in your post, you ask if I know how many ordained men are behind bars for rape. No, I do not, and I doubt you have a firm number either. Here is what I do know: whenever Catholic priests go to jail, the media jumps all over those stories. I suspect we have perhaps twenty Catholic priests in the USA incarcerated for sex crimes. In the USA, we have about 36,000 priests; so, that means we have 0.05% of priests incarcertated; that is, one out of every two thousand — a very very small number. Your last sentence about the Blessed Mother, “I accused her of nothing, Jim” — yes you did. In your 3:31 P.M. post you said the following: ” You would think the Church’s sexual abuse of the children would have certainly been worthy of an appearance on the children’s behalf by the Queen of heaven, but she was busty in Medjugorje, I guess.” You clearly are calling her negligent by your statement — you are accusing her of a sin of omission.
Elizabeth, I didn’t blame God, and only blamed the ordained men of the church including the Vatican. Facts are facts. Benedict said Mary helps those who turn to her. Difficult for me to imagine kids sexually abused and raped at the hands of the church turning to Mary. Referring to the evil of raping children as just “poor judgement” by the perpetrators is ludicrous.
Martin — re-read Elizabeth’s comment again, and you will see that she didn’t say “poor judgment” was the only reason for the sexual scandals. Note that she said “men who used poor judgment and evil actions” — did you just decide to ignore the words “evil actions?” So, I now have demonstrated that you twist what others say. Number two: no child was “sexually abused and raped at the hands of the church” — they were abused and raped at the hands of a very very small minority of very sinful priests. Number three: sorry you don’t have any devotion to the Blessed Mother. She was conceived without sin, never committed a sin in her life, and now you are accusing her of sins of omission by ignoring the sins of these perpetrator priests? Really weird how that could be — she becomes negligent after she is assumed into Heaven. Give me a break, ML — you twist the words of another, accuse the Blessed Mother of sins of omission, and then anyone in their right mind is supposed to listen to anything you have to say?
Sounds like a very childish idea to me. Do we really need such a childish notion as a spiritual mother watching over us? St Paul, I might suggest, must be jumping up and down about the whole idea of “Queen of Heaven” especially as he never once mentions it, nor Mary by name.
Francis — since you believe in the “communion of saints”, you believe that the Blessed Mother is in that communion. I assume you believe those in Heaven can pray for us; those in Heaven include the Blessed Mother. Now, of all the saints, she is far and away the most important, as she was conceived without original sin, never committed a sin during her earthly life, fed Jesus through her blood while she carried him, gave Him his X chromosome, nursed him after His birth; etc. Could you imagine having the Son of the Creator of the universe in your womb for nine months? Clearly, the Blessed Mother is the most special person who ever has lived; and, as this most special person in the communion of saints, would clearly be praying for all of us. Also, she is queen precisely because, and by virtue of the fact that, her Son is King.
Everyone dropped the ball when it came to watching the children, the priests, the bishops, the vatican, and the Queen of Heaven. You would think the Church’s sexual abuse of the children would have certainly been worthy of an appearance on the children’s behalf by the Queen of heaven, but she was busty in Medjugorje, I guess.
M.L. Larson, your comment is ridiculous. This article is about Mary and not some men who used poor judgment and evil actions against children. I am tired of people like you blaming God and the Church for the actions of humans. We have free will, there are good people and bad people in the world and some are in churches. Shame on you!
Humans do not watch over us, but they chose that vocation because they listened, are they still listening? Mary did and gave us the Son of God.
One would hope that this non-biblical doctrinal accretion would disappear to where ever St. Christopher went once he left the dashboard of my car. Can we next expect from this holy father that the ova Mary was carrying will also be raised to some new status in the heavenly court?
It’s nice to know someone is watching over us; it certainly isn’t the Catholic Church or it’s leaders.
It is not the job of the catholic church to watch over you. Watch yourself! The catholic church does not dictate the actions of bad people.
Mary is our model of what it is to be a disciple of Jesus. She teaches us to always be willing to say, “Yes” to God. She teaches us to “Do as he says.” To follow Jesus in faith. Mary is our Mother, our Queen and our Sister in Christ.
She is as the prayer says, “Our Life, our sweetness and our hope.”
Pray for us, O holy mother of God, that
we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.