remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,
before our God and Father,
knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen.
New Testament scholars believe these are the first words of the New Testament, the beginning of the oldest document in our Church. Saint Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians in about 45 AD. There might have been earlier letters from other disciples to other churches but this one is the one the Church could never forget. The Holy Spirit saw to that.
As we celebrate the Queenship of Mary, on the eighth day of her Assumption, we hear Saint Paul speaking with gratitude to his disciples there in Thessalonica. It is not hard to imagine a Christian saying these words to any Christian who keeps the faith; and it is especially easy to apply them to the Mother of God: We give thanks to God always for... you....
Remembering the courage and faith of that young woman, her devout prayer and intense longing for the Messiah, we have to be grateful that we can call her one of our own. God has given her to us. She is, as the poet William Wordsworth wrote, "our tainted nature's solitary boast."
Our gratitude for Mary is intensified as we remember Jesus's dying words to her and the Beloved Disciple: Behold your mother. Behold your son. We can regard Mary as any woman of the Church and be grateful for a sister in the faith; but Jesus called her "your mother." I am grateful to the woman who gave me birth and made such extraordinary sacrifices for my well being, but I know also she was a fallible human being. Jesus has given Mary to her and to me to be our friend, patroness and protector. What I could not say to my mother I can share with her. What my mother did not know of God, Mary will tell me.
I give thanks to God always for her expecially as I remember her in prayer. Contemplating the scriptures of Advent and Christmas, the wedding at Cana and the Crucifixion, and Pentecost we encounter Mary often. She leads us in the way, since she was the first to hear the Good News from the Angel Gabriel. We remember her in prayer as we meet the Lord Jesus, especially her work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope.
On this eighth day of the Assumption we celebrate the Queenship of Mary. There is not a word in scripture to describe the faithful Jew or Christian that does not apply her.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.