The Queen Rules

Holding the hand of Queen Mary 

Opening Prayer for Queenship of Mary O God, who made the Mother of your Son To be our Mother and our Queen, Graciously grant that, sustained by her intercession, We may attain in the heavenly Kingdom The glory promised to your children. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

            Boys and girls, how many of you like to play chess?  This is not checkers, but a more complicated game called chess.  Does anyone know which piece of the chessboard is the most powerful, and the one you never want to lose?  It’s called the “Queen.”  Now, you have to remember that you lose the whole game when you forfeit your King.  So, the King is the most important piece, but the Queen is the most powerful piece in the game.  Everyone who plays chess knows they should hang on tight to their queen.  Ask any man who’s been married more than five minutes: “Which is the more powerful: the king or the queen?”  And he knows the answer is “the queen,” or he won’t have a queen anymore!

            Today we celebrate the feast of “The Queenship of Mary.”  Christians believe that Mary is the queen of heaven and earth.  This is what we think about on the last Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, called “The Coronation.”  In other words, of all the people in heaven, like the saints and angels, Mary has the most power and influence.  Of course, she is NOT greater than God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Mary is NOT God.  But she is greater than all the other human beings and even greater than all the angels, like a Queen on a chessboard is more powerful than a Knight or a Bishop or a Castle or a Pawn.  In heaven, like in chess, the Queen Rules.

            I want to tell you a story about a man who loved Mary, the Queen, very much.  Many years ago, there was a bishop in Rome, who used to walk around the Eternal City with a Rosary wrapped around his hand.  People started noticing it but no one questioned him.  One day, an archbishop asked him, “Why do you always have a rosary wrapped around your hand?”  The young bishop answered: “The rosary around my hand makes me feel like Mother Mary is holding my hand and leading me where I should go.  Mary is the Queen, and she knows better than a bishop what I should do.”  Beautiful answer, don’t you think?  A few years later, that young bishop became an archbishop, and several years after that he became a cardinal.  Then, in 1978, he was elected as the pope and took the name, “Pope John Paul II.”  If you asked Pope John Paul II, “Who’s the most powerful person in heaven or on a chessboard?”  He would immediately answer, “The Queen, of course!” You see, the Queen rules.

             Sometimes, I see girls wearing tee-shirts that say, “Girls rule!”  How many of you have a tee-shirt that says that?  Good for you.  Well, Catholics agree with that tee-shirt, especially when the girl we’re talking about is Mary, the Queen of heaven and earth.  The Queen rules!

            Praised be Jesus Christ!