SPEAKER_00: I want to end this week by talking about someone I hope you love, Our Lady.
SPEAKER_00: Today the church celebrates the queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps it's worth asking a very basic question.
SPEAKER_00: Why do Catholics love Mary so much?
SPEAKER_00: Why the statues?
SPEAKER_00: Why the rosaries?
SPEAKER_00: Why the flowers?
SPEAKER_00: Why the processions?
SPEAKER_00: Why the feasts?
SPEAKER_00: Why do Catholics call her mother, Queen, Our Lady?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the answer begins by a very by being very clear.
SPEAKER_00: Mary is not God.
SPEAKER_00: We do not worship Mary.
SPEAKER_00: We worship God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but we honor Mary.
SPEAKER_00: We venerate her, we love her, and we do so for one fundamental reason.
SPEAKER_00: God honored her first.
SPEAKER_00: Before anyone ever called Mary blessed, God chose her.
SPEAKER_00: Before anyone ever built a church in her honor, the angel Gabriel came to her and said, Hail, full of grace.
SPEAKER_00: Before Christians ever called her mother of God, God Himself chose to have a mother.
SPEAKER_00: That's the astonishing heart of a Marian devotion.
SPEAKER_00: Catholics do not make too much of Mary.
SPEAKER_00: We're trying to understand what God Himself has done in her.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: The eternal Son of God could have entered the world any way he desired.
SPEAKER_00: He chose Mary.
SPEAKER_00: He took his human flesh from her.
SPEAKER_00: His heart began beating beneath her heart.
SPEAKER_00: She carried him, she gave birth to him, she held him, she fed him, she taught him to speak, she watched him take his first steps.
SPEAKER_00: And eventually she stood beneath the cross and watched the son she had carried die for the salvation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: How could Christians not love her?
SPEAKER_00: Today's first reading gives us a beautiful image.
SPEAKER_00: Ezekiel sees the glory of God entering the temple, and he hears This is where my throne shall be.
SPEAKER_00: Here I will dwell among the children of Israel forever.
SPEAKER_00: The temple is glorious because God dwells there, and Mary becomes in a yuke way the dwelling place of God.
SPEAKER_00: For nine months the word made flesh dwelt within her.
SPEAKER_00: The one whom the heavens cannot contain allowed himself to be carried in the womb of a young woman from Nazareth.
SPEAKER_00: That is why the church has always looked at Mary with such wonder.
SPEAKER_00: Her greatness comes entirely from God.
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to today's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus condemns those who spend their lives searching for titles, recognition, places of honor, and admiration.
SPEAKER_00: And then he gives us the great law of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to understand why Mary is queen, start there.
SPEAKER_00: Mary never asked for a throne.
SPEAKER_00: She called herself a handmaid.
SPEAKER_00: She never demanded attention, she always pointed to her son.
SPEAKER_00: She never said, Hey, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: No, at Cana she says, Do whatever he tells you.
SPEAKER_00: That is Mary.
SPEAKER_00: Everything about her points towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And because she humbled herself, she was exalted by God.
SPEAKER_00: That is what we celebrate today.
SPEAKER_00: The queenship of Mary, it's not about worldly power, it is the triumph of humility.
SPEAKER_00: The little girl from Nazareth who said, Let it be done to me according to your word, is now honored as queen because she allowed God to do everything in her.
SPEAKER_00: And this is also why loving Mary matters in the spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: Because Mary never keeps us for herself, she brings us to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what a mother does.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people ask Catholics, why not just go directly to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Of course we do.
SPEAKER_00: We go directly to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Every Mass is offered to God, every sacrament comes from Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is our Savior.
SPEAKER_00: But loving his mother does not compete with loving him.
SPEAKER_00: It deepens it.
SPEAKER_00: If someone told me, I love you, but I want nothing to do with your mother, I would find that rather strange.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus loves his mother.
SPEAKER_00: He honored her.
SPEAKER_00: And from the cross, in one of his last acts on earth, he gave her to the beloved disciple.
SPEAKER_00: Behold your mother.
SPEAKER_00: And the gospel tells us that the disciple from that very moment took her into his home.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's the invitation for all of us today.
SPEAKER_00: Take Mary into your home.
SPEAKER_00: Take her into your spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not pray the rosary, start today.
SPEAKER_00: If your relationship with Our Lady has become distant, start speaking to her again.
SPEAKER_00: Ask her to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Ask her to teach you how to trust God.
SPEAKER_00: Ask her to teach you how to say yes when you don't want to or you don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: Ask her to stand beside you when life brings you to the foot of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Because Mary knows how to do all those things.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps most importantly, ask her to do for you what she did at Cana, to notice what is missing, to bring Jesus to it, and then to whisper into your heart, do whatever he tells you.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we love our lady.
SPEAKER_00: Not because she's God, but because she belongs completely to God.
SPEAKER_00: Not because she replaces Jesus, but because she leads us to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Not because she sought a crown, but because she chose humility, obedience, and love, and God placed that crown upon her.
SPEAKER_00: So as we end this week with Mary, our mother, our lady, our queen, we ask her for the grace she possessed so beautifully to make our lives less about ourselves and more about her son.
SPEAKER_00: Mary, Queen of Heaven, teach us to love Jesus as you loved him.
SPEAKER_00: Teach us to trust him as you trusted him.
SPEAKER_00: Teach us to follow him in all ways to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And when our earthly journey is finished, pray that we may see what you already see, your Son, Jesus Christ, face to face.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, pray for us.