The feast of the Queenship of Mary, falls at the end of the octave of the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady. Mary bodily assumed and taken up into heaven, now reigns with Christ in glory. She has received her glorified and resurrected body, as we all will at the end of time. So Our Lady physically in heaven together with Jesus and united to him, is what all of us who are baptised are called to share in after the Final Judgment.
Just as Christ’s Ascension into heaven is celebrated as Jesus not only being raised up into heaven, but also raises above all things, taking his place as Head. As Head of His Body the Church, he is also the King in Glory now enthroned at the right hand of the Father. He now shares this honour with his Mother. Seating her at his own right hand, crowning her and enthroning her so she can rule with him. She is the Queen Mother, the Gebirah (1 Kings 2:19), just like the Davidic Kings had in their kingdom. The mother of the king who is highest in honour among all, apart from her own son the king, and even the king honours her as his mother (1 Kings 2:19-20). This is what it means for Mary to be Queen.
Apart from receiving honour, a queen also is sovereign like the king, not accountable to anyone else. The royal freedom of a queen also applies to her share in the riches or treasury of the kingdom. She had access to the person of the king, as well as her own share in the treasures of the kingdom to use at her will. This is the context for understanding the teaching that Mary as Mother and Queen of Grace, has also been made Mediatrix and dispenser of graces by Jesus himself. Through Jesus victory over death on the cross and his resurrection, he has won the spoils of war (Isaiah 53:12), and so he has access to the Treasury of grace that is rightfully his. In Assuming Mary into heaven to be with him, he has elevated Mary and enthroned her at his right hand as his Queen, with the perogitive to freely dispense his graces as she chooses - because they are unified in mind, heart and spirit. That total conformity and union that Mary now has, is what we too will come to share one day in heaven.
A queen also had right of appeal to the king in his court, or could intervene for others. So Mary is now not only our Queen in heaven and Mediatrix of the treasures of grace, but she is also the Advocate who intercedes for us and makes known our petitions. Through her union with the Holy Spirit and always being full of grace (Luke 1:28), she is also a sharer in the office of Advocate with her spouse the Holy Spirit the Paraclete. Just as the Holy Spirit comforts us, consoles us, strengthens us and prays in us (John 14:16, Romans 8:26)- so too does Mary Immaculate Queen Mother, the Theotokos and Spouse of the Holy Spirit.
As the Ark of the New Covenant, she is also now the Throne of Grace and Mercy Seat Romans 3:25, Hebrews 4:16), in the Temple of the New Jerusalem. The glory of God sits on the throne in the Temple as the symbol of the Divine Presence dwelling in the midst of his people. The sacred humanity of Jesus our Immanuel, is the locus of union between God and man, human and the divine. So the very person of Jesus Christ himself is the bridge that unites everything and so can draw all to himself as the source of life. God-with-us-in-the-Flesh is the full manifestation and revelation of the hidden mystery of the Most Holy Trinity that is enthroned upon the cherubim (1 Samuel 4:4, Psalm 18:10)
The mercy seat, or throne of grace was the area between the outstretched wings of the golden cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:15). It was called the ark or the tabernacle, because it contained the stone tablets of the covenant of Moses - the 10 Commandments, the Law (Exodus 25:21). Jesus Christ himself is the fulfilment of the law in his very body (Matthew 5:-7), no longer written on stone, but written in his own Sacred Heart and burning to be written within all our hearts (Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:26, Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:19). He reigns in his Kingdom whilst seated on the throne, reigning in full glory and power all granted to him by the Father. Mary his mother, is herself his very throne. By giving birth to him, he “received” his body and humanity from her - the same body that is Resurrected as Lord of Life and King of Kings (Revelation 17:14). Seated on the Throne of Grace and Mercy Seat, which is his own Mother - the Ark of the New Covenant. He has glorified and honoured her physically in the Assumption, so now he also shares his victorious freedom and sovereignty with her as his Queen Mother, robed in gold and bright as the sun, crowned with 12 stars (Revelation 12:1).
Crowns in the Bible are symbolic of power and also victory (James 1:12, Revelation 2:10). Jesus has won the race for us and gained for us the victory (Hebrews 12:1-3). He shares that victory with us all now through the Sacraments of His Church, so that we too will reign with him one day in glory. Just as He crowned his own Mother as his Queen, one day he will crown each of us as his fellow coheirs in the Kingdom for eternity. Seated with him in justice and holiness, no longer fighting or striving, but sharing the Eternal Sabbath rest in total peace beyond understanding with full victorious freedom of the Children of God (Hebrews 4, Romans 8:19-23).
May we all rejoice together with Mary our Immaculate Queen and Mother, in the salvation we all share and will come to the fullness of in heaven (Luke 1:46-56). Blessed indeed is She who believed in the Word of God and was faithful (Luke 1:45, Luke 11:27-28)! Mary always Full of Grace, please always be near us and with us so we can walk into the victory that Jesus has won for us on the cross.
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