( Whether you agree or disagree would seem to be of little consequence, whether you have peace in your heart or malice toward your fellow man may be of the utmost urgency)Some of the answer to this centuries old question may depend on the answer to another question or two: 1). Are we that are “Parents” still parents in Heaven??? This is asked because of the fact, that Mary was (is?) the Mother of Jesus. And “In their Earthly time” as well as for most of history and even today in many countries it was (is) the Mother of a King that was (is) the Queen, Hence the term “Queen Mother”. This is in some customs even if there is a Wife or multiple wife’s which of course Jesus had none. Being we all know that Jesus stated “My Kingdom is not of this world” and we all know Mary was no more of an Earthly Queen then Jesus was an “Earthly King” (at least at the time He walked here, although we Christians do proclaim NOW that He is King of Heaven and Earth). We do know now, that Jesus for sure is , at this very moment, somewhere in His Kingdom …2). Does THAT make Mary The Blessed Virgin, THE QUEEN of THAT KINGDOM? To which we shall now tackle that second question first …. As Follows:
Now that She is no longer physically “of this World” is she still the Mother of God the Son, Jesus, The Savior of all mankind, Emmanuel, THE KING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH)) ? Thereby a “Queen” and rightfully can be referred to as “Queen of heaven” ???
There probably isn’t a yes or no answer to this, that would be convincing without seeking deeper discernment than my heart tells me.
Although the Roman Catholic Church does have the answer: They say, YES She IS.. And while that in itself is a good enough reason, to believe in this devotion, for those of us that attempt to follow the teachings of That Authority, it has become a stumbling block for many, of my “non-Catholic” yet very Christian friends, in the quest to obey Our Lords command that we should be of one heart and treat each other as members of the same earthly and eternal family.
We will attempt to think about this Family structure which Jesus (and His followers) so often speak of or elude to within the lessons of The Bible.
If Jesus has given us HIS Father in Heaven as OUR FATHER and His Father has given us Jesus as Our Brother and THEY BOTH have given us Their Holy Spirit as our Mentor. Jesus has given us each other as Brother and Sisters. It is then a logic that, Jesus has given us His Own Mother as Our Mother, for if we are to be truly “family” it has to be.
For if He hasn’t we better all leave Her alone because He wants to keep Her all to Himself …(no wait that isn’t like Him at all)
We are told (somewhere within the Good Book) that ..In heaven there is no Husband or Wife … (and if my memory serves me) no free man or slave …. and as far as “parents” it deserves to continue looking.
With this in mind the search will look at Scripture and Traditions born of that Scripture (using homespun logic as fuel) looking for insights allowing me and all of us to confirm our faith practices .
Here is what has been found so far:
We all have been taught by Tradition and each seem to have an inner driving to believe, that in Heaven, we will be reunited with past relatives and hopefully that has been the Holy Spirit collectively telling us …
We seem to be of the notion that: Those relatives will be enjoying their “life of eternal bliss” (as it has been called) ..and that we are all to receive a “crown”, from Our All Just and Loving Triune God, and that this crown will be depicting the “jewels”. of the merits of Graces gained while working with Gods Virtues through this life of time.
Whether this “Crown” is a physical “earthly type crown” or some form of a “Glorified Spiritual Crown” shouldn’t really matter as surely they will be consistent.
It seems logical, even soothing, to follow the biblical (as well as traditional) teachings .. that from the beginning THE TRIUNE GOD did have a very Special place for the one person of all time that was chosen by Them and accepted the duty and pleasure of physically bringing God Himself into this world for the betterment of mankind.
It doesn’t take much logic or imagination to envision the type of “crown” gracing the head of the tree that produced the perfect fruit.
A few of the bible verses (or complete stories) that have spurred my inklings leaning toward saying that, Mary is The Queen of Heaven are: (Jeremiah 44:1-29 ) (Johns Revelation: 12: 1-17) and must be read if attempting to understand the rest of this “somewhat fringe interpretation” writing.Jeremiah:44:1-30
Could it be that, (and this may be stretching it) God has given Mary that place of Honor, which the people of Judah eluded to (and to whom the Holy Spirit spoke and warned via Jeremiah) when they took it upon themselves, to make (cake or rice cake) offerings to a “queen in Heaven” as though this “queen” was or was to be a Deity?
These Verses give me the hunch that Jeremiahs people had an “Inkling” of such an “Office” “existing” .. but (as we humans so often do) were jumping the gun ..with the the notion of “sacrifices or worship” instead of “Honoring” that Office which at the time had not been filled.
We couldn’t say that God didn’t tell them (and us) to “back off” with the “Other gods” being worshiped thing,………… We all seem to agree now (via revelations within time and tradition) that the entire “Egypt episode” (spoken of by the Holy Spirit via Jeremiah) was a reminder of the past sins of Gods Chosen People and a foreshadowing of sins and the consequences of sin caused by creating other gods. As well as that following our Triune Gods Laws with the “action and reward” attitude of corporal reasoning will not fulfill the need for Spiritual food or Substance.
Instead it was (and is) a “SPIRIT of Heart” that He was (is) after, and because of our hard hearts he needed to “deliver the example himself” in the person of Jesus (and this was done via The Virgin of Virgins) and no longer “tell us”, but instead, “show us” how to live here on earth.
Then and only then with His Virgin Birth, His Sanctifying Death, His Glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and the Decent of the Holy Spirit (at Pentecost) could the “Office” of QUEEN in HEAVEN be filled and only by Gods own choice of a Queen. One with the Triune relationship of Mother…. Daughter…..Spouse …. and our second example given to us by God Himself of human spiritual humility and perfection.And then there is Our Bother John:
(My minds eye has come to see John as The Disciple of Lateral Thinking)Johns Revelation: 12:1-17
While it certainly would seem to be that many of the things mentioned within The Book of Revelation are mysterious happenings that took place prior to the time of John’s life on earth …In fact prior to or outside of “TIME ITSELF” is more like it, there are those things that point to a first hand knowledge (Revelation 2:1-29) and seem to make references to, or in the same way as Jeremiah, are prophecy… as well as the third to the last verse of the Bible says it (the Book of Revelation) IS most definately a prediction of things to come – “Prophecy” : saying that “in the future” these things will be made known to mankind….
Many of the Verses within this Book (which in “Ancient” translations of the Bible was known as the Apocalypse) have had very scary interpretations, throughout the past 1600 years. Especially within the last couple hundred years. Certain verses have been used (quoted) to predict everything from natural disasters, to collapse of governments, to the coming of space ships on exact days and times …Although logic doesn’t have to be stretched to far to dictate that all things in this Book of Prophecy have NOT been fulfilled or Jesus would have already come for the second time predicted, Right?? And the fact that 2000 years HAVE passed would lean toward “a few” or “some” of these things HAVING been fulfilled, but IF SO … which ones are they???
Much of this book is not so scary when viewed from the vantage point of the year 2000 (and the many documented apparitions involving Mary Mother of Jesus within recent centuries) as well as with the minds eye now looking back on the life and times of Jesus Our Savior from His Holy Conception to His Resurrection, to His building of His Church (at Pentecost) and feeding that Church of followers (Christians) not only by the Institution of Sacred Scripture (The Bible Itself some 400 years after His time on earth) but with His own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity throughout the entire 2 millennium. A LOT of things have happened, which would seem that, if they weren’t prophesied, should have been. Like the Protestant Reformation and our modern day habit of, everyone and their cousin, starting “New churches” and each swearing to be the ONLY Church that follows the true teachings of God…
When viewed with the gaze of a Brother or Sister of Jesus and thereby looking at John also as the brother to whom Jesus Himself entrusted Mary, as his Mother, for Her final years on earth.It is not hard to see those references to Her that have been made by Loving Sons and New Testament Prophecy fulfillment of a Queen in a Celestial Court “with a Crown of Twelve Stars On Her Head”.
These would certainly would seem to point toward the fulfillment of another New Testament Prophecy made by The Blessed Virgin Herself in (Luke Chapter 1:48-49) that “48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. “ALL OF WHICH points to not only the 1918 Apparition of Jesus AND The Blessed Virgin at Fatima Portugal but also points to many Apparitions of The Blessed Virgin throughout the centuries. (which are WAY OVER SCRUTINIZED for years by reliable investigators including died in the wool Atheists, most of which have concluded that the entire sequence of events ,of the Fatima Apparition, were not of this world and WERE SOME KIND OF A SIGNAL GRACE from Heaven or “just can’t be explained” … Which come on folks … What more to we want Our God to do??? HE can’t get any more blatant without The Actual Second Coming…. and most of us aren’t ready for THAT, so HE is giving us all these other “signal Graces” under very thin veils and we are apprehensive of believing in THEM, because “the enemy” has us like scared scattered sheep running around accusing each other of NOT LOVING GOD …
Seriously Folks: Don’t you think it is about “time” to jump on the bandwagon with Jesus and Mary and John and Jeremiah, put the pedal to the medal, zooming past our fears of each other, and head this party back to Our Fathers House? Early Conclusion:
Question #2). Mary…..as a Parent to Our Lord??? … hmmm It still isn’t known if “Parent” is still a valid or needed “title” in the vast oceans of communal Love within or behind the Gates of Heaven … But we all still call Her, Mary Mother of Jesus or Mary Mother of God The Son anyway …
Question #1). Mary…..as a Queen of Heaven??? …. Yes This seems very fitting, considering some things we do know about Mary Mother of Jesus as well as some things we do know about Our (and Her) Triune God and the rest of His Family.
While good advise for anyone that has had any ideas of baking up a batch of “Rice Cakes” to send that notion back to hell from whence it came… This old man, does have a number of good and loyal friends here on earth which has taught me that:
1). If you wish to bring a happy moment into the life of any man on earth, say or do something nice about or for His Mother.
2). Don’t do it vainly or He and She will be insulted …. but if you can really mean it .. you have brightened His day….
3). Now if THAT FRIEND happens to be the King of Heaven and Earth … Well You can take it from there……
(The best explanation of this, found anywhere, is that of the wonderful people over at the “eternal word television network” ( EWTN ) and this link <http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/mother.htm> Although you will have to cut and paste that into your browser window as we don’t have permission from them to link it directly: YET