Queen of Apostles, Queen of Us

Our Lord is making ready to leave his Apostles. The “little while” of absence which he recently described will be thirty years for St. Peter and fifty years for St. John. But there is a creature that has complete satisfaction for his presence after the Resurrection. So much so, that this person is already “in heaven” with every appearance that he grants her. This is his holy Mother. She has tread the winepress along with her Son. She has been more severely tried than any other creature. This has increased her love for God beyond measure. But yet, Our Lord still sees her capacity to grow even more in love for him. Therefore, he will offer this opportunity to her.

What form will this opportunity take? To be separated from him, ironic though that may seem. And not only that, but also to be the guide and director of the formation of the Church. This is actually a lot of love of Our Lord for her, because it will increase her merit to such a degree that when she finally arrives in heaven, she will receive the brightest possible crown. She is beyond being transfixed with the sword of sorrow, she is literally being consumed with love for her Son. Our Lady’s growth in love during her mission on earth is like a piece of fruit which finally falls from the tree because the tree has nothing more to give it.

Our Lady has passed through the oblation of self at the Incarnation, the giving of self at the wedding feast of Cana, the immolation of self at the Crucifixion, and now this will be the last trial: the separation from her only reason for living, her Son, albeit temporal. It is said by some that Our Lady was given a choice whether to accompany her Son to heaven or to stay to help form his Church. We can imagine that she would have resigned herself at once to the will of her Son rather than choose for herself. But if she could express her desire, it would have been to do the most heavenly thing, rather than anything earthly. She would have chosen to defer her entrance into eternal bliss, in order to labor, as long as it was God’s good pleasure, in the great work which was so closely connected with the glory of her Son, and so essential to the salvation of us her adopted children.

This generosity of completing her mission on earth raised her to the highest degree of sanctity. Her Son’s love for her was increased because of her uniformity with every wish of his Sacred Heart. He repaid her in the highest way possible for this heroic self-sacrifice of being the Queen of the Apostles and Our Queen. Amen. Ave Maria.