The saints are God’s best friends. The saints are also our friends. The saints have left us an illuminating and sure path to emulate and imitate on our pilgrimage towards our eternal home—Heaven! However, it also must be said that the saints are great lovers of the Blessed Virgin Mary!
TITLES OF MARY AS QUEEN. In the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we pray very many Biblical and poetical short prayers to Mary. At the tail end of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, there is a series of titles honoring Mary all related to Mary as Queen. For example: Mary as Queen of angels, confessors, martyrs, virgins, the holy Rosary, but also, MARY AS QUEEN OF THE SAINTS!
Therefore, we would like to offer for your reading, prayer, and meditation a series of what several of the saints said in their over-flowing trust, love, and devotion for Mary. These saints are now in heaven with Mary honoring her for all eternity as their Queen. We pray that one day you will be with them honoring Mary as your beautiful and majestic Queen. Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope…
1. In the relationship that the Blessed Virgin Mary has to the most Blessed Trinity, these are the words of Saint John Marie Vianney, known as the Cure of Ars: “The Eternal Father delights in regarding the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the masterpiece of His hands. The Son delights in it as the Heart of His Mother, the source from which He received the Blood that redeemed us. The Holy Spirit dwells in Mary as in a temple.” (Saint John Marie Vianney—The Cure of Ars was a renowned Confessor and Patron of Parish priests.)
2. Mary is the Mother of God, but she is also the Mother of the Church. As such, Mary helps us in our work to evangelize—to bring more and more people to Christ, in His Mystical Body, the Church. The following are the words of Saint Pope John Paul II: “At the moment when Mary presents her Son to the Magi, she not only performs a personal action as Mother but also acts as the figure of the Church. As the mother of all peoples, the Church in the person of Mary initiates her work of evangelization.”
3. With the constant reminder of the Presence of Mary in your life, joy, peace, trust, and protection will be yours. The Mellifluous Doctor, Saint Bernard, so eloquent in his literary expression of Mary, resounds with these words: “Let Mary never be far from your lips or heart. With her support, you will never fall. Beneath her protection, you will never fear. Under her guidance, you will never tire. And with her help, you will reach your heavenly goal.”
4. Pope Saint John Paul II’s first encyclical was on Jesus as the Redeemer of Man; his first Marian encyclical was on Mary as the Mother of the Redeemer. Saint Peter Damian emphasized the primary role of Mary in the Redemption of the world as such: “God has decreed that the whole of Redemption should be accomplished through Mary, with Mary, and in Mary. Just as nothing was created without Christ, so nothing has been re-created without the Blessed Virgin.”
5. As Eve is the mother of all humankind in the flesh, Mary is our spiritual mother through grace. Mary has a special place in her Immaculate Heart for all, and that truly means all! These words of the new Doctor of the Church, Saint John of Avila, will inspire us: “We are all children of Eve according to the flesh and children of the Blessed Virgin according to the spirit. For all of us, Mary has the love of a mother and the courage of a defender. All find room in her. Sinners find pardon through her prayers, and the righteous are preserved in grace.”
6. Enclosed Garden and Sealed Fountain—these are mystical and poetic expressions that surged from the heart of the great lover, Saint Louis de Montfort, who left us with the masterpiece True Devotion to Mary. Why not pray over these inspired words: “Happy are those to whom the Holy Spirit reveals the Secret of Mary in order that they may come to know her. Happy are those to whom He opens the ‘Enclosed Garden’ and to whom He gives access to the ‘Sealed Fountain’ that they may drink of the living waters of grace.” (Saint Louis de Montfort)
7. Why not give yourself to Mary, entrust yourself to Mary in purity of self? Jesus says: Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God. (Mt 5:8) Saint Bonaventure explodes with Marian enthusiasm: “Entrust your cause to her who is the Mother of mercy, and zealously offer her day by day most special marks of reverence. Endeavor to maintain within body and soul the spotlessness of her purity and walk in her footsteps, humbly and gently like her. (Saint Bonaventure is the Franciscan Seraphic Doctor of the Church.)
8. Against our enemies who are in pursuit of our lives we must find a secure refuge; otherwise we can be easily conquered and vanquished! So it is in our spiritual life: we must seek refuge in Mary. Saint Anthony of Padua, known as the Hammer of Heretics, comes to our aid with these words in honor of Mary: “Seek refuge in Mary because she is the city of refuge. We know that Moses set up three cities of refuge for anyone who inadvertently killed his neighbor. Now the Lord has established a refuge of mercy, Mary, even for those who deliberately commit evil. Mary provides refuge and strength for the sinner.”
9. Our heart can easily be invaded by poisonous enemies; we call that sin and sinful desires. Why not give and entrust your heart to the care and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary? Another Doctor of the Church, renowned for his kindness and meekness, Saint Francis de Sales, teaches us: “Those who want to prevent their heart from being pervaded by the evils of earth should entrust it to the Blessed Virgin, our Lady and our Mother. They will then regain it in heaven, freed from all evils.”
10. If you want to fill the Immaculate Heart of Mary with immense joy, then pray fervently, fully, and frequently the HAIL MARY!!! Saint Louis de Montfort praises this heavenly greeting to Mary, who should be the Queen of all Hearts! “The salvation of the whole world began with the ‘Hail Mary’. Hence, the salvation of each person is also attached to this prayer.”
