Through Her, We Received Life (Saturday, Week 20, Year 2, Queenship of Mary, Aug. 22)

History helps us recall that Ezekiel performed his prophetic ministry shortly before and during the Babylonian exile, one of the most depressing moments in the history of Israel and Judah, between 592 and 570 BC. His message was simple: to inject hope into the suffering people of Judah and to urge them to remain faithful to God. 

In the 10th chapter of this prophecy, Ezekiel foresaw the departure of the glory of God from the Temple because of the faithlessness of the people. What we have in the first reading today is a reversal of what happened in chapter 10: this time around, Ezekiel saw a striking vision of the entrance and return of the glory of God into the Temple where God pitched His throne and chose to dwell in the midst of His people. The glory of God surged from the East into the Sanctuary like the rush of mighty waters; and this must have been a clear message of hope to the people (who were almost given up hope) that God is the source and restorer of (their) life. As a Father, Creator and Giver of life, He restores life to lifeless situations.  

As we reflect on that, we remember that we too lost the life of grace, the glory of God and His gracious presence out of disobedience in the Garden of Eden. But this unfortunate event of loss of God’s presence and glory has been reversed by the intervention of Christ our King who had pitched his throne and chosen to dwell in our midst for our salvation. Through Christ and in Christ, we have received life, an abundance of life. As we remember with gratitude and wonder this special intervention of God in the person of Christ His beloved Son, we cannot and should not forget that there was a woman who humbly accepted to play a special role in that salvation event. That woman is the person we celebrate today: Mary Our Mother and Our Queen. She humbly accepted to be and actually became the mother of the King of the Universe, the Vessel through which Life was delivered to us. For this reason, she deserves our honor and respect. Out of humility, she did not take this honor upon herself; it was bestowed upon her by God.

In the gospel, Christ spoke against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the Scribes who loved places of honor at public gatherings and sought to be saluted at marketplaces. Out of pride, they took upon themselves the honor of being revered and saluted at public places while their lifestyles eloquently presented them as people who didn’t deserve honor and respect. In our time, many people give some impression that they are in desperate need of honor, titles, reverence, recognition and salutations. We want to answer honorable members, his/her Lordship, Majesties and Excellencies, and so on. But do our lives match with these self-satisfying desires that we have? Mary is a Queen who proved by her life that she deserved to be recognized as such. That is one of the reasons why we honor her. 

Secondly, in the gospel, Jesus said that “we should call no one on earth our father” (Matt. 23:9). Jesus did not mean to say that we should not recognize our male parents as fathers. By that statement, He was actually objecting to an attitude that denies God as the Father of us all and the source and giver of life. God has given us life; and through Mary, He has made this Life more abundant for us in the person of Jesus. When we think about the uncountable killings, abortions, dehumanization and destruction of life very prevalent in our time and age, we see that we have now adopted an attitude of believing and acting on the premise that LIFE BELONGS TO US, NOT TO GOD.