The Queenship of Mary

Dear Regina,

Am I wrong, or have you been reading Harlequin Romances again?  You gave yourself away in your last email – to say that you are “positively and passionately convinced” that God wants you to find a boyfriend this year, that you “feel surging through your veins and your very soul a deep spiritual yearning for intimate romantic companionship”, to say such things is, well, a bit extreme.  Don’t get me wrong, we are all made for love, and the restlessness in our hearts is, ultimately, directed to fulfilling that vocation. But seeking romance for romance’s sake is a dangerous approach to life on campus. It’s kind of like putting the cart before the horse, as they say. Today’s Memorial of the Queenship of Mary explains why.

Today’s memorial, which lifts the minds and hearts of all Christians to heaven, where we behold our Everlasting Lord enthroned in glory, and beside him his Mother Mary, assumed body and soul into heaven (we celebrated that even seven days ago – I’m sure you remember, because the Assumption is holy day of obligation, so you certainly went to Mass…), sharing in his rule by extending her motherly solicitude to all his brothers and sisters.  It is to Christ’s glory that he has given Mary an exceptional role in the establishment of his Kingdom.

Anyway, enough beautiful abstractions.  The point is that as a Christian, you have been given in Mary a model of perfect womanhood that non-Christians simply don’t have.  It is hard for them to see how they should direct their innate yearnings for intimacy, for love, for self-giving. This instinct is naturally linked to sexual desire, and the potent mix is called “romance”.  But the wisdom you have received as a Christian reminds you that original sin upset the natural order of our desires, especially the most powerful ones – like the inclination to love and sexual desire. So you can’t just let these fallen natural desires have their sway.  You must master them and put them in order, otherwise they will master you, and you will become their slave.

If you put all the power of your love first of all at the service of Christ, then he will guide you to the wildly satisfying fulfillment of all your desires, much more so than if you tried to design heaven by yourself, without him.  This is Mary’s lesson for us. Her motto was, “Let it be done unto me according to your word,” a motto she followed perfectly her whole life long. And look how she was rewarded! Not only does her purity and virginity shine like the sun over the entire moral universe, but her motherhood is the most fruitful in the history of the human race!  That’s what happens when we follow Christ and submit our plans and hopes to him – our most glorious dreams are far surpassed by his infinite wisdom and unlimited power.

So don’t set your sights on romance, as if that alone would satisfy the longings of your heart; set your sights on Christ and his Kingdom, after all, he’s the greatest matchmaker the world has ever known.

Your loving uncle, Eddy