The Visitation and the Queenship

Today in the Novus Ordo rite, we celebrate the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth, and in the traditional rite the Queenship of Mary is celebrated. These two feasts are linked in a way and each lead us to an understanding of the other. The Queenship celebrates Mary as queen of heaven and earth and in celebrating the Visitation, we celebrate what makes her queen.

Mary was crowned queen because Her Son is King, but also because She was sinless and was God’s most perfect creature, exemplifying the virtues needed for a holy life perfectly. We see this in the Visitation, where Mary embodied charity and humility, going with haste to care for Her cousin Elizabeth in her pregnancy despite Her own recent conception and recognizing that everything She had been given came from God and turning the focus back on Him when Elizabeth recognized Her as “the Mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43). She quite literally fulfilled the task of bringing Christ to others when She visited Elizabeth with the Christ Child in Her womb, but more importantly She fulfilled this spiritually by carrying all of the virtues of His Sacred Heart in Her own heart and soul and sharing them with others. In uttering Her Magnificat, She explained what gives Her strength and where all of Her blessings had come from. She puts the focus where it belongs and doesn’t praise Herself for becoming the mother of God or helping Elizabeth.

This is how we must behave when we perform works of charity and this is what makes Mary Queen of heaven and earth. She is the role model for all of humanity in their lives, just as Jesus as King is also a role model. She fulfilled Her roles perfectly, which exalts Her above the rest of mankind and gives them an ideal to strive for. Just as an earthly country may look up to their queen, so too does all of heaven look up to Mary and we on earth should also as we strive to bring Christ to others.