“From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.”
Chosen before the ages, established in the Church, Our Lady intercedes for us in the holy abode, she lives among us, and of us she is Queen. She has chosen us as a glorious people, a legacy of her divine Son, a host of saints. And it is significant that, through a singular symmetry, the hymn of the Dedication of a church Cœlestis urbs Jerusalem [“The heavenly city Jerusalem”] composed by St. Ambrose – whose feast we celebrated yesterday – can be applied to Our Lady: “O sorte nupta prospera, dotata Patris gloria, respersa Sponsi gratia, Regina formosissima, Christo jugata principi, cœli corusca civitas.” “Married by providential destiny, adorned with glory by the Father, crowned with the grace of the Bridegroom, most beautiful Queen, united with Christ the Prince, shining City of Heaven.”
On this blessed day, let us remember the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, preserved from every stain of original sin to be the living and uncontaminated tabernacle of the Most High. And while the world, corrupt and enslaved by sin, offers as a model a corrupt and vicious femininity, despising virginity, purity, and motherhood, we honor in the Ever-Virgin Mother of God She who rightly is also the Mother of the Church and our Mother.
We are children of the Blessed Virgin Mary and children of the Church, because the Virgin begets us in Christ to the Father, and at the foot of the Cross we have been entrusted to her by Him as children, and she to us as Mother. And the Church also generates us in Christ to the Father through Baptism, to the Church we are entrusted as children at the foot of the altar, and that water and blood that flowed from the side of the Lord flow abundantly in his Sacraments and in the Holy Mass, showing us the love of the divine Bridegroom for the bride, the Charity of Christ its Head towards the Mystical Body.
Do not forget, dear brethren, that as it is not possible to go to the Father except through His only Son, so it is not possible to go to the Son except through the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Queen, our Advocate, our Mediatrix at the Throne of God, our life, our sweetness, our hope. And there is no Church where there is no Mary, our Mother and Mother of the Church, our Queen and Queen of the Church.
We therefore honor Our Lady, who has placed in the new Jerusalem – the Holy Church – her abode, and who has chosen to live “in the midst of a glorious people,” as the book of Ecclesiastes states. A people that is glorious and honored not due to its own virtues, but because it has been sanctified by the Grace of God, by belonging to that Holy City to which we are all called. A people who today must regain the pride of their identity, the pride of belonging to Christ, the honor of standing under the holy insignia of the King of kings. A people who over the centuries have been able to build a Christian society that is now despised and banned by those who, rebelling against Christ, do not even tolerate that the blessed name of His Most Holy Mother Mary should even be pronounced.
Gathered in the Spanish Square, in front of the statue of the Immaculate Conception that the public authority erected to honor its Mother and Queen, let us renew our tribute and make it our purpose to rebuild, on the rubble of an apostate world, that “ordo Christianus” (“Christian order”) that alone can guarantee peace to mankind, concord among peoples, prosperity for nations, salvation for souls. This reconstruction, this spiritual and moral rebirth for which each of us longs, will be possible only if we know how to recognize the social kingship of Our Lord and live with coherence the Faith we profess.
This we ask, this we implore with firm and trusting faith in the Mother of God: Salve Regina, Mater misericordiæ… “Hail Queen, Mother of mercy…”
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
