One of the images of Our Lady that remains in my mind from childhood, is that of a beautiful lady wearing a crown of gold, with a halo of 12 stars around her head.  She is looking down on us, her children, whilst under her foot is the serpent, its head being crushed by her purity and transcendent goodness.  Ok, so it’s a childhood fantasy – but is there not also a very serious adult message in all of this?

I recall some words from Father Jonathan’s blog of last week.  After setting the scene for the Assumption of Mary into heaven, he went on to describe her vital role in the salvation of mankind, in that she was instrumental in bringing God’s Word to us.  He began with some words of reassurance regarding Our Lady:

“It is because of the Word of God – and in the Word of God – that we can be sure of victory. The role of Mary is that of total and absolute unity with the Word, and she leads us to him.”

Father’s words of reassurance were an ‘antidote’ to his words of warning just a little earlier:

“Directly opposed to this letting God’s Word live in us is, of course, the very powerful evil one, who is out to destroy all that is good, all union with God, and all communion and real love between people.”

And so, the mind of a child sets out for us – does it not – some of the very real truths we still need to live by?  On the one hand we have God in all his majesty, goodness and love for mankind – his creation.  From his ‘hands’ we have the Word of God, brought to us by Mary, his Mother, and, through the auspices of Son and Mother, we are brought redemption and the very real chance of salvation of our souls, the promise of heaven and a life of eternal happiness with God, Our Father.  Then as Father pointed out, on the other hand we have that awful and dreaded prospect of sin and death should we turn our backs to God, deny Him and His goodness, and ‘lie down’ with the serpent, and then, rather sadly, to be crushed by Mary’s heel.

Mary, we believe, was assumed body and soul into heaven, once her earthly life came to an end.  After that, we also believe that she was crowned Queen of Heaven – and all this because of her vital role in the salvation and redemption of mankind – a role that she performed, perfectly, as a life-long vocation.  Small wonder, then, that she was rewarded by God for her great contribution to the good of the human race.

All this came about, in the first instance, because of a thought that came in my head about the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony.  I was mulling over what sin was about, the really big ones and then the ones no one seems to bother about today – the smaller less serious offences that are still offensive to God.  I had another thought in mind and that concerned St. Teresa of Avila.  As a nun she had many periods of acute illness, during which she claimed that exercises in meditation took her from her lowest stage, ‘recollection’, to ‘devotions of silence’ and even to ‘devotions of ecstasy’, the last stage being one of perfect union with God.  It was at such times that the distinction between mortal and venial sin became clear to her, and on this note she said: “… she came to understand the awful terror of sin and the inherent nature of original sin. She also became conscious of her own natural impotence in confronting sin, and the necessity of absolute subjection to God”.

Going back to Father Jonathan’s earlier point, concerning evil, a fear now reinforced by St. Teresa, we have recourse to only one way out and that must be God’s way.  God’s way is followed to the ultimate degree by God’s Son, the Word of God, by Mary, his Mother, and by all the saints and martyrs down the ages.  We try to follow – I am sure – but often fail.  However, we must never give up hope, and, if we keep on trying our best, then we shall be rewarded by God’s favour, eventually; we can be sure of that.

Talk of sins and sinning is not a very popular subject these days.  Most of us would rather discuss matters of a more pleasant nature, and thus our concentration moves away from the wrongs people do themselves, and towards other people.  Our newspaper headlines are full of stories that outline all the ingredients of the Deadly Sins mentioned above, and society appears to be doing very little about it.  In fact we appear to be going from bad to worse, most of the time, and consciences no longer seem to prick, as they once did.  If they still do, then the points are not as sharp!

As a population, we may draw the line at child cruelty, torture and the killing of a child of tender years, but there is a deadly selection and plenty more of quite horrendous and heinous crimes, in the rest of the list – terrorism, murder, rape, conspiracy and corruption, to say nothing of all kinds of abuse on children, youths, young men and women – and a great deal of the latter types of offence appears to have gone on for years, without credence, without discovery, and without punishment for many years.  The other very worrying factor in all of this is that many of the most serious types of offences are being committed by people, not of the lower orders – the ‘working class’ brigade – but by people in higher authority, people in positions of trust, people in the public eye – and many have become accustomed to the use of their name, rank and position to escape the natural consequences of their actions.  It is, in my view, a rather sad reflection on the England of today.  However, it is not just our own country that is in a mess – look at the rest of the world – and then think again about the power of the evil one!

The last paragraph seems to rob this blog of all hope – but that is not the intention – not by any means!  We began with Mary and her Coronation in heaven.  She and her Son, Jesus, are enough – and more – to bring us back to God’s promise.  Crowned Queen of heaven, she is our solace, our advocate, our fount of mercy and our hope.  She will always lead us to Jesus and to God Our Father, and she is always the victor in any fight against evil.  She lived that way all her life, and should we ask for her help, she will always fight in ‘our corner’ and help us to win through.   She is, after all, our mother too, and she loves us with a mother’s love – just as she loved – still loves – Jesus.

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Queen of Heaven and our most gentle Queen and Mother – Pray for us.

Socius