My dear parishioners,
Peace! On the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October, 2019, Pope Francis established the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, to be observed each year on the 10th of December. At the same time Pope Francis proclaimed a Lauretan Jubilee Holy Year to run from 8 December, 2019 through 10 December, 2020. There are fifty-one invocations in the Litany of Loreto. The following is a reflection on the forty-first invocation: Queen of Patriarchs, pray for us.
There are thirteen various forms of Our Lady’s Queenship considered in the Litany of Loreto. Here we consider specifically what it means to say that Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God is the “Queen of Patriarchs.” Having already considered Our Lady’s Queenship in relation to the angels, we now turn to her reign over the Patriarchs. Who are the Patriarchs?
Genesis 5:1-32 includes a list of ten patriarchs who lived before the Flood (Antediluvian Patriarchs): Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. Genesis 11:10-32 provides another list of patriarchs: Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, and Abram who would become Abraham (cf. Genesis 17:5). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are also numbered among the Patriarchs of old (cf. Genesis 48:15; 50:24; Exodus 2:24; 3:6, 15-16; 4:5; 6:3; 33:1; Leviticus 26:42; Numbers 32:11; Deuteronomy 1:8; 6:10; 29:13). Abraham is the patriarch par excellencementioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob re invoked by the “God of the living” in Matthew 22:32. The Lord Jesus acknowledges Zachaeus as a “son of Abraham” in Luke 19:8-9. Even the opponents of the Lord Jesus invoked Abraham’s patriarchy (cf. John 8:33). All the families of the Earth are blessed in Abraham’s seed (cf. Acts 3:25). Abraham is our father according to the flesh and father of many nations (cf. Romans 4:1, 11, 17). Abraham’s belief is reckoned righteousness (cf. Galatians 3:6). Those of faith are sons of Abraham (cf. Galatians 3:7, 29). Melchizedek blessed Abraham (Hebrews 7:1). Abraham by faith obeyed and went where the Lord sent him (cf. Hebrews 11:8).
While so many of these are heroes of the faith, Our Lady, their Queen and ours, is even greater. Noah had his ark, Mother Church is a greater vessel. Abraham was given the covenant sign of circumcision, ours is a greater circumcision in Christ (cf. Colossians 2:11). When we read in Revelation 4:4 about the twenty-four thrones around the throne of the Lamb in Heaven we can see the Twelve Apostles and the Twelve Patriarchs who are sons of Jacob/Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher and Joseph (cf. Exodus 1:1-5; Matthew 10:1-4; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16). Without Our Lady, Queen of Patriarchs we have neither Christ nor His mystical body the Church. Whi her we have these and the salvation they provide. May our devotion, fidelity and obedience to the Queen of Patriarchs redound to God’s glory, our salvation.
Father John Arthur Orr