The Queenship of Mary - Memorial
Judges 11:29-39.
The spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He passed
through Gilead and Manasseh, and through Mizpah-Gilead as well, and from there
he went on to the Ammonites.
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD. "If you deliver the Ammonites into my power," he said, "whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites shall belong to the LORD. I shall offer him up as a holocaust."
Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his power,
so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them, from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all) and as far as Abel-keramin. Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection by the Israelites.
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came forth, playing the tambourines and dancing. She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said, "Alas, daughter, you have struck me down and brought calamity upon me. For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract."
"Father," she replied, "you have made a vow to the LORD. Do with me as you have vowed, because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you on your enemies the Ammonites."
Then she said to her father, "Let me have this favor. Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains to mourn my virginity with my companions."
"Go," he replied, and sent her away for two months. So she departed with her companions and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
At the end of the two months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed. She had not been intimate with man. It then became a custom in Israel
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD. "If you deliver the Ammonites into my power," he said, "whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites shall belong to the LORD. I shall offer him up as a holocaust."
Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his power,
so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them, from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all) and as far as Abel-keramin. Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection by the Israelites.
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came forth, playing the tambourines and dancing. She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said, "Alas, daughter, you have struck me down and brought calamity upon me. For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract."
"Father," she replied, "you have made a vow to the LORD. Do with me as you have vowed, because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you on your enemies the Ammonites."
Then she said to her father, "Let me have this favor. Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains to mourn my virginity with my companions."
"Go," he replied, and sent her away for two months. So she departed with her companions and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
At the end of the two months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed. She had not been intimate with man. It then became a custom in Israel
Ps 40(39):5.7-8a.8b-9.10.
Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust;
who turns not to idolatry
or to those who stray after falsehood.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
who turns not to idolatry
or to those who stray after falsehood.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
Mt 22:1-14.
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and
the elders of the people in parables saying,
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."'
Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.'
The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
He said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'
Many are invited, but few are chosen."
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."'
Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.'
The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
He said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'
Many are invited, but few are chosen."
Commentary of the day :
Two bizarre readings today. The first it is impossible for me to say, “Thanks be to God” after. If you think there is a reason to justify someone making a ridiculous vow (and then carrying it out) tell me and I will become a Jew!
Two bizarre readings today. The first it is impossible for me to say, “Thanks be to God” after. If you think there is a reason to justify someone making a ridiculous vow (and then carrying it out) tell me and I will become a Jew!
The Gospel is worthy of further comment which I
will leave for another day or someone more holy than me to respond (see below).
I want to address the feast day which is relegated
to a “Memorial”. It’s the event we recall in the 5th Glorious
Mystery of the Rosary.
Many so called ‘primitive religions’ have a female
deity to balance the masculinity of the ‘principal god’ so its not surprising
for those outside Catholicism to believe that we deify the mother of Jesus. Its
probably not untrue of some Catholics who want to view Mary as Queen of Heaven
sitting alongside Jesus and King of Heaven and Earth.
I have always struggled with the need to give
Heaven a Kingdom context when we imagine in the afterlife there will be no
opposing powers. Kingdoms are so middle ages. But perhaps these concepts were
first expressed in a period of human history when there were lots of wars and
rivalry over land. I believe the more accurate translation of the word Jesus
was quoted as using when He dictated the prayer which has become known as “The
Lord’s Prayer” is ‘reign’, not Kingdom. Either way it implies a dominion over
all other opposing powers.
So why do we need to give Mary a feast calling her “Queen
of Heaven and Earth”? Why do some Catholics feel the need to elevate Mary’s
status so greatly as to even insist that the Papacy declare her “co-redemptrix”
a word meaning that she and Jesus cooperated to redeem humanity. Of course everyone knows there would be no Jesus if not a mother, but to say that Mary shared in the redemptive act just by giving birth is a bit of a stretch. Its like saying my mother is partly responsible (even half responsible for the shame and embarrassment I have brought to those pedophiles I exposed in my book www.unholysilence.com !)
Saint Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173), Armenian patriarch
Jesus, the Father's beloved Son, §683-687 ; SC 203
"Come to the feast"
Your servants' call has invited me, even me!, to the divine wedding prepared
for you, O beloved Son, by the Father, that I may rejoice in ineffable joy here
below in the mystery of the altar, and may rejoice in the heavenly city (Rv
21,2f.) in days to come in eternal, inexpressible and unchanging rejoicing. But
because I no longer wear the splendid garment worthy of the wedding hall; because
I have soiled by the dark sins of my soul the garment given at baptism's sacred
fount O impenetrable Master...,clothe me again anew with your own self (cf. Gal
3,27)and restore to its former splendour my sullied original robe. Since I do
not hear your voice, Lord, speak the word “friend” with accents worthy of
compassion and may I never be thrown down, as was that one, into the pit for
ever.
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