Mary, Queen of All Saints

On All Saints' Day, it is to be admitted that Virgin Mary, Mother of the Holy Church, is the Queen of Saints… all of this and more.

Of all the titles given to the Blessed Mother as tokens of devotion, the title “Queen of All Saints” ranks among the most popular. Roman Catholic parishes and parochial schools throughout the world proudly display their allegiance to the Mother of God through this title.

Virgin Mary is an example of perfection, but she’s not an inaccessible icon, sitting on a remote throne far away. As Queen of Saints, She opens her arms wide, embracing a group of fallen humans who keep trying.

The feast of All Saints certainly is one of the happiest feasts we celebrate in the Church’s liturgy. For this feast celebrates not only the victory of our loved ones who have gone before us but our hope and final destiny as well. To know that our loved ones are already there and have won the victory over sin should inspire us as well in our sojourn on this earth. This joy is ours even as St John wrote, “what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.”

It is true to say that the feast of All Saints is a celebration of every one of us and not just the saints in heaven? In a way it is true that this is our feast, but we have not yet arrived, although we all have what it takes to become a saint. Hence, the second reading begins with an attitude of thanksgiving for having the honour to be able to call ourselves sons of God. To become a Saint is simply to become completely what we already are – a child of God, loved by the Father. This presupposes that we are transformed in the image of His Son, and so share in God’s own life and happiness. So although we are God’s children, we do not enjoy the full sonship until we become like God. How then can we arrive with the saints in heaven and share in the joys of the saints?

saints are those who have lived out their identity as the children of God. Indeed, by virtue of our baptism, we are all made children of God. As St John says, “Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are. Because the world refused to acknowledge him, therefore it does not acknowledge us. My dear people, we are already the children of God.” The question is, do we believe that we are children of God? The truth is that the early Christians did, and that is why St Paul addressed the early Christians as saints. In the first reading the angels were instructed thus, “Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

It is as good as refusing to acknowledge this reality with the rest of humanity in the world. When we deny our identity as the children of God and therefore saints in principle, we would then not bother to live as such. So it is important right from the start to always to remember who we are: children of God and His saints.

Prayer:

O blessed, heavenly souls! Help us in our misery and intercede for us with the divine Mercy, so that we may be granted some part of your joy and you may share with us some of that clear knowledge which is now yours.

“And You, O my God, make us understand what it is that You give to those who fight manfully through the dream of this miserable life. Help us, O loving souls, to understand what joy it gives you to behold the eternity of your bliss and what delight to possess the certain knowledge that it will never end.

“O blessed souls, who knew so well how to profit by the gifts of God, and to purchase with this precious ransom so delectable and enduring a heritage, tell us how you won through Him such an eternal blessing! Assist us, since you are so near the Fountainhead. Draw water for those of us on earth who are perishing with thirst” (Teresa of Jesus, Exclamations of the Soul to God, 13).

“O saints of heaven, I am the least of all creatures. I know my worthlessness, but I also know how noble and generous hearts love to do good. Therefore, O blessed inhabitants of the heavenly City, I entreat you to adopt me as your child. All the glory you may help me to acquire will be yours; deign, then, to hear my prayer and obtain for me … your love …”