The Queenship of Mary

From the Office of Readings:

Observe how fitting it was that even before her assumption the name of Mary shone forth wondrously throughout the world. Her fame spread everywhere even before she was raised above the heavens in her magnificence. Because of the honour due her Son, it was indeed fitting for the Virgin Mother to have first ruled upon earth and then be raised up to heaven in glory. It was fitting that her fame be spread in this world below, so that she might enter the heights of heaven on overwhelming blessedness. Just as she was borne from virtue to virtue by the Spirit of the Lord, she was transported from earthly renown to heavenly brightness.
So it was that she began to taste the fruits of her future reign while still in the flesh. At one moment she withdrew to God in ecstasy; at the next she would bend down to her neighbours with indescribable love. In heaven angels served her, while here on earth she was venerated by the service of men. Gabriel and the angels waited upon her in heaven. The virgin John, rejoicing that the Virgin Mother was entrusted to him at the cross, cared for her with the other apostles here below. The angels rejoiced to see their queen; the apostles rejoiced to see their lady, and both obeyed her with loving devotion.
Dwelling in the loftiest citadel of virtue, like a sea of divine grace or an unfathomable source of love that has everywhere overflowed its banks, she poured forth her bountiful waters on trusting and thirsting souls. Able to preserve both flesh and spirit from death she bestowed health-giving salve on bodies and souls. Has anyone ever come away from her troubled or saddened or ignorant of the heavenly mysteries? Who has not returned to everyday life gladdened and joyful because his request had been granted by the Mother of God?
She is a bride, so gentle and affectionate, and the mother of the only true bridegroom. In her abundant goodness she has channelled the spring of reason’s garden, the well of living and life-giving waters that pour forth in a rushing stream from divine Lebanon and flow down from Mount Zion until they surround the shores of every far-flung nation. With divine assistance she has redirected these waters and made them into streams of peace and pools of grace. Therefore, when the Virgin of virgins was led forth by God and her Son, the King of kings. amid the company of exulting angels and rejoicing archangels, with the heavens ringing with praise, the prophecy of the psalmist was fulfilled, in which he said to the Lord: At your right hand stands the queen, clothed in gold of Ophir.

American Pilgrimage

For anyone interested in making this pilgrimage see  Pilgrimage for Restoration and check out the FAQ page.

 From Spero News:

In late September, one group of such spiritual wayfarers walks the seventy miles from Lake George, New York, to the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville. Their journey is called the “Pilgrimage for Restoration.”

Make no mistake, the spartan nature of the pilgrimage is deliberate. Mr. Gregory Lloyd, the pilgrimage organizer, openly declares it “an exercise of penance and prayer.” Lloyd, a philosopher, linguist, and happy father of seven, is the Executive Director of the National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (NCCL), an organization whose members and affiliates “embrace the traditional doctrine and practice of Holy Church, with all its demands.”

Perhaps it is to train these tough-minded Catholics for “all its demands” that they exercise their faith in such a foot-blistering manner.

The pilgrimage, now in its twelfth year, is no mere athleticism, though. It is a spiritual exercise “for the restoration of a new Christendom, and in reparation for sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” Lloyd says. Pilgrims walk through the woods of verdant upstate New York singing hymns, praying the Rosary, and meditating together in their small brigades, each of which is named after a saint or an important Christian mystery. At night, they camp in tents or under the open sky.

With the recent publication of Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, the papal motu proprio making the traditional Latin Mass more widely available, it is likely that this year’s pilgrims will be offering heartfelt prayers of thanksgiving. Since its inception some twelve years ago, the Pilgrimage for Restoration has always had priests who celebrate that rite of Mass as part of the routine of prayer. In fact, one intention of the pilgrimage has long been “the restoration of the Catholic family and the Latin liturgical tradition.”

The Masses on the pilgrimage trail are offered in a makeshift chapel-tent, while the closing Liturgy is a Solemn Mass, complete with Gregorian Chant and all the austere pageantry of Latin Christendom.

The pilgrimage’s combination of arduous physical effort and interior delight accompanying the spiritual exercises (especially the predawn daily Latin Mass) has been described as “the agony and the ecstasy.” All is not painful, though, and certainly nothing is dour in this journey. In fact, there is plenty of Christian mirth along the way, especially when the young people stage a talent show on Thursday night.

Global Warming Update: Artic August

NYC Sets Record For Coldest Day:Chilliest August High Set In 1911

Don’t forget to bundle up if you’re headed out in New York City today. After all, it is August 21.

The city along with the rest of the tri-state region is feeling the chilly effect of a cold front sweeping through the region, accompanied by cool rain showers.

Tuesday’s high temperature in Central Park was just 59 degrees. The normal high for today is 82 degrees. The normal low is 67.