Dear St. Rita Families,
Today, August 2, is the feast of Our Lady of the Angels, which gives us opportunity to reflect both on Mary’s humility and her exaltation by God. It is said that the angels who sinned (the devil, etc.) were “jealous of man. A whole theological tradition will retain this idea in the form of a refusal on the part of Lucifer to accept the future prospect of an Incarnation of the Word.”[i] The reason for this jealousy is simple enough: man, made in the image and likeness of God, is by nature lower than the angels. Not only are we physical beings (and therefore corruptible and very finite), but our intelligence – a spiritual faculty – is also much reduced in comparison with the angels. Despite all that, God ordained that He would become one of us, and NOT an angel. To Lucifer, this decision was unconscionable, and he, jealous of puny mankind, rejected both it and God, saying, “Non serviam” – “I will not serve.”
Then, when Christ had accomplished His earthly mission and ascended into Heaven, the humiliation was complete. Humanity, now glorified, took its place at the right hand of God in Heaven – on His Throne! The Letter to the Hebrews says it this way: “But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor” (2:9). The angels who did not reject God’s plan rejoice immensely at this triumph and likewise at God’s mercy for exalting mankind from so lowly to so high a state (remember Psalm 47, “God mounts His throne to shouts of joy”). They rejoice in God’s Mercy, Benevolence, Generosity, and Goodness, while the demons are left sulking, sad, wailing and grinding their teeth, fading away into nothingness.
What does all of this have to do with Our Lady? Mary, sinless from the first moment of her conception, is the one person apart from Christ in whom the image of God is most manifest. It was the dignity of that image that the devil could not abide[ii], and so he hates Mary immensely. Further, as the one through whom the Word became Incarnate, Mary is a particular object of the jealousy of the devils. Conversely, however, the good angels play a particular part in Mary’s mission as Mother of God. St. John Henry Newman (who Pope Leo just announced will become a Doctor of the Church!) says that the title Queen of Angels “may be fitly connected with the maternity of Mary, that is, with the coming upon her of the Holy Ghost at Nazareth…and with the consequent birth of Our Lord at Bethlehem.”[iii] The presence of the Archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation shows his deference to the plan of God and to Our Lady herself. The Book of Revelation likewise details the role of St. Michael the Archangel in protecting Mary after the birth of Our Lord (cf. Rev 12). Newman’s conclusion is that “Now, as then, the Blessed Mother of God has hosts of angels who do her service, and she is their queen.”[iv]
Mary’s great claim is her humility, which is the virtue entirely opposed to the jealousy of the devils. In contrast to irrevocably wanting (and even demanding) something that God in His infinite Goodness has not willed, Mary humbly, joyfully, and gratefully accepts whatever God’s mission is for Her. Her entire life was hidden in God. She was (and is) misunderstood and accused. She placed her lot with Her Son, condemned to death as a criminal. She earnestly but quietly supports the early Church and the flawed men who are given to lead it. She never tries to usurp authority or to take a role that is not hers. And, at the end of her life, she is taken up into Heaven, echoing the Ascension of Her Son. She is likewise crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth, sitting at the left of Her Son as the Queen Mother was wont to do in ancient Israel. Her exaltation is a fulfillment of Our Lord’s words, “anyone who humbles himself will be exalted” (Mt 23:12).
Of course, the angels are present for these moments, and for many others, too! Any painting of the Assumption of Mary or of her Coronation or her Immaculate Conception features myriads of angels surrounding her. There is an old prayer “O Mary, Crowned with Stars” containing the line, “for thy throne the wings of angels” (see the 1910 Raccolta). Pious tradition tells us that Mary’s house from Nazareth was lifted up from the Holy Land and carried by angels to the town of Loreto, Italy, where it is now surrounded by a beautiful Basilica and is a popular site of pilgrimage for saints and sinners alike.
The presence of Our Lady and the Angels has also had powerful import for the entire Church. The little Church now known affectionately as the Portiuncula in Assisi, Italy was actually called the Church of Our Lady of the Angels. It became the favored spot of St. Francis of Assisi and is the place where he would eventually die. St. Josemaria heard the tolling bells of another Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Madrid, Spain on October 2, 1928, at the very moment when he saw God’s mission for him, which would become Opus Dei. He understood the bells to be a confirmation from God of what was being asked of him.
Today, the Church grants a plenary indulgence to all who devoutly visit *any* parish Church (including St. Rita!) and pray the Nicene or Apostles’ Creed and the Our Father (with the other usual requirements for a plenary indulgence). The origin of this indulgence is the petition of St. Francis of Assisi, and it originally applied only to visiting the Portiuncula Church in Assisi. It has been extended include all parish Churches now, but only on August 2 (or on the titular feast of a particular parish Church). In gratitude, then, for Our Lady’s humility, we, too, ask for this extraordinary grace, desiring that only the will of God be accomplished in us and through us, for it is that will that created us, redeemed us, and saves us!
In Christ,
Fr. Christensen
[i] Danielou, SJ., Jean. The Angels and their Mission. Translated by David Heimann, The Newman Press, 1957, p. 47.
[ii] Ibid., p. 45.
[iii] Newman, St. John Henry. The Mystical Rose. “Meditations and Devotions”, pp. 28-29. Edited by Joseph Regina, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, 1996, p. 90.
[iv] Ibid., p. 91.