This photograph is of the mosaic apse of Mary's Coronation in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major) in Rome. The mosaic series was completed in 1296. Saints and angels abound. In the center there is a great aureole, an orb of stars representing the cosmos. On left and right there are the coiling branches of acanthus trees offering shelter to all kinds of birds.
Our Father...
It is said that Pope Liberius received news in a dream that the Virgin Mary would pick the site in Rome for a basilica to be dedicated to her. Then on August 5th, the Roman Esquiline hill was covered with snow. Liberius traced the perimeter of the basilica in the snow. August! Did it actually happen that way? Doesn't matter. What matters is that I be prepared and walk the path God opens before me - even in its surprise. Surprises - like snow in summer.
Hail Mary...
The Basilica of St. Mary Major has the tallest belfry in Rome, housing five bells. One is named "La Sperduta" - the lost one. This bell rings every night at 9. Might we share this title with Mary and pray: Crowned Mother of the Lost Ones, of those who are lost in inner chaos or darkness, who have disappeared, who are lost in power abuse, lost in addictions, lost in life's troubles, pray for us.
Hail Mary...
In the Litany of Loreto, Mary is given the title, "Queen of Peace." We prepare for war and spend incomprehensible amounts of money to ready for war. We celebrate war heroes and treat history as a series of wars. Some cathedrals feature the disintegrating banners and flags of war throughout. Would that we studied peace as eagerly, how to create it, sustain it, advance it. "If you want peace, create justice," Pope Paul VI said. Do we even now what that means?
Hail Mary...
The First World War began July 28, 1914. "The thrill of war" we say - excited then to use the newest war technology: tanks, airplanes, submarines, machine guns, flame throwers, poison gas. More than 9 million soldiers, sailors and airmen were killed before it was all over, November 11, 1918. The most deadly war in history. Queen of Peace, have we learned anything?
Hail Mary...
In 1995 Pope John Paul II added, Queen of Families to Mary's Litany of Loreto. We pray for dysfunctional families, addicted families, families of divorce and separation, migrant and displaced families, unbelieving families, families living in poverty and financial insecurity, families ruled by domestic violence...
Hail Mary...
Some people say that the only legitimate families are those comprised of married mother and father with children. But that definition leaves much of the world outside of Mary's care. 40% of babies born in the United States are born to unwed mothers. In our country, 27% of children under 18 live in single parent homes. And what are we to do with phrases that speak of parish family, human family, family of nations. Mary's mother-embrace is wide, wider, widest, don't you think?
Hail Mary...
There is a shrine-church in Orlando, Florida called, "Queen of the Universe." The universe is the new frontier. But for why? So we have a place to which we can escape when we have succeeded in rendering this planet uninhabitable - a ball of extinction, ash and trash? Is the universe the safe vantage we establish the better to bomb our enemies? Or is universe the dazzling, wondrous evidence of God's limitless imagination?
Hail Mary...
Might we add our own title, honoring Mary's Queenship? Perhaps, Queen of the World's Children. Pray that every child would be welcomed and loved. Pray for the girls around the world who are kept out of school, the young boys who are pressed into being soldiers, the children of arranged marriages, the children who are enslaved in work or sex trade.
Hail Mary...
The entire mosaic is suffused with acanthus leaves and flowers. Its roots have curative powers (may our nation be healed of all this hatred). It symbolizes immortality (may we see Jesus face-to-face in heaven). Solicitude for lowly things (may we learn the heart of the Gospel - love for the littlest and the poorest).
Hail Mary...
On the far bottom left there are three saints, left to right: a young St. Francis of Assisi, St. Paul and St. Peter. And just in front of St. Peter, but before the entourage of angels, is a little pope in a red chasuble. That is Pope Nicholas IV - the pope responsible for the creation of this golden mosaic-window into heaven. May we pray for the Pope of Rome who navigates the Church through dangers - like a great ship finding its way through an ice field.
Hail Mary...
Glory be to the Father...
