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Gospel: Matthew 19: 23-30
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich
to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Again I say to you,
it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said,
“Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For men this is impossible,
but for God all things are possible.”
Then Peter said to him in reply,
“We have given up everything and followed you.
What will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you
that you who have followed me, in the new age,
when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory,
will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or lands
for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more,
and will inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Jesus has changed my life.
Because of Jesus, I am Catholic. Because of Jesus, I am a priest. Because of Jesus I am the pastor of this parish. Because of Jesus, my world and my priorities have been turned upside down, right-side up.
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Today we celebrate the Queenship of Mary, our belief that she has not only been assumed body and soul into heaven, but also that she reigns as Queen – as intercessor for us – until the end of time.
Mary’s entire life changed – as mine and yours may have – because of Jesus.
Before the angel Gabriel appeared to her, Mary lived an ordinary life. She was a poor Jewish teenager living on the edge of the Roman Empire. None of us would’ve ever known she existed … until God acted in her life.
Suddenly, she became the Mother of God. The future she envisioned with Joseph was now different; he was to become a foster father, having no children with Mary of his own.
A short-time thereafter, Mary and Joseph became refugees, fleeing into Egypt because King Herod wanted to kill the Christ-child.
Thirty-years later, Mary stood at the foot of the Cross, as the fruit of her womb began breathing his last, being treated as the Psalmist says, “like a worm and no man.”
Miraculously, three days later, Jesus was raised from the dead and some time thereafter, he brought his mother body and soul into heaven.
Mary’s entire life changed – even into eternity – because of Jesus.
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How has my own life changed because of Jesus?
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May Mary, Queen of Heaven, intercede for us, that whatever God has given us to do today, we would accept with the same openness – the same “yes” – that she did.
Doing so might change our lives, even into eternity.
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Image credits: (1) Jesus Changed My Life Archives, Providence Church (2) Queenship of Mary, University of Dayton (3) When Mercy Found Me