Bishop Vigano : Homily on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
SALVE, REGINA
Homily on the feast of the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Salve, Regina. These are the opening words of one of the prayers that is simultaneously both rich with doctrine and spirituality, and also most dear to the Christian people. It is the simple, composed, reverent greeting of an infinite host of souls that rises up from every part of the world – and also from the purifying pains of Purgatory – to the August Virgin Mother, Our Lady, whom we honor as Queen by virtue of Her Divine Motherhood, of the merits of the Co-Redemption and of the very special privileges with which, in view of the Incarnation, She was awarded by the Most Holy Trinity. Those voices are joined by those of the angelic Hierarchies and of the Saints, who from their dwelling place of glory celebrate She who, above all creatures, was chosen to be the Tabernacle of the Most High, the Ark of the Eternal Covenant in which is kept the fullness of the Law, the Bread of Life, the scepter of …More
"Not only the faithful – who invoke Her as Auxilium Christianorum – but also the Holy Church, which venerates Her as Her own Mother and Queen, entrust themselves to Her merciful intercession. During this terrible eclipse that has obscured the Bride of the Lamb and replaced Her with a heretical counterfeit, we invoke the help of the One who alone has routed all heresies in the entire world – quæ sola cunctas hæreses interemisti in universo mundo, the Liturgy says – so that She may give us strength and perseverance, hasten the triumph of the Church of Christ, and destroy the infernal plans of the Adversary and his servants, both internal and external. The crisis that is troubling the ecclesial body can only be healed when the Hierarchy returns to the feet of the Mother of Mercy and Regina Crucis."