Marian Dimension of the Kingdom of God

In the third luminous mystery of the rosary, we consider the Call to Repentance and the Proclamation of the Kingdom. About the concept “Kingdom of God” there is a strong masculine tone; but prayed within the rosary to Mary it is placed within the Queenship of Mary so that a balance between the masculine and feminine is maintained.

This balance between the masculine and feminine is at the heart of every culture and community but is given great emphasis in the Catholic cult of high Mariology. When Christ gave us Mary as our mother from the cross and when the Father assumed her physically and totally into heaven as Queen of heaven and earth, the feminine was elevated to glory and to a privileged participation in Christ’s reign from on high. One of the missions of the Holy Spirit on earth has been to maintain this inspiring, sanctifying feminine influence in balance with the masculine dimensions including apostolic authority and decisiveness. And so, within the early Church, we see almost immediately the emergence of orders of virgins, widows, and feminine martyrs who exert powerful, if quiet influence on the Church. By contrast, we see within Islam, Pharisaic Judaism, Protestantism and all iconoclastic monotheisms a devaluation of the feminine and a host of consequent pathologies.

American culture is Protestant and Protestantism is, in great part, a flight from the Marian, maternal or feminine aspect of the Church: rejection of sacraments, cloistered life, relics, pilgrimages, intercession for the souls and invocation of the saints. Late Protestant American culture is a split personality resulting from a bad mother connection: on the one hand, we have hypo-masculine, hyper-feminine secularizing liberalism which contrasts with hyper-masculine, hypo-feminine evangelical conservatism. The former is inclusive, compassionate, and accepting but reactive against boundaries, law, authority, tradition and definition. The later tends to moralism, legalism, individualism, competition, self-righteousness and aggression. The former is, of course, the Democratic Party; the later the Republican Party. So, we have the sad situation of Catholics voting in a majority for the party of abortion because of a hyper-feminized disgust for a hypo-feminized party of strong defense, small government and family values.

If mainstream American culture is dysfunctional with regard to gender balance, where do we look for such integration? We can look to a wide range of smaller, counter-cultural groups and movements: Marian groups, homeschoolers, renewal movements, right-go-lifers, natural family planners, traditionalists, Catholic Worker-types on the far left, culture warriors on the far right, and even to fellow-travelers within liberal and evangelical circles. Most of all, of course, we look to the heart of the Church: the liturgy and the sacraments, the daily prayer of the Church, the guidance of the Magisterium, the communion of saints in heaven and on earth, and to our Lady herself.

On this Solemnity of the Mother of God, let us pray that we get the gender thing right: that we might emulate the mutuality, reverence and affection shared in the Holy Family by Jesus, Mary and Joseph.