Note: The reflections contained in today's homily are taken entirely from Edward Sri's book Queen Mother: A Biblical Theology of Mary's Queenship, Emmaus Road, Steubenville 2005.
 
Mary is the Queen of heaven and earth and our Queen because she is the Mother of our Lord and because she cooperated in Christ's redemptive work of salvation. "Since she was uniquely associated with Christ's suffering on the Cross, she was uniquely associated with His triumph and royal reign in the kingdom" (Queen Mother, 9). Assumed into heaven, Mary entered the royal court of heaven and sits at the right hand of her Son, Christ the King. As our Queen, Mary directs us, protects us and intercedes for us.
 
In his encyclical letter Ad Caeli Reginam (1954), Pius XII teaches that Mary is a most excellent queen because of her Immaculate Conception by which she possessed a fullness of innocence and holiness, as well she is a most efficacious queen as she shares in Christ's influence over humanity, distributing graces through her motherly intercession. "With a heart that is truly a mother's ... does she approach the problem of our salvation, and is solicitous for the whole human race; made Queen of heaven and earth by the Lord, exalted above all choirs of angels and saints, and standing at the right hand of her only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, she intercedes powerfully for us with a mother's prayers, obtains what she seeks and cannot be refused" (AC, 42).