Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Instituted by Pope Pius XII, this commemoration was transferred from May 31 to the octave of the Assumption, so as to associate her crowning as Queen of Heaven and earth with her glorious assumption, body and soul, into Heaven.
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Mass Readings
First Reading – Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah departed with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab. Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband. She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her there that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her. Naomi said, “See now! Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!” But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 146:5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10 (R. 1b)
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them. R.
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free. R.
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
The LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers. R.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia. R.
Gospel – Mt 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Featured Saints
Blessed Thomas Percy, matyr (†1572). Earl of Northumberland, beheaded in York for his opposition to the supremacy of Queen Elizabeth I, and for refusing to renounce his Catholic Faith.
Blessed Bernard Peroni, religious (†1694). Franciscan Capuchin who, after having carried out the humblest functions in several monasteries of the Order, died at ninety years of age in the convent of Offida, Italy.
St. Philip Benizi, priest (†1285). Zealous promoter of the Order of the Servites, he considered Christ crucified his sole book.
St. John Wall, priest and martyr (†1679). Franciscan religious hanged, drawn and quartered in Worcester, England, at the time of King Charles II, for his fidelity to the Catholic Faith and to his priestly ministry.
Blessed Simeon Lukač, bishop and martyr (†1964). He clandestinely exercised his ministry in Ukraine, then under Soviet domination. He died from tuberculosis contracted in prison.
Blessed Elijah Leymarie de Laroche, priest and martyr (†1794). Imprisoned in a sordid galley in Rochefort, France, for refusing to sign the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, he died as a result of illness contracted there.
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