Page 43     

                                                                                                                                                                    `                                                                                   

The Fifth Glorious Mystery - The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin

CHAPTER 11

How Gloriously God Has Exalted Saint Mary on Her Heavenly Throne


Then let him who has fathomed the incomparable degree of grace that Mary acquired on earth, grasp
also the singular
glory which She thus obtained in Heaven. Let him who can do so,
comprehend with what love the Most Holy Trinity blessed Mary. Let him comprehend the welcome given
to His Daughter by the Eternal Father; to His Mother by the divine Son; to His Spouse by the Holy
Ghost. The three divine Persons, placing Her throne at the right of that of Jesus, declared Her
Sovereign of Heaven and earth.

But it is impossible that anyone could comprehend how exalted is the throne to which Mary was
raised in Heaven. If, as the Apostle tells us (1 Cor. 2:9), the mind of man can never comprehend
the immense glory prepared in Heaven by God for those who have loved Him in their mortal lifetime,
who could ever comprehend the glory that He has prepared for His beloved Mother, who, more than all
men, loved Him on earth - nay, even from the very first moment of Her creation, loved Him more than
all men and angels combined?

Rightly, then, does the Church sing on the feast of the Assumption, that the holy Mother of God has
been exalted to a heavenly throne above all the choirs of angels. Thus while all the orders of
angels and saints are divided into three hierarchies, so does Mary of Herself constitute a
hierarchy apart, the most sublime of all, and next to that of God.

Mary, the sovereign Lady of the angels, is incomparably exalted above the angelic hierarchies. Her
glory is above comparison with theirs, even as a mistress is above comparison with her servants.
For the difference of the glory of Mary from the glory of other saints in Heaven lies in this, that
the glory of Mary is a full and
saints in Heaven lies in this, that the glory of Mary is a full and