Fifth Glorious Mystery: The Coronation of Our Lady as Queen of Heaven

To be crowned a monarch is usually to be bestowed with great honour and glory, but the honour of heaven is so different to the honour of this world! Our Lady’s coronation does not derive from her exalted birth right but because of her humble submission to the word of God: “Let what you have said be done onto me”.

Mary is crowned with glory because she shares in the glory of Christ, which is the Cross. The glory of Jesus is not the glory associated with the praise and recognition of the masses; it consists in emptying himself completely for others. Mary too emptied herself for God and the nascent Church, and she too shares in Christ’s glory.

Mary is crowned Queen of heaven despite the fact that she never once left her native land, despite her lowly education, and despite the fact that she never consorted with the rich and powerful of this world. She is a humble girl who lived a life of simplicity and poverty, bearing her only child in a shed used for animals. But she stands exalted above all peoples and all times because of the perfect manner in which she followed the Lord.