Rejoice O Queen of Heaven, a re-post

Note: This Rejoice, O Queen of Heaven, is a re-post from last Easter, 2022. I hope we’re in a much better place this time, well, we are at least in some ways. Happy Easter to you!

+JMJ+ A traditional prayer of the Church is the Angelus, prayed three times a day: 6:00 am, 12:00 noon, and 6:00 pm. During the Easter season this prayer is replaced by the Regina Caeli, below.

Regina Caeli

V: Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
R: The Son you merited to bear, alleluia,

V: Has risen as He said, alleluia.
R: Pray to God for us, alleluia.

V: Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R: For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray.

God of life, You have given joy to the world
by the resurrection of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through the prayers of His mother, the Virgin Mary,
bring us to the happiness of eternal life.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

I chose the image of Christ appearing to His Mother to emphasize that this prayer is about Him as much as or more than it is about His Mother. What makes her the Queen of Heaven is the fact that her Son is the King, the King of the Universe. And the prayer is about her cause for joy in that her Son has risen. Indeed, this is the cause of all our joy. He is the reason those faithful to Him will all rise again. But very special is the joy of His holy Mother who alone of all of His disciples and followers was there from the very beginning, all the way through all the joys and sorrows and the glory, to the end. And now she is with Him in heaven and her joy will have no end.

You may have seen the painting of The Angelus (above) by Jean-François Millet, showing a couple in a field, pausing in their labor to pray at the sound of the bells ringing in the spire of the church, visible in the distance. I first saw this painting when I began working at a Catholic bookstore. I had no idea what it was then or what the prayer was, either. And I didn’t know about the Regina Caeli until a few years after that. So much to discover and learn. Happy sigh!

Thanks for visiting the blog and reading. I pray that you and I will stay holy and virtuous this Easter season, and may we become who the Lord intends us to be: SAINTS. Pray for me, and know that I pray for you. God bless you and may His Peace be with you during this Holy Week and always. +JMJ+

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Notes and Links

Read more about the Regina Caeli prayer at Knights of the Holy Eucharist. Scroll down that page for a link to download a PDF of the prayer.
See The Angelus and the Regina Caeli at The Angelus Prayer site.
While Christ appearing to His mother after the Resurrection is not recorded in Scripture, it is a pious tradition.
Read more about the painting of Christ appearing to His Mother at the Met.
- Read an article in PDF format, about paintings of this scene: The Resurrected Christ Appearing to His Mother in Late Medieval Netherlandish Altarpieces.
- Read more about the pious tradition.
• Read about the Angelus painting and the artist, Jean-François Millet.
- More about the artist.
- Read about the spire on churches in the Brittanica.

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Image: Christ Appearing to His Mother, by Juan de Flandes, commissioned by Queen Isabella to be a close copy of one by Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. The Angelus, by Millet, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.