hi joynetters, I would like to answer this query in two parts.. alse it will be too long. Part One The "queen of Heaven " as mentioned in the book of Jeremiah was an ancient goddess worshiped by the syrians, the ephesians, the egyptians in the times of jeremiah . She was considered the High goddess and the mother of all other gods and goddesses and was called by different names by different people. The Ephesians called her Artemis and the Egyptians called her as Isis. The Jews picked up these practices and were indulging in idolatory. They were worshipping both Yahweh and this goddess and also a host of other gods and goddesses like Baal and Asherah. Jeremiah was warning people to be faithful to the Lord and to him alone. But the people were complaining that by being faithful to the Lord they have suffered a lot of material losses , so they would prefer to keep all of them happy. Now what we have to realise is that this reference is from the Old Testament around 400 years before Mary could be born. We have to understand this passage in context.. Jeremiah refers to a pagan Goddess and not to Mary the mother of Jesus. In the early Christian Church , this title was given to Mary by the people and also by the fathers of the church. 2 probable reasons could be seen for this.. firstly the early christian church was mostly composed of greeks, egyptians, etc. who knew the concept of " the queen of heaven". This was an attempt by the Church to give the Pagan practice a Christian meaning. Like it did for the feast of Christmas which we know was a Roman feast in Honour of the Sun God. The second reason flows from the definition of "Queen of Heaven" as the mother of all the gods and goddesses. Mary is the Mother of jesus who is God. Therefore Mary is The Mother of God and is therefore the Christian " Queen of Heaven". There is a marked difference between the pagan and christian definitions of "Queen of Heaven". The Pagan " Queen of Heaven" is a Goddess in her own right and is supreme over all other gods and goddesses. Mary is Queen of Heaven not because of her own merits but because she is the mother of jesus who is the king of heaven and earth and all things. If Jesus is King ...obviously his mother is the "Queen Mother".
for example.. Kunti as Rani-Maa whom we encounter in the Mahabharata. Even observe Solomon's behaviour when Bathsheba approaches him for some favours. The "Regina Coeli" ( Latin words mean Queen of Heaven) which is a prayer we say during the easter season in place of the Angelus is a very old prayer.. It goes thus Queen of heaven, rejoice. Alleluia. For He whom you did merit to bear, Alleluia. Has risen as He said, Alleluia. Pray for us to God, Alleluia. V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia. R. Because Our Lord is truly risen, Alleluia. We can therefore see that the church views mary as the mother of Jesus , and as a powerful intercessor for each one of us. We would all vastly benefit if we take this view of the church as our own.. Not only would we have the Mother of jesus as our own mother( a fulfillment of the last words of jesus from the cross), we would also have an intercessor who will not be refused anything (i refer here to the miracle at cana, where jesus did a totally material and non-spiritual thing like changing water to wine , because she asked. He could have refused, he didnt. I also refer to the countless miracles the world has seen because of her intercession for the past 2000 years ). To be continued.......................................... Love and Prayers Ravi --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! =============================================================================== This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. For more info on the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet To unsubscribe from the list send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet/join In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ===============================================================================
