Queen Mother

Publish date 19-04-2021

by Chiara Dal Corso

A magnificent Italian example of the Mother of God enthroned with the Child, seated as Queen of Heaven. Most likely the icon, now preserved in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, according to various dating and attribution attempts, dates back to the 13th century, and to a Tuscan craftsman, located between Pisa and Siena, and belongs to the elegant style, simple and refined Byzantine. We have already spoken of Mary "Queen of Heaven" (cf. Np December 2019). She is seated on the throne, as a queen, on the pre ¬ that indicates sanctity, sacredness, on the throne that indicates her dominion of her. The angels present on either side of the throne indicate all the heavenly hosts, of which she has become queen.

Her clothes, like those of her Son, are covered with a splendid network of gold threads (they are called assists) which, in addition to embellishing them, indicate that the presence of God is in these People. Both look out of the icon, in the same direction: they look towards the Father. And this "looking" is to be oriented, to listen, to obey the Father. This is the thing that most makes Mary similar to Jesus. "Here I am the servant of the Lord" are the words she pronounces not only to the angel on the day of the Annunciation but every day of her life, lending her soul, the his heart, all his actions completely to God, so that he can practice it with full freedom. It is an expression of Mary's immense trust in God, a trust that cannot be improvised at the age of 14-15, and assures us that she had already known her Lord: Mary certainly loved him already, she was already all hers, was already in a very deep confiden¬za with him, and although not knowing all his drawings on her, she was already willing to welcome him completely, without opposing resistance. It is, as we know, the sign of the deepest love between two people, the desire to love what the other desires. Mary is like that, for this reason she defines herself as a "servant", not in the sense of "executive" submission, no, but to put herself at the complete disposition of God's will. Jesus himself a few years later will confirm the great truth about her mother, saying that this same gift that she gives to God, opens her to a sea of ​​infinite grace, such as to make her Mother of God, and familiar with him, partakers of the nobility and rega ¬lity of his "family ¬glia": "Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is a brother, sister and mother to me" (Mt 12:50). In one sentence, the Mother confirms, and also opens the door to all those who want to be part of this family, that is, to be truly children of God, intimate with him, partakers of his gifts and knowledge of him.

Mary was completely so, and God liked her availability so much that he made her queen of the heavens, and the "throne" of Jesus, that is the place where he is free to reign, therefore where the her Kingdom: in her her boundless love can run free, her grace can finally act and work all the wonders of which she is the bearer because finally in this soul she does not find obstacles, resistance, coldness, mistrust .. and then she is the new Paradise for Jesus, she is his true mother, the one who can console him and fully understand all his pains. She is the first, the example, of what the love of God can do in those who give him carte blanche. Happy New Year.

NP Gennaio 2021

Chiara Dal Corso

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