Crowned Beside Our Lady

He raises up the lowly from the dust; from the dunghill he lifts up the poor
To seat them with princes, with the princes of his own people. // Psalm 113:7-8

One of my favorite places to go to daily Mass is a beautiful church called the Church of Saint Mary—dedicated to our Blessed Mother. Set into the high altar piece above the tabernacle is a beautiful mosaic of the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is seated on a cloud in the center with her Son on her right and the Father on her left together holding a crown above her head, and the Holy Spirit as a dove hovers above her while little angel heads rim the upper part of the mosaic.

One morning last summer, I sat in meditation with that image during Adoration. I was praying with the Parable of the Prodigal Son (see Luke 15:11-32), imagining myself in the scene coming repentant to the Father, intending to offer myself as a servant. In a single instant I felt the Holy Spirit showing me the Father throwing His cloak over me, calling me His daughter, but not just that—showing me that, like Mary, I am meant to receive the crown of Heaven, to be “another Mary.” She, the most perfect of human women, received the crown, so that we all would receive it with her.

Sister, I don’t know where you are on your journey with the Lord, if you are struggling to pull yourself out of sin, feeling the drudgery of your daily life, or frustrated at your inability to be consistent in your resolutions. The Lord wants to wrap you in His cloak of mercy and place the grace-filled crown of daughtership on your head. I know the idea is daunting, but “[d]o not be afraid” (Luke 1:30) for the Lord to lift you up from the dust of your fallenness (see Psalm 113:7).

Ask the Blessed Mother to embolden you with the faith to say with her in today’s Gospel, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). And the “Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Luke 1:35) and transform your life into one of true daughterhood.