Scott Hahn - Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God

CONTENTS

FOREWORD
by Father Kilian Healy, O. Carm.

EVERY MOTHERS SON:
Confessions of a Marian Prodigal

CHAPTER 1
MY TYPE OF MOTHER

CHAPTER 2
CHRISTMASS EVE

CHAPTER 3
VENERATORS OF THE LOST ARK

CHAPTER 4
POWER BEHIND THE THRONE

CHAPTER 5
FROM TYPING TO TEACHING

CHAPTER 6
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?

CHAPTER 7
THE ULTIMATE CHURCH

CHAPTER 8
A CONCLUDING UNAPOLOGETIC POSTSCRIPT

To Hannah

FOREWORD

by Father Kilian Healy, O. Carm.

A FEW MONTHS BEFORE her death, Saint Thrse of Lisieux fulfilled her dream to express in song everything she thought about the Blessed Virgin Mary. She entitled her long, twenty-five-stanza poem Why I Love You, O Mary. Her desire was to tell the truth about Mary, and she draws all her knowledge of Mary, facts and events, from the gospels. For Saint Thrse, Mary, Mother of God, is her spiritual mother and heavenly queen, but more mother than queen. Among her more than fifty poems, this song of love is considered the favorite by Thrses readers and disciples.

Scott Hahn, in Hail, Holy Queen, tells us not in poetry but in prose why he loves and honors the Virgin Mary and why we should love and honor her too. While (like Saint Thrse) he finds Marys role revealed in the gospels, his search goes beyond them. He is a firm believer in the principle of Saint Augustine that the New Testament is concealed in the Old, and the Old revealed in the New. Not surprisingly, then, he finds Mary foreshadowed in the Old Testament, especially in Eve, the mother of all the living, in the ark of the covenant, and in the queen mother of the Davidic reign.

Moreover, she is the heavenly queen, clothed in the sun in the book of Revelation. He finds her too in the Tradition of the Church, especially in the Church fathers and in the dogmas of the Church (which are interpreters of scripture).

Scott Hahn tells his story in a personal and humble way, always conscious of the false interpretations of Marian doctrine and devotion he once held in his youthful anti-Catholic days. In writing this book he has an opportunity to correct them. But his primary motive is to write for all Christians who will listen, especially for his fellow Catholics, for he wants them to appreciate the place of Mary in their lives.

This brings us to a question: will Christians of different denominations listen to him? I am optimistic. In the past, Mary has been for many an obstacle to unity, but in the last thirty years, since the Second Vatican Council, great strides toward unity have been made. Biblical scholars, both Catholic and Protestant, have come together to study scripture. In 1967 the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary began in England, and included leaders in the Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, and Orthodox Churches. In 1976 the society was founded in Washington, D.C. Members of both societies meet regularly and publish their findings. Vast problems remain unresolved, but some progress has been made and the societies forge ahead with hope and vision. May Mary, the Mother of All Christians and Mother of Unity, take their efforts to heart, intercede to the Holy Spirit, and help bring about the reunion of all Christians.

One final question: how should we approach this book? My own judgment tells me that it would be a mistake to consider this a bedside companion. Its rich content needs to be pondered and digested. It could serve as a textbook for a class in Marian studies. It would be ideal for a Marian study group. With the Bible in one hand and this book in the other, readers could gain interest and enthusiasm from discussions of the scriptural types of Mary and the Churchs dogmas. Only through study, reflection, and prayer will these revealed truths lead to an appreciation and love of Mary, mother and queen, and consequently to a love of the God of mercy Who has given her to us.

When Saint Thrse wrote her song of praise, she gave her reason in this way: In you the Almighty has done great things. I want to ponder them and bless Him for them.

Scott Hahn has pondered the wonders God has wrought in Mary, and he wants to share them with us. He invites us to gaze lovingly on our mother and queen. She is the model and exemplar for all her children. One day she will take us by the hand and lead us gently to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

May this book, a labor of love, bring forth the response it deserves.

Feast of the Queenship of Mary, August 22, 2000

INTRODUCTION

EVERY MOTHERS SON: CONFESSIONS OF A MARIAN PRODIGAL

F OR ALL MY newfound piety, I was still fifteen years old, and all too conscious of cool.

Just months before, Id left behind several years of juvenile delinquency and accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. My parents, who were not particularly devout Presbyterians, noticed the change in me and heartily approved. If it took religion to keep me out of juvenile detention, so be it.

Zeal for my new faith consumed me, most of the time. But one spring day, I was aware of something else consuming me. I had a stomach bug, with all the unpleasant symptoms. I explained my predicament to my home-room teacher, who sent me to the school nurse. The nurse, after taking my temperature, told me to lie down while she phoned my mother.

From the conversation I overheard, I could tell Id be going home. I felt instant relief and dozed off.

I awoke to a sound that cut me like a razor. It was my mothers voice, and it was saturated with maternal pity.

Ah, she said when she saw me lying there.

Then suddenly it dawned on me. My mother is taking me home. What if my friends see her leading me out of the school? What if she tries to put her arm around me? Ill be a laughingstock

Humiliation was on its way. I could already hear the guys jeering at me. Did you see his mother wiping his forehead?

If I had been Catholic, I might have recognized the next fifteen minutes as purgatorial. But to my evangelical imagination, they were sheer hell. Though I stared at the ceiling above the nurses couch, all I could see was a long and unbearable future as Mamas boy.

I sat up to face a woman approaching me with the utmost pity. Indeed, it was her pity that I found most repugnant. Implicit in every mothers compassion is her little childs needand such littleness and neediness are most definitely not cool.

Mom, I whispered before she could get a word out. Do you suppose you could walk out ahead of me? I dont want my friends to see you taking me home.

My mother didnt say a word. She turned and walked out of the nurses office, out of the school, and straight to her car. From there, she mothered me home, asking how I felt, making sure I went to bed with the usual remedies.

It had been a close call, but I was pretty sure Id escaped with my cool intact. I drifted off to sleep in almost perfect peace.

It wasnt till that night that I thought about my cool again. My father visited my room to see how I was feeling. Fine, I told him. Then he looked gravely at me.

Scottie, he said, your religion doesnt mean much if its all talk. You have to think about the way you treat other people. Then came the clincher: Dont ever be ashamed to be seen with your mother.

I didnt need an explanation. I could see that Dad was right, and I was ashamed of myself for being ashamed of my mother.