Cathedral Family,

Do you ever wonder if your prayers are being answered?  If God knows our heart and mind all the time, doesn’t He already know what we need?  Why must we “petition” God in order for us to receive something from Him?  If you wonder about these things, you are a pilgrim on a journey to union with God.  The reason God wants us to “ask, seek, knock” is precisely so that we will build a relationship with Him.  More than anything else, God wants to be our Father who provides all we need. Yet, He also designs that we help each other on our journey to Heaven.  So, when we have need, we pray to God for help, and if we are smart Christians, we ask others to pray for our needs.  

For His own reasons, God has designed our journey to Him to include each other.   We call this “The Body of Christ.”  We are connected to each other as one cell is connected to another in the body.  We depend on one another for the health of the whole.  As St. Paul says, “If one part of the Body hurts, the whole body hurts.”  We are meant to help each other — because we are not made self-sufficient.  We need to be in relationship with other people in order to image the God who makes us in His image.  All of this to say that we celebrate on August 22nd, the Queenship of Mary.  The Mother of God is our Queen Mother. Mary, under this title, is the patroness of our Diocese of Metuchen.  The essence of Our Lady being a Queen is that her role before her Son, the King, is to intercede on our behalf.  In the Old Testament, if you wanted a favorable hearing from the King in regard to your need---then approach the King’s mother—known as the Queen Mother.  She would then ask the King on your behalf —the conventional wisdom was that the King would never refuse His Mother’s request.  

Let us renew our confidence and go to Mary, our Mother, for help.  She wants nothing more than to ask for what we need in order to continue our journey of being a faithful disciple---day by day.  One day will be our last day.  This is when we implore her the most---“Now and at the hour of our death.”  It will be our Queen Mother who accompanies us to the gates of heaven.  

As we continue in these last days of summer break, be sure to take the time to rest in the Lord. Even for a few minutes each day.  The more we become aware of God’s loving presence in our midst, the more we surrender to His peace, a peace that the world can’t give.  

Have a blessed week!

In Jesus,

Father Christy