Return to The Reign of Mary No. 192
The Reign of Mary
No. 192: Letter from the Editor
June 13, 2024
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Dear friends in Our Lady,
Praised be Jesus and Mary. How many years do you think Our Lady lived on earth? According to tradition, found in the writings of various Fathers of the Church, Our Blessed Mother was about 16 years of age at the birth of her divine Son, which means that she was approximately 49 years of age at the time of His Passion, Death and Resurrection. But how many more years did she remain on earth and why?
There are various estimates given by the Fathers and spiritual writers. In his famous Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Abbe Orsini quotes the opinions of various Fathers to the effect that she lived altogether somewhere between 61 and 72 years on earth. In other words, she would have lived up to about 20 additional years after the Ascension of her Son into heaven.
But why, we might ask, did Jesus will His mother to remain on earth for such a duration? Truly, she had no stronger desire than to be eternally united with Him in heaven. Indeed, it required a continual miracle to maintain in her the union of soul and body, such was the vehement desire of her Immaculate Heart to quit this world and fly to heaven. We can easily understand the reason for this temporary exile, however — it was to comfort and encourage the apostles in their monumental task of converting the world. By her encouragement and her prayers for them, she merited the title “Queen of the Apostles.”
According to Orsini in the above-mentioned work, Our Lady lived in Jerusalem following Pentecost up to the year 44, at which time an intense persecution of Christians broke out in the city. To protect her, St. John, her beloved adopted son, took her to Ephesus, where she lived for another 10-11 years. Then, sensing the end of her pilgrimage approaching, she asked St. John to take her back to Jerusalem, where her holy death (or “dormition”) occurred, and from which she was assumed into heaven.
What was Mary’s principal occupation during the post-Pentecost years of her life? Of course, it was prayer, a continual prayer, centered on the Holy Eucharist. Daily she assisted at the Mass offered by her “chaplain,” the beloved apostle John. From his hands she received the Body and Blood of her Son, whom she had born in her immaculate womb for nine months. Her life was truly centered on adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and for this we give her the title “Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament.” May her example inspire us to love and adore the Sacred Heart of Jesus, ever present on our altars!
In the service of Jesus and Mary,
Rev. Fr. Benedict Hughes, CMRI (Email)