Today in Poland we celebrate the anniversary of the first polish constitutions and in the Church we have the feast of Mary Queen of Poland. I must admit that I don’t like our Marian-patriotic holidays. These pompous speeches and sermons do not encourage me to follow Jesus in my life. That is why I’m so glad that today’s Gospel presents a scene that does not fit with the image of Queen of Poland. We meet Mary under the cross, bravely putting up with the suffering – dirty, tired, crying, no blaze of glory.
Today’s celebration is an opportunity for my examine of conscience. Am I like Mary? Not the one crowned with a wreath of stars, but the one who showed us how to live – the one who boldly accepted the twisted will of God, gave birth to Jesus in a stable, fled to Egypt, made lunch for little Jesus in Nazareth and anxiously looked for him in Jerusalem; the one who stood beneath the cross faithfully till the end and kept all the sufferings and pains carefully in her heart. She really had the right to complain, blame others, to fight for her own justice. But she humbly accepted the reality and among that reality tried her best to fulfill the will of God.
Many have tried to make Jesus the king, who will liberate our nation and lead it to the barricades of glory. In the same way, we want to push Mary into the role of „immaculate advocate of the Polish nation,” who will protect us from all evil (in particular all the foreigners…). However, the only crown we can put on Jesus is the crown of thorns – He is a pitiful king by our standards. Today, let us not forget that like king, like queen.
