Our Lady, Terror of Demons

Sunday 9th August

Our Lady, Terror of Demons:
Our Lady is known in many roles – comforter of the afflicted, refuge of sinners, mother to all. But it is also she who crushes the head of the serpent. It is she who defends us in battle.
The Canticle of Canticles (6:3), describes her "as terrible as an army in battle array”. The Epistle of the Mass on the Feast Day of the Assumption reflects this aspect of Our Lady, in a passage from the Book of Judith 13.22-25:
“The Lord hath blessed thee by His power, because by thee He hath brought our enemies to naught. Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies. Because He hath so magnified thy name this day that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord, for ever”.
Unlike God, Our Lady is a mere creature, and yet her power lies in her humility and complete and willing submission to God’s will – her fiat. The Rosary, the Angelic Psalter, is the most powerful weapon in our spiritual arsenal. It was the Rosary, prayed for months by the soldiers and the populace, which was believed to have been decisive in the Battles of Lepanto (1571) and Vienna, (1683). After the Battle of Lepanto, Pope Pius V added the title to Our Lady of “Queen of the Most Holy Rosary”.
An insightful description of the nature of Our Lady’s humility, the totality of her fiat, and her capacity to inspire us, was given by Kevin Wells, in his book, “The Priests we need to Save the Church”, Sophia, Manchester, New Hampshire, 2019. He related a conversation where a priest described Our Lady’s importance to his priesthood, as inspiration for him to be a true father to his flock, as follows:
“’Mary is relentless with me’, he said. ‘Here’s how I picture her: I see her on the ground, taking me into her arms at the Fourth Station, and I’m already completely beat and broken.’ He paused as his voice broke and tears began to well up in his eyes. ‘And she looks at me and says, ‘Your Father said, ‘You go and die’. You better do that Son - you undo it. Please undo this now.’ And she helps me up so I can move forward with the cross. That’s who Mary is to my priesthood.’ His tears fell. ‘I can’t be a priest without this relationship with Mary.’”
Our Lady’s presence is a paradox – her strength lies in her humility. Her power lies in her submission to God’s will. As Queen of Heaven, she is with us in our victories and our hard times – it is she who we can call upon to encourage us in carrying our daily crosses because, like all mothers, when we first raise our eyes to look at her, we find that she is already there. She has been with us the whole time.





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