Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
On the 15th of August we celebrated the Assumption of Mary body and soul into Heaven.  The Church considers this such a profound mystery of our Faith that this is a Holy Day of Obligation. The attendance at the Masses at Mary Immaculate was great, especially considering the repaving of the street in front of the church.
On the Octave of the Assumption, or the eighth day, the Church celebrates another mystery of the Faith involving Mary.  August 22nd is known as the Queenship of Mary, celebrating Mary being crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth.
This event is also remembered when we pray the Glorious mysteries of the Rosary.  Mary being crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth is the fifth glorious mystery.
Of all the mysteries of the rosary, all of them occurred somewhere in the Holy Land except for two or three if you consider the Holy Land to be just present day Israel.  The site of the baptism of the Lord, which is by tradition held as where Jesus was baptized, is on the Jordan side of the River Jordan.  The baptism of the Lord is the first luminous mystery of the rosary. The Assumption of Mary has two sites contending as to where Mary was taken up body and soul into Heaven.  One in is Jerusalem, and one is in Ephesus, which is in present-day Turkey.
The crowning of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, is the only site of a mystery of the rosary that we cannot visit until making our final pilgrimage, because it took place in Heaven. When we talk about Mary being crowned queen, what happened to her in Heaven is even greater than that: She is being honored as the Mother of Jesus.  This is just our way of understanding an honor far beyond mere human comprehension. So we use the image of an earthly honor that is the highest to us.
The purpose of honoring Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth is to honor her for her part in human salvation.  We want to use her as a model to do God’s will in our own life and to ask her to pray for us to her Son Jesus Christ.
Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, pray for us!
Msgr. Cox
Coronation of the Virgin Mary, Velasquez (1642)