Maria vårt hopp

Mary Is the Hope of All

PEOPLE outside the Church cannot endure our calling Mary our hope. They say that God alone is our hope, and that He curses those who put their trust in creatures, according to the prophet Jeremiah: Cursed is the person who trusts in human beings (Jer. 17:5).

Mary, they argue, is a creature, and how can a creature be our hope? But in spite of this the Church recommends that all priests and religious raise their voices every day in the name of all the faithful and call Mary by the sweet name of "Our Hope" --- the hope of all.

St. Thomas says that we can place our hope in a person in two ways --- as a principal cause and as a mediate cause. Thus those who expect something from a king put their trust in him as their sovereign, and in his ministers or his favorite as intercessors.

When the favor is granted, it comes really from the king, though the favorite is the intermediary. Hence the petitioners have a right to call the minister or favorite through whom they received it their "hope."

The King of Heaven, being infinite Goodness, desires in the highest degree to enrich us with His graces. But because confidence is a necessary condition for being heard, and because He wants to increase our confidence, He has given us His own Mother as our Mother and intercessor, and has granted her all power to help us. So it is that He wishes us to place our hope for salvation and every blessing in her.

Those who put their hope in creatures alone, apart from God, as sinners do, and who do not hesitate to outrage the Divine Majesty, just to gain the friendship and patronage of another human being, are certainly cursed by God in the sense intended by Jeremiah.

But those who put their trust in Mary, who (being the Mother of God) is able to secure grace and eternal life for them, are truly blessed and acceptable to the heart of God. Surely He desires to see this greatest of His creatures honored, since she loved and honored Him in this world more than all human beings and angels together .

St Alphons de'Liguori biskop och kyrkolärare