T
tuopaolo
Guest
Church Militant:
People outside the Church cannot bear to hear us call Mary “our hope.” They say that God is our only hope and that he curses anyone who puts his trust in creatures: “Cursed be the man that trusts in man” (Jer 17:5). Mary is a creature, they argue, and how can a creature be “our hope”? That is what many non-Catholics say. Nevertheless, Holy Church obliges all priests and religious to raise their voices every day in the name of the faithful and invoke Mary by the sweet name of “our hope,” the hope of all: “Hail, our hope!”
The Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas, says that we can place our hope in a person in two ways: as a principal cause and as a mediate cause. Those who expect something from a king put their trust in him as their sovereign. They put their trust in his ministers or courtiers as intercessors. When the favor is granted, it comes really from the king, though the minister or courtier is the intermediary. In this case, the one who seeks the favor is right in calling the intercessor or intermediary his hope.
Because his goodness is infinite, the king of heaven is most eager to enrich us with his graces. On our part, we must have confidence. To increase this confidence, God has given us his own mother as our mother and advocate and has supplied her with the power to help us. Therefore he wants us to place our hope of salvation and of every blessing in her. To fix one’s hope on creatures alone, independently of God, as sinners are wont to do, and to outrage God in seeking the friendship and favor of men, is to bring down the curse of heaven, says the prophet Jeremiah. But to hope in Mary, the Mother of God, who can really obtain grace and eternal life for men, is to do something very pleasing to the heart of God. For God desires to see Mary honored in this way, that same Mary whom in this world he loved and who loved and honored him more than all angels and all people together.
sanpiodapietrelcina.org/english/glories.htm
I assume you have good intentions, but your implication here is wrong. In the original Latin due to its grammatical case inflections, it is absolutely clear that Mary herself – and rightly so – is being described as our life, our sweetness, and our hope. As another poster said, this is not a case of “either/or” but rather “both/and.” Here’s something St Alphonsus Liguori wrote which explains one of the ways in which Mary is indeed our hope:
People outside the Church cannot bear to hear us call Mary “our hope.” They say that God is our only hope and that he curses anyone who puts his trust in creatures: “Cursed be the man that trusts in man” (Jer 17:5). Mary is a creature, they argue, and how can a creature be “our hope”? That is what many non-Catholics say. Nevertheless, Holy Church obliges all priests and religious to raise their voices every day in the name of the faithful and invoke Mary by the sweet name of “our hope,” the hope of all: “Hail, our hope!”
The Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas, says that we can place our hope in a person in two ways: as a principal cause and as a mediate cause. Those who expect something from a king put their trust in him as their sovereign. They put their trust in his ministers or courtiers as intercessors. When the favor is granted, it comes really from the king, though the minister or courtier is the intermediary. In this case, the one who seeks the favor is right in calling the intercessor or intermediary his hope.
Because his goodness is infinite, the king of heaven is most eager to enrich us with his graces. On our part, we must have confidence. To increase this confidence, God has given us his own mother as our mother and advocate and has supplied her with the power to help us. Therefore he wants us to place our hope of salvation and of every blessing in her. To fix one’s hope on creatures alone, independently of God, as sinners are wont to do, and to outrage God in seeking the friendship and favor of men, is to bring down the curse of heaven, says the prophet Jeremiah. But to hope in Mary, the Mother of God, who can really obtain grace and eternal life for men, is to do something very pleasing to the heart of God. For God desires to see Mary honored in this way, that same Mary whom in this world he loved and who loved and honored him more than all angels and all people together.
sanpiodapietrelcina.org/english/glories.htm