How can Mary be our life, our sweetness and our hope?

[mariospeed]

“Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

Our family says the rosary (almost) daily, and I always wonder at the phrase “*our life, our sweetness and our hope” *contained within this prayer. It smacks a bit of co-redemptorix thinking. Our Life? Our Hope? Would the world truly have been damned had she said no? My love and respect to her for being a perfect model of a Christian, but do we assign too much to her in these words? The rest of the prayer is beautiful…and excellent end to the Rosary!

Feel free to edit this post for ease of reading.

Thanks!

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear Mario,

How often have we heard people refer to their children as their life? We are not inclined to take this literally. It doesn’t mean that their children have taken the place of God in their life. It simply expresses how important their children are to them.

So with Mary! She is special–not because she has any super power on her own! She is our life because she is the channel the Father chose to bring us her Son. She is our sweetness and our hope for the same reason. We love her so much because she is His mother! Such consideration of Mary does not diminish the reality of who her Son is; it magnifies it. She is special because of how much more special He is. Or do we think that He doesn’t deserve a mother who could be our life, our sweetness and our hope? Her soul and everything about her MAGNIFIES the Lord!

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.