Mary: I love her, but I have some questions

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The words Our Lady of Guadalupe is purported to have said to Juan Diego include “Am I not the fountain of your joy?”

Also, in the Hail, Holy Queen we say Mary is “our life, our sweetness, and our hope.”

Is Mary a fountain? Meaning she generates on her own? And is she the fountain of our joy? Not only Christ?

And is Mary our “life” and our “hope”? Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is our life and our only hope.

Please help me understand, CAF.
 
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Searching1 said:
Is Mary a fountain? Meaning she generates on her own? And is she the fountain of our joy? Not only Christ?
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Every fountain I have seen simply flows with the water (or other liquid) that has been placed inside it. Fountains to not generate water themselves.

Mary is a fountain of the joy that comes from God.

Our Life, our hope, this is romance language. Like when you buy your mom a coffee mug that says “most beautiful mom on earth”. That is not a lie, it is the language of love.
 
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Searching1 said:
The words Our Lady of Guadalupe is purported to have said to Juan Diego include “Am I not the fountain of your joy?”

Also, in the Hail, Holy Queen we say Mary is “our life, our sweetness, and our hope.”

Is Mary a fountain? Meaning she generates on her own? And is she the fountain of our joy? Not only Christ?

And is Mary our “life” and our “hope”? Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is our life and our only hope.

Please help me understand, CAF.
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Salvation (death in the state of sanctifying grace) is a result of both the grace of God, and the individual free will cooperation with that grace. Since the communion of saints help us with our cooperation, especially The Mother of God, she can be a fountain.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
962 “We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints is always [attentive] to our prayers” (Paul VI, CPG § 30).

966 “Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” 508 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death. 509
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508 Lumen gentium 59; cf. Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus (1950):DS 3903; cf. Rev 19:16.
509 Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion , Feast of the Dormition, August 15th.
DS Denzinger-Schonmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum (1965)
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If Christ is the Living Water, who is more full of the Living Water than she is? So would not “fountain” be an appropriate word, because she does not keep him to herself, but shares him with anyone who comes? A dry, empty fountain is a boring thing. But a fountain full of water is beautiful, and performs exactly as it was created to do.
 
Searching1 said:
Is Mary a fountain? Meaning she generates on her own? And is she the fountain of our joy? Not only Christ?
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A foutain needs a plumbing system and water. If you think about it, a fountain is just a cointainer that needs something to flow through it.
 
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The book “True Devotion to Mary” by St. Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort will answer alot of your questions you have about our blessed mother.
 
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I don’t see any problem with the fountain figure. She is the greatest fruit of humanity and first among saints. She can help you as can all the saints.
 
Breaking it down the way I always mean it when I pray…
Hail Holy Queen
Mother of Mercy (Jesus)
Mother of our Life (Jesus)
Mother of Sweetness (Jesus)
Mother of Hope(Jesus)
 
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It would help to know your faith background. What is your faith story?
 
Searching1 said:
Is Mary a fountain? Meaning she generates on her own?
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To be fair, she did generate life in her womb. The Holy Spirit didn’t place the Christ Child in her womb; she, herself, conceived, of the Holy Spirit who overshadowed her . She literally generated life!
And is she the fountain of our joy? Not only Christ?
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She is the fountain from which proceeds Christ, so… yes!!!
 
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Searching1 said:
Is Mary a fountain? Meaning she generates on her own? And is she the fountain of our joy? Not only Christ?

And is Mary our “life” and our “hope”? Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is our life and our only hope.

Please help me understand, CAF.
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For me, I think, “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you.” As in always. As in eternally.

Like St Louis de Montford says, it would be easier to separate the heat from the sun’s rays than to separate Mary from Christ.

When I’m sitting in the Sanctuary I feel as though I am in her, as Jesus was at the incarnation. I look to the tabernacle & know he is there with me, in her.
 
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This book is probably the most over the top romance language for our Lady that is out there. I would not suggest it to someone while they are wrestling with the “Mary issues”. Had I read that book early in my conversion process, it would have confirmed every single “Worshipping Mary” story I had ever heard.

What I would suggest reading at the point where our OP finds themselves is Fulton Sheen’s “The World’s First Love” followed by Dr Hahn’s “Hail, Holy Queen”.

TDTM is good for some people, it is not the “this book will help you understand the Marin dogmas and clarify the teachings” book. It is a love letter.
 
I just read this in the Office of Readings
They are many sons, yet one son. Head and members are one son, yet, many sons; in the same way, Mary and the Church are one mother, yet more than one mother; one virgin, yet more than one virgin.
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Found it on the WWW

This is very much how I understand Mary & the Church
 
San Louis brings up scripture as a precedent for having love for Jesus’ mother and her role in everything. OP already stated he loves her, it is only logical OP reads “True Devotion”.
 
We each have our own uniqueness.

Are you a convert from fundamentalist protestantism?

For many of us converts, True Devotion is a book that has been used back up the claims that Catholics worship Mary as God. It is best to understand where a person is in the conversion journey, and for me TD early in my process would have simply proved what I was afraid of - that Catholics really did worship Mary - and I just may have pulled away. I’d read that book when I was trying to find reasons NOT to be Catholic.

It was more than two years after I entered the Church before I prayed a rosary on my own, and that was done with much trepidation. I did it the day I finished reading the Sheen and Dr Hahn books. I actually said out loud “God, if this is a sin, please forgive me”. See, I could assent to the four dogmas, but, I knew that some of the devotions were over the top and I had witnessed people who appeared to worship Mary.

You may have been a cradle Catholic who did not have to unlearn many things, but, some of us need less flowery language before we can get past the hurdle.
 
TheLittleLady said:
You may have been a cradle Catholic who did not have to unlearn many things, but, some of us need less flowery language before we can get past the hurdle.
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Even as a cradle Catholic, I think some of it would go too far for my comfort.
 
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