Thought for the Day – 13 May – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Mary, Our Hope
In the beautiful prayer, known as the Salve Regina or Hail, Holy Queen, the Church salutes Mary as “our life, our sweetness and our hope.”
Mary is our hope, because, she gave us our Saviour, Jesus and, because, she prays to Him continually for the graces which we need.
Following the example of Luther, modern Protestants raise the objection that Mary cannot be regarded as a source of hope, because, all our trust should be placed in God.
Anyone who places his trust in creatures, draws down God’s curse upon himself, they say and, they go on to quote from Jeremiah: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man” (Jer 17:5).
But this is true only, when we trust in creatures independently of God, as if we can derive any good from them, without recourse to God.
We invoke Mary, however, as the Mother of God and our Mediatrix with Him.
She is our hope, insofar as she obtains for us from God, the graces and favours which we require.
St Bernard assures us, that God has placed in Mary’s hands, all the riches which He wishes to bestow on us (Serm de aquaed).
“He will never experience eternal ruin,” says St Anselm, “for whom Mary has once prayed.”
St Bernard calls upon Mary as the foundation of all his hope (Ibid).
Let us remember, that Mary is our loving Mother who wishes us to pray to her, because, she knows that if she intercedes on our behalf, she will certainly be heard.
It should be most consoling to us to have such a good and powerful Mother in whom, we can safely trust in every peril and in every necessity.
Let us pray to her with love and faith, in the certainty that, we shall be answered in the way that is best for us.
Let us say along with St John Damascene: “O Mother of God, if I place my trust in you, I shall be saved. If I am under your protection, I have nothing to fear, because to be devoted to you, is to possess a weapon of salvation which God grants only to those, whom He desires to redeem” (Serm de Nat, cap 4).
Antonio Cardinal Bacci
AnaStpaul 
I prefer Jer. 17: 7-10. Again, those who in someway attach a limit to God are so very wrong in their logic. For example, what do they think of Mary in Genesis and Revelation, or when an Angel honors her because she is the one who is full of graces and therefor more powerful than the Angel!
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I know – it’s truly ridiculous.
How would we feel if people were disrespectful to our mothers? And this is the Mother of GOD! DUH!
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I know how her Son cares and though he also suffers still that his Mother is rebuked bothers him more. I know how I feel about our Mother and I feel so sad. Makes me love her more and bring closer as if I defend her myself.
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Absolutely. My posts on other platforms on Mary are frequently and violently attacked.
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