2) Mary's exceptional Hope and Trust

Renewal of Consecration to Jesus through Mary

There now remain seven days before the great feast of the Annunciation, postponed this year because Easter came early. St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort recommends the Annunciation as being a fitting day for consecration to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary (or renewal of consecrations). He mentions this in his work True Devotion to Mary (1712) where he also refers approvingly to La triple couronne de la bien-heureuse Vierge Mère de Dieu (The Triple Crown of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God), by Fr F Poiré, published in 1634

Accordingly I am posting my translation of excerpts taken from chapter 11 of the  of fourth treatise  in The Triple Crown of the Blessed Virgin. This chapter addresses the eight great qualities of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. The second is her exceptional Hope.

2) Mary's exceptional Hope and Trust

In the Blessed Virgin, the virtue of Hope reached a high point

 

David once said: Thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the most High thy refuge [Ps. xl. 9]. If ever any creature could bear out the truth of these words, it was the Mother of God. If the level of hope depends upon the solidity of a person's faith, then (as we have just seen) there never was faith like unto that of the Blessed Virgin. If a person's hope grows in proportion to the knowledge we have of God's faithfulness, then in whom would this hope and trust have been greater than in Mary? ... St John wrote:

Dearly beloved, if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence towards God:  And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of him:[1 John iii. 21-22]

Where would we find a soul in which the truth of these words was fulfilled more than in the Blessed Virgin, whose heart could not reprehend her in the slightest? In short, if the purer the virtue of hope is, the higher it ascends, then where can hope and trust be found to equal in purity that of the Daughter, the Mother and the Spouse of God?

Her unshakeable hope and trust

 

Consider Mary's reaction at some challenging moments in her life. Heaven commands her to take a spouse in marriage? She immediately gives her assent, notwithstanding that she has taken a solemn vow of virginity. She is confident that fire will turn into ice before the Lord God would allow Joseph to be anything less than the guardian of her modesty. Joseph was minded to put her away privately? She is untroubled, with a firm conviction that the very stones would cry out before God would abandon His work. During the wedding at Cana, does her Son seem to reproach her and set aside her request? She proceeds nevertheless to instruct the waiters on what they are to do, preparing them for the miracle to come, about which she has not the slightest doubt. In short, did the hope of others die with her Son? Her own lives among the shadows of death and already she sees the glorious Saviour with all His enemies at His feet.

 

After considering the words of the Angel, Mary believed she was to become the Mother of God whilst remaining true to her vow of virginity. When this first secret message was delivered to her, she accepted the honour being conferred by the Most Holy Trinity. I follow here St Augustine in saying that with her open and unambiguous assent, she deserved with justification the honour of opening the gates of Heaven which up until then had been kept closed. We can say with St Anselm that the faith of Mary was the gate through which our Saviour Jesus Christ came into the world. We can perhaps add to this that she was the gate from which issued forth not only Jesus but also countless wonders which were not to be accomplished except in the Blessed Virgin.

The faithfulness of her hope and trust 

Mary placed her entire confidence in God but always did everything she could to help. When the Angel speaks to her about conceiving and bringing forth a son, she respectfully raises a practical question and does not give her assent until this receives a satisfactory response. ... When she finds herself obliged to go to Bethlehem during the last month of her pregnancy, she raises no objection but gathers together the things she would need to look after the child she was carrying. In short, picture Mary displaying these qualities throughout her life, trusting so much in Divine Providence that she esteems her own contributions worthless and yet showing such diligence in all things as if the successful outcome depended entirely on her care.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.