This is the Meaning of Each Part of the Hail Mary

Each part of the Hail Mary prayer has a meaning based on the Holy Scriptures and Tradition.

The Hail Mary is one of the most cherished prayers of the Catholic people. It is the oldest prayer we know addressed to Our Lady, our Mother, Mother of Jesus and the Church. It is in the Bible itself, the revelation of God.

“Hail, full of grace”

At the Annunciation, the Angel greeted her, “Hail, full of grace.” Mary was the only one who found grace before God, because she was the only one “conceived without original sin”. In the apparitions to Saint Catherine Labouré in France in 1830, she asked that what was known as the “Miraculous Medal” be minted. In golden letters, Catherine saw the beautiful phrase written: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you!”

The Lord is with you.

“The Lord is with you,” said the Archangel Gabriel. Mary has a deep intimacy with God. Our Catechism says that “from all eternity, God chose to be the Mother of His Son, a daughter of Israel, a young Jewish woman from Nazareth in Galilee,” a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph from the house of David, and the name of the virgin was Mary ‘(Lk 1, 26-27). ” She is the Daughter of the Father, she is the Mother of the Son, and she is the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. It is in full unity with the Holy Trinity. In a single woman God has Mother, Daughter and Wife.

Blessed among all women

“Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Lk 1:42). This is how St. Elizabeth greeted the Virgin, “in a loud voice” and “filled with the Holy Spirit.” And the boy John the Baptist shuddered in his bosom. Elizabeth made it clear why Mary is “blessed among all women”: “Whence comes the honor of coming to me the Mother of my Lord?” (V. 43). And Elizabeth completes: “Blessed are you who have believed …” (v.44).

The blessed fruit of his womb is God himself, the Son of God, incarnate in his virginal womb: Jesus. She is the Mother of God. When the heretic Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, wanted to deny this truth, the people revolted, and the Council of Nicaea in 431 confirmed the divine motherhood of Mary: (Theotókos). “All generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48), so the piety of the Church towards the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.

After we greet the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with these words that descended from heaven, the prayer of the Hail Mary leads us to implore the Lord’s graces through the intercession of the one whom God can not deny.

Holly Mary mother of god

What can not the Mother of the Most High? What can not, before the throne of grace, achieve that which is His Mother, Bride and Daughter? The miracle of the Marriage of Cana (John 2) says everything, shows the great intercessory power of the Mother before the Son.

That is why the Church has always taught us: “Ask the Mother that the Son attends!” The good son denies nothing to his mother, so St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a doctor of the Church, called her “Supplicating omnipotence.” He obtains everything, by grace, what God can by nature.

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death

And we sinners begged him: “Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” He obtains from the King the great benefits those who are close to Him, those who have intimacy with Him. Who more than Mary has intimacy with God? How many people ask me to mediate a request with the founder of Canção Nova, Monsignor Jonas Abib, because they know I have intimacy with him! So it is with God. This is the power of intercession.

The Most Holy Mother before her Son prays for us without ceasing. Said the Second Vatican Council, which “assumes to the heavens … by its multiple intercession, the gifts of eternal salvation continue to reach us. (…) Therefore, the Blessed Virgin Mary is invoked in the Church under the titles of lawyer, helper, protector and mediatrix. “(N.969).

“The motherly mission of Mary on behalf of men in no way obscures or diminish the unique mediation of Christ; on the contrary, it even shows its power, for all the salutary influx of the blessed Virgin (…) derives from the superabundant merits of Christ, is based on its mediation, depends entirely on it and draws its full strength from it “(n. 970)

Our Mother prays for us at every moment, even if we are not aware of it; especially protects those who are earnestly consecrated to him. In a special way, defend us at the hour of death. How many souls does the Virgin Mary save at the hour of death! Especially those who are consecrated to him. Saint Bernard said that it is not possible that a good son of Mary should be lost.

Therefore, we urge her to pray for us, especially at the decisive hour of our death. When we pray the Holy Rosary, we offer her spiritual roses, which she brings to God for us. It does not hold them to itself, for the rosary is the meditation of the whole life of Jesus Christ our Lord.