Hail Mary
One
The Hail Mary
The “Hail Mary” is definitely one of the most distinctively Catholic of all the prayers. Other Christian groups have the Our Father and pray the Psalms, and Eastern Christians have the Mass. But no one else has the Hail Mary. This prayer that we repeat over and over, matra-like, what does it mean? Why do we do it? We’ve all said it so many times, and now we’ve said it so many times together, that maybe we need to stop and remember what we’re saying.
We need to stop and consider the two halves of the Hail Mary and why they’re so important.
Two
The First Half of the Hail Mary: Who Mary is
The first half of the Hail Mary comes almost entirely from Scripture. It’s Gabriel’s greeting to Mary, “Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is with you!” And it’s Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”
So everything we say about Mary in the first half of the Hail Mary are simply descriptions and greetings from the inspired text of the Bible. And remember that the Bible is authored by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit was directing Gabriel, and the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth at the visitation. So, actually, in this first part of our prayer, we’re only repeating about Mary what the Holy Spirit Himself has already said about Mary.
Why? Why do we celebrate that she is the most blessed among women? That she’s filled with grace? That the Lord is with her? Why do we call to mind Mary’s perfections? Most basically, because it is good to think about what Mary manifests.
St. Paul tells the early Christians, (Philippians 4:9), “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
So we fulfill St. Paul’s instructions when we acknowledge Mary’s purity, loveliness, praiseworthiness, and graciousness. And we do it all in the first half of the Hail Mary.
Three
Jesus at the Center
One of the biggest objections to the Rosary is that it puts the focus too much on Mary and takes it away from Jesus. But actually, the Rosary shows that any praise to Mary is surrounded by reference to the Lord.
The beginning of each decade is the Lord’s Prayer. Then the end of each decade is a Trinitarian glorification, the “Glory Be” doxology. And perhaps most importantly, at the center of each Hail Mary is the name of Jesus. The center of gravity in the Hail Mary, the hinge as it were which joins its two parts, is the name of Jesus.
It’s the Church that adds the Lord’s name to Scripture, to show that the core at which all the prayers to Mary ultimately point, and the source from which they all flow, is the Savior. It shows the purpose of all Marian devotion and entrustment is always surrounded by and directed to and centered on Jesus
Praising Mary is praising God. Giving yourself to Mary means giving yourself to Christ. The whole Rosary comes to a convergence point at that supreme Name that bridges the two halves of the Hail Mary. Dear Mother, reward our devotion to you by making our lives converge and rely on and integrate around the fruit of your womb, Jesus!
Four
The Second Half of the Hail Mary: What We Ask of Her
The first half of The Hail Mary is about who Mary is. The second half of the Hail Mary is about what we’re asking her to do for us. And what is that?
Simple, we want what she has, and what we don’t have. Just like a poor person might ask a wealthy person for a donation or an unconnected person might ask a person with influence for help. So we are sinners, and we’re asking the supremely holy creature, the one who is closest to Christ, to help us get closer to Him.
We say, “Holy Mary, Mother of God.” She is the holiest of all because God only has one human parent, one immediate human relative, and it’s Mary. Mary is the holiest of all, she is the closest to Christ of any created person. And we are the opposite. We are sinners.
So we say, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,” pray for us our whole lives long, “now until the hour of our death.” Ask God to make us sinners holy like you’re holy. Share the wealth, use whatever influence you have as the Queen Mother. And help us become like you, help us come to perfect communion with Christ.
Five
The Hour of Death, and Birth
We begin the second half of the Hail Mary by saying, “Holy Mary, Mother of God.” Because she was Jesus’ Mother. And that meant she was the one who gave birth to Him. She was there at His birth but she was also there at His death. She held Him in her arms in the stable at Bethlem and she held His lifeless body in her arms when they took his mangled corpse down from the cross.
She’s a Mother who is there at the birth and at the death. And as Christians, we know that our final birth will be at our death. When we die to leave this world, it’s only to be born into the new life of eternity. So we end the Hail Mary asking Mary to hold us in her arms at the hour of death, so that as we emerge, reborn, into the next life, she will be holding us too. Maybe a bit scared, certainly disoriented, but at least knowing we’re safe because the Mother we’ve been praying to all our life is there with us, and now it’s going to be okay forever.